Electric Car Grant

There is currently an electric car grant in the UK of £3,000 for all EVs costing less than £50,000

What type of EV can get the electric car grant?

The £3,000 electric car grant is only payable on new Category 1 vehicles.

Category 1 vehicles are EVs with CO₂ emissions of fewer than 50g/km and a zero emission range of at least 70 miles.

At the moment, only pure 100% electric cars (BEVs) fall into Category 1 and meet the PiCG grant criteria.

Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) do not meet the Category 1 definition and so do not get the electric car grant.

Which EV models can get the electric car grant?

The UK government grant for electric cars currently applies to the following EV models:

• BMW i3 and i3s
• BYD e6
• DS 3 Crossback E-Tense
• Hyundai Ioniq Electric
• Hyundai Kona Electric
• Kia e-Niro
• Kia Soul EV
• MG ZS EV
• Mini Electric
• Nissan Leaf
• Peugeot e-208
• Peugeot e-2008
• Renault Zoe
• Seat Mii electric
• Skoda CITIGOe iV
• Smart EQ fortwo
• Smart EQ forfour
• Tesla Model 3
• Vauxhall Corsa-e
• Volkswagen e-up!
• Volkswagen e-Golf

All these EVs can get the plug-in car grant because they

(a) can go at least 70 miles powered by batteries only,

(b) emit fewer than 50g of CO₂ per kilometre, and

(c) cost less than £50,000.

How do I apply for the plug-in car grant?

When you buy or lease a new Category 1 electric car costing less than £50,000, the grant of £3,000 will be applied automatically by the dealer.

The dealer will contact the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and apply for the grant on your behalf. There is no paperwork for you to do at all.

Watch out! EVs will often be promoted online with the electric car grant already applied. In other words, the price you see is probably not the list price, but rather the net price with £3,000 already taken off.

Is the electric car grant £3,000 or 35%?

Technically, the government grant for electric cars is 35% of the list (RRP) price, with a maximum cap of £3,000.

If you could find a new EV for say £8,000 RRP, then the calculation would be £8,000 x 35% = £2,800 grant. That is of course less than £3,000.

The threshold is £10,000. Any new EVs under £10,000 would attract a grant of less than £3,000.

But, in reality, there are no electric cars priced anywhere near the £10,000 mark. The cheapest EVs at the moment are around £20,000 RRP.

Detailed eligibility criteria for the plug-in car grant

This section is a bit tedious and you can omit it if you like.

It covers the government’s actual eligibility criteria for the EV grant as laid out in their official web pages:

Vehicle type

Only new cars are eligible (vehicle category ‘M1′). This includes pre-registration conversions (normal, internal combustion engine cars that were converted to battery or hybrid versions by specialist convertors before the car’s first registration). Motorbikes and quadricycles are not covered.

Carbon dioxide exhaust emissions

Vehicles must emit fewer than 50 grams of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per kilometre driven.

Range

Vehicles must be able to travel a minimum of 70 miles with no emissions.

Minimum top speed

Vehicles must be able to reach a speed of 60 mph or more.

Warranty

Vehicles must have:

• either a minimum 5-year warranty on the battery and electric drive train as standard; or
• extra evidence of battery performance to show reasonable performance after 3 years of use.

Note: ‘drive train’ means the parts that send power from the engine to the wheels. These include the clutch, transmission (gear box), drive shafts, U-joints and differential.

Battery performance

Vehicles must have:

• either a minimum 5-year warranty on the battery and electric drive train as standard; or
• extra evidence of battery performance to show reasonable performance after 3 years of use.

Electrical safety

Vehicles must comply with certain regulations (UN-ECE Reg 100.00) that show that they are electrically safe.

Crash safety

To make sure cars will be safe in a crash, they must either have:

• European Commission Whole Vehicle Type-Approval (EC WVTA, not small series); or
• evidence that the car has appropriate levels of safety as judged by international standards.

Price

The car must cost less than £50,000.