Electric Vehicle Government Grants and Cost Savings
Government Grants for electric cars and vehicles
Although the UK Government continues to support the adoption of electric vehicles it has cut back on the grants available. The government still offers grants to encourage the purchase of new electric vehicles, but only for cars valued up to £32,000 and that have zero tailpipe CO2 emissions and can travel at least 112km (70 miles) without any emissions at all.
The Government has also reduced the grant from a maximum £3,500 to £1,500 (35% of purchase price up to the maximum). They have also removed the previous 3 categories of cars.
The Government website also lists all the current vehicles that attract the grant.
The Government also offers grants of up to £500 (35% of purchase price) for motorcycles and mopeds, again they are listed on the website.
More generous grants are available for commercial vehicles such as vans and taxis.
Vans have been split into small and large categories, with eligible small vans attracting up to £2,500 and eligible large vans attracting up to £5,000.
For Taxis that are purpose-built taxis and have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 112km (70 miles) without any emissions at all there are grants of up to £7,500 (20% of the purchase price).
Government Grants for Charging
If you have a drive or a garage you will probably want to fit a charging point for your EV at home. The Government offers a grant of up to £350 towards the installation cost. To qualify for the grant, you must be the registered keeper, be the primary user and have dedicated off-street parking. This grant is being removed from April 2022.
This is claimed through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme.
If you don’t have any off-street parking, then it may be possible to get a charging post for your street. The Government has allocated funds for local authorities to help them fulfill the demand for residents requesting on-street charging. Contact your local council to check if they are participating. For further information go to Residential Chargepoint Scheme
You can also ask your employer if they can install charge-points, the Workplace Charging Scheme offers grants towards installation costs of up to £350 for point. These are available to any business, charity or public authority. More details at Government Grants for Low emission vehicles.
Other Savings
EVs also save money in other ways such as exemption from congestion charges and where available, free parking.
Hi Dave
You can get up to €5000 grant when buying a new Electric Vehicle in Ireland. If your buying a commercial vehicle the grant max is €3800. It depends on how much the car costs, you can see the full list of grant value by list price here on the SEAI website https://www.seai.ie/grants/electric-vehicle-grants/grant-amounts/
Good luck choosing your new EV!
I’m thinking of getting a small electric car ,I live in Ireland and could you inform me about grants here in Ireland ,Thanks