Funding to support the switch to electric vehicles

There is various funding support for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, but with the criteria and focus changing often, we summarise the latest government grants to ease the switch to zero emission vehicles

Plug-in vehicle grants
The plug-in car grant ended earlier this year, with the government saying it had achieved its objective of stimulating the EV market. It has however retained a form of the grant for taxis, motorcycles, vans, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles.
    
The grant for small vans apply to vehicles that are less than 2,500kg gross vehicle weight, have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 60 miles with no emissions. The grant will pay for 35 per cent of the purchase price for small vans, up to a maximum of £2,500.
    
The grant for large vans meanwhile is for vehicles that are between 2,500kg and 4,250kg gross vehicle weight, have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km, and can travel at least 60 miles without any emissions at all. The grant will pay for 35 per cent of the purchase price for these vehicles, up to a maximum of £5,000.
    
The grant for taxis can be used on vehicles with CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km that can travel at least 70 miles without any emissions at all, such as the Dynamo Taxi and LEVC TX. The grant will pay for 20 per cent of the purchase price for these vehicles, up to a maximum of £7,500.
    
The grant for small trucks is for vehicles that are between 4,250kg and 12,000kg gross weight, with CO2 emissions of at least 50 per cent less than the equivalent conventional Euro VI vehicle that can carry the same capacity and can travel at least 60 miles with no emissions. The grant will pay for 20 per cent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £16,000.
    
Between 1 April to 31 March there are a limited number of grants available. These are 250 grants at the £16,000 rate and up to 10 grants per business or organisation at the £16,000 rate. If either of these limits are reached, the maximum a business or organisation can apply for is £5,000.
    
The maximum amount of plug-in van or truck grants a business or organisation can get each year is 1,000. The limits reset every year on 1 April.
    
For large trucks, the grants are for vehicles that are heavier than 12,000kg and have CO2 emissions of at least 50 per cent less than the equivalent conventional Euro VI vehicle that can carry the same capacity. They must be able to travel at least 60 miles with no emissions.
    
The grant will pay for 20 per cent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £25,000. There are a limited number of grants available, which is 100 grants at the £25,000 rate and up to five grants per company or organisation at the £25,000 rate.
    
If either of these limits are reached, the maximum a business can apply for is £16,000. A business or organisation can get up to 10 grants at this rate. There are 250 grants of up to £16,000 available. After that, the maximum a business or organisation can apply for is £5,000.
    
A total of 1,000 plug-in van and truck grants can be applied for each year, and this limit resets every year on 1 April.
    
The workplace charging grant

The workplace charging grant covers up to 75 per cent of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV chargepoints and is capped at a maximum of £350 per sockets and 40 sockets across all sites per applicant. If you apply for less than 40 sockets, you can submit additional applications in the future until you reach that limit.

The grant works as a voucher-based scheme, with successful applicants receiving a voucher code by email, which can then be given to the chargepoint installer, which has to be OZEV-authorised.
    
Once the chargepoints have been installed, the installer can claim the grant from OZEV on the applicant’s behalf. The chargepoint installation must be completed and the voucher claimed within six months of the voucher’s issue date.
     
The sites where the charge points are needed must have dedicated off-street parking, and either be owned by the applicant, or if not, have consent from the landlord.
    
Each site must have a minimum power supply of 3kW to each individual socket that is not diminished by their simultaneous use, and have no more than one socket installed for each accessible parking space.
    
Before applying, applicants are encouraged to discuss their needs with one or more authorised approved installers and identify which of the models on the approved chargepoint list they want to install.
    
They must undergo a site survey with an authorised installer to ensure  the electrical capacity of the site can support the number of sockets for which they are applying.
    
If the applicant does not own or manage the land where they wish to  install chargepoints, they must also secure the necessary permissions ahead of making an application. For example, if the applicant has access  to off-street parking via a garage or private car park that is provided by a  third party, they are eligible for the WCS provided the parking space  meets all other eligibility criteria. If they do not own the parking space,  however, they will be required to gain written permission from the landlord or owner.
    
The Workplace Charging Scheme is also open to charities and small accommodation businesses, such as hotels, B&Bs, campsites, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks. They must have 249 employees or less to be eligible.
    
EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets

The EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets gives money towards the infrastructure needed for chargepoints, as well as for installing the
chargepoints themselves. It is for small and medium sized
companies, with 249 employees or less.
    
It is a different grant from the Workplace Charging Scheme, which does not help towards the cost of chargepoint infrastructure.
    
Businesses do not have to install all the chargepoints at once, but it allows them to plan for the future by creating infrastructure that can enable chargepoints to be installed later on.
    
A business can receive up to five grants in total. Each grant must be for a different site that the business owns, leases or rents.
    
The chargepoints installed must be exclusively for staff or fleet use and cannot be for visitor or guest use.
    
The grant supports the provision of chargepoints and future chargepoint locations where chargepoints may be installed at a later
date. A minimum of five parking spaces must be provisioned with charging infrastructure, at least one of which must have a working chargepoint.
    
Businesses can get up to £500 for each parking space that will get charging infrastructure.
    
Each grant application can be for up to a maximum of £15,000. If more chargepoints are needed in addition to those provided by this grant,
then the Workplace Charging Scheme may be used.
    
This grant covers the costs of installing the infrastructure needed for chargepoints to operate and for future chargepoints to be installed. It includes work like electrical connections at a metered electrical supply point, such as a consumer unit or feeder pillar, and dedicated, safe, and unobstructed routes for electrical cabling.
    
The work undertaken, and charging infrastructure provided, must ensure there is appropriate power for all the chargepoints and future connection locations. This may include power upgrades to the local supply or network; the implementation of load balancing solutions and upgrades to the building’s electrical control room. The charging infrastructure provided must include any additional earthing needed for the chargepoint and identification of any earthing locations needed for any future connection locations.

On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme

The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is for local
authorities, and its aims is to increase the availability of on-street chargepoints in residential streets where off-street parking is not available.
    
The scheme is administered by the Energy Saving Trust, Cenex and PA Consulting. It provides up to a maximum of 60 per cent of project
capital costs, down from the previous level of 75 per cent, although applications submitted to the Energy Saving Trust prior to 1 April 2022 are eligible for the higher level of funding.
    
All chargepoints installed through this scheme must have a minimum payment method, such as contactless, and be as accessible as possible.
    
Chargepoints may be installed on land not owned by a local authority. It is hoped this is particularly beneficial for rural local authorities, where community-owned land (for example, a village hall car park) is often well suited to providing charging infrastructure. This will be considered on a discretionary basis where it can be demonstrated that a lack of suitable local authority land poses a barrier to the installation of residential chargepoints.
    
£20 million is allocated to this scheme for 2022 to 2023. Funding is for up to 60 per cent of eligible capital costs and the total funding provided will not exceed £7,500 per chargepoint unless electrical connection costs are exceptionally high. In these cases, funding up to £13,000 per chargepoint may be provided.
    
Capital funding will be provided for the installation of the chargepoints. The capital items that are eligible for claim are limited to the purchase cost of the chargepoint up to 22 kW; the purchase cost of electrical components related to the chargepoint, including distribution network operator (DNO) connection costs; and the cost of civil engineering works related to the installation.

Labour and hardware costs of the installation are also included, and where applicable, the capital costs of a parking bay and traffic
regulation orders.

Rapid charging fund

The rapid charging fund (RCF) is a £950 million fund to future-proof electrical capacity at motorway and major A road service areas to
prepare the network for the mass adoption of electric vehicles. However, it is not yet open for applications.
    
When the fund opens, it will aim to help achieve the government’s vision for the rapid chargepoint network in England, which is to have
at least six high-powered, open-access chargepoints (150-350 kW capable) at motorway service areas in England by 2023.
    
By 2030, the government expects around 2,500 high-powered, open-access chargepoints across England’s motorways and major A roads,
and by 2035, it expects around 6,000.

EV chargepoint grant

The EV chargepoint grant provides funding towards the cost of installing electric vehicle smart chargepoints at domestic properties
across the UK. It replaced the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) on 1 April 2022.
    
The EV chargepoint grant is for anyone who owns and lives in a
flat or rents any residential property. It covers up to 75 per cent of the cost to buy and install a chargepoint socket, up to £350 per grant.
    
The property must have its own private off-street parking space, and the person that will use the chargepoint must own a qualifying vehicle.