Grants for electric vehicles to diversify

Banding introduced for new electric cars

The UK has two incentive schemes to help with the uptake of electric-powered vehicles. These are the Plug-in car grant, worth up to £5000 and the Plug-in van grant, worth up £8000. The Government has recently announced changes to the schemes, both in terms of qualifying percentages for the grant, and categorising vehicles for future grants.

Up until 31 March 2015 all qualifying cars can receive a grant offer of 25% off the basic price of the car. This is capped at a maximum of £5000, so many, cheaper vehicles, receive less than the maximum grant. From 1 April 2015 cars will qualify for a 35% grant off the basic price, again capped at £5000. This will bring more cars up towards the maximum grant limit.

From 1 April 2015, there are also three grant categories being introduced. These are determined by emissions and range of zero emissions, as follows.

Category 1: CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and a zero emission range of at least 70 miles
Category 2: CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and a zero emission range of at least 10 to 69 miles
Category 3: CO2 emissions of less than 50-75g/km and a zero emission range of at least 20 miles

At the moment, over 25,000 vehicles have been sold. Once this reaches 50,000, the maximum grant will be revised. Also, in May 2015, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles will commence a review of the plug in grant levels. Following this review new levels of grant will be available per category and this will then be made public.

The Plug-in van grant has different criteria. You can receive 20% off the price of the van, with a capped maximum of £8000. To date, the only electric campervan is the Dalbury E from Hillside Leisure, which is based on the Nissan e-NV200 van. An electric van must weigh less than 3.5t, emit less than 75g of CO2 per km, have a minimum range of 60 miles and be capable of reaching 60mph. The grants are usually applied for by the manufacturer and the saving passed on to the customer. There has been no introduction of any banding scheme for vans as yet.

The Minister for Transport, Baroness Kramer stated, “More and more people are deciding a ULEV is the right choice for them. They are great to drive, easily chargeable at home or on the street, and cheap to use with running costs from just 2 pence a mile. The government’s £500 million investment will help more models become available to suit a wide range of budgets. This thriving industry will support jobs and build a stronger economy.”

More information on the Plug-in van grant is available on the Government website.

Read a review of the first all-electric campervan, the Hillside Dalbury E. A longer review was in the January edition of Which Motorhome.

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