Tethered vs untethered EV charger: which should you get?

Once you’ve settled on a 7kW wall charger, there’s one more decision the showroom asks that trips people up: tethered or untethered? It’s a small choice with no wrong answer, but the right one makes daily charging that bit nicer. Here’s the difference and how to pick.

The difference in one line

• Tethered: the cable is attached to the wall unit. Pull it out, plug into the car, done. Like a petrol pump.
• Untethered (also called socketed): the wall unit has a Type 2 socket; you plug your own portable cable in each time and store it when you’re finished.

Both charge at the same speed, install the same way, and cost about the same. The choice is purely about how you want to live with it day to day.

Side by side

	Tethered	Untethered
Cable	Attached to the unit	You supply / store your own
Daily convenience	Higher, plug-and-go	Slightly more handling
Tidiness	Cable lives outside	Nothing left out
Weather / theft exposure	Cable always outdoors	Cable stored inside
Future-proofing	Fixed cable length & connector	Swap cable for any car/length
Best for	One EV, charged daily	Shared, exposed or future-flexible setups

When tethered is the better choice

Pick tethered if you want the least friction. For a single household EV you charge every night, having the cable always there (no fetching it from the boot, no plugging two ends in) is genuinely more pleasant. It’s the popular choice for garages and carports where the unit sits right by the car and the cable is sheltered anyway.

The trade-offs are minor: the cable length is fixed (commonly ~5m), so the unit needs to be mounted within reach of your park, and the cable lives outdoors on the unit.

When untethered is the better choice

Pick untethered if you value tidiness, flexibility or security:

• Exposed or street-facing installs: with nothing left out, there’s no cable exposed to weather or to walk off with. You store it inside.
• Changing cars or sharing: any EV with its own Type 2 cable can use it, and you can choose a longer cable if your park is further away.
• A cleaner look: just a neat wall unit when it’s not in use.

The trade-off is a little more handling each time: you fetch the cable, plug both ends, and store it afterwards.

What it doesn’t change

Two things people worry about that don’t differ between the two:

• Speed. Both deliver your charger’s full rate (typically 7kW, ~40km of range per hour). The cable, not the tether style, sets the limit, so match an untethered cable’s rating to your charger (e.g. 32A for 7kW).
• Cost. Hardware is similar (a tethered unit bundles the cable; untethered you supply your own), and the install labour is identical. A typical 7kW install is around $1,500–$2,500 either way; the cable run and switchboard move the price far more than this choice does.

Note this is a different question from portable vs wall-mounted: that’s about a plug-in trickle cable versus a fixed wallbox. Tethered vs untethered is a choice within fixed wallboxes.

The bottom line

For most one-EV homes with a garage or carport, tethered is the easy, convenient default. If your install is exposed, shared, or you want to stay flexible for future cars, untethered is the tidier, more future-proof pick. Either way the charger, the speed and the install are the same.

Not sure which charger to put it on? The charger chooser covers speed, connector and smart features together, and the best EV charger guide compares the brands. When you’re ready, get free quotes and mention your parking setup, and your installer will recommend a position and cable length that works.