UK Government Electric Car Grant Guide

The electric car government grant is a subsidy that gives drivers and companies money off the purchase price of a new, low-emission, plug-in electric vehicle—further reducing the cost of driving an EV. Unfortunately, the plug-in car grant (PiCG) is not longer available for electric cars. But there is still money available up to £2,500 for some small vans, £5,000 for some large vans, £500 for some motorcycles, £150 for some mopeds, £16,000 for some small trucks, £25,000 for some large trucks, £7,500 for taxis and £2,500 for wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

• What is the UK Electric Vehicle Grant?
  • Cars
  • Motorcycles
  • Mopeds
  • Vans
• Chargepoint Grants

Electric Vehicle Government Grant

As long as you're buying a new plug-in or all electric vehicle and it's eligible, you'll get the grant automatically as a discount to your purchase price. The EV government grant is actually given to vehicle dealerships and manufacturers, effectively lowering the price you pay for your new vehicle. The benefit of this structure is that you don't need to do anything to get the subsidy. Below we explain the eligibility requirements and list the vehicles which are eligible for the grant as of December 2022.

UK Government Grant for Electric Cars

The electric vehicle grant for cars has been scrapped. It used to be worth up to £5,000 per vehicle (then less and less over time, until now, when it's worth £0) to encourage motorists to start making the switch to electric, but with EVs becoming more and more popular, the government has done away with the grant for regular passenger cars.

UK Government Grant for Electric Motorcycles

The grant is still available for eligible motorcycles. For electric motorcycles, the government grant will pay for 35% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £500. Eligible motorcycles have no CO2 emissions, can travel at least 31 miles between charges and have a recommended retail price of less than £10,000, including VAT and delivery fees.

Electric Motorcycles Eligible for Government Grant

UK Government Grant for Electric Mopeds

The government grant for electric mopeds will pay for 35% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £150 (less than motorcycles). Eligible mopeds have no CO2 emissions, can travel at least 19 miles between charges and have a recommended retail price of less than £10,000, including VAT and delivery fees.

Electric Mopeds Eligible for Government Grant

UK Government Grant for Electric Vans

The government grant for electric mopeds will pay for 35% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £2,500 for small vans and £5,000 for large vans. Eligible vans have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and must be able to travel at least 60 miles without any emissions. Small vans must be less than 2,500 kilograms (kg) gross vehicle weight; large vans between 2,500kg and 4,250kg gross vehicle weight.

Small Electric Vans Eligible for Government Grant

Large Electric Vans Eligible for Government Grant

UK Government Grant for Electric Taxis

The government grant for electric taxis will pay for 20% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £7,500. Eligible, purpose-built taxis have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and must be able to travel at least 70 miles without any emissions.

Electric Taxis Eligible for Government Grant

UK Government Grant for Electric Trucks

The government grant for electric large vans and trucks will pay for 20% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £16,000 for small (N2) trucks and £25,000 for large (N3) trucks. Eligible vans have CO2 emissions at least 50% less than the equivalent conventional Euro VI vehicle that can carry the same capacity and must be able to travel at least 60 miles without any emissions. Small trucks will be between 4,250kg and 12,000kg gross weight; large trucks over 12,000kg.

Electric Large Vans and Trucks Eligible for Government Grant

EV Chargepoint Grant

You can save up to 75% (max £350) when installing electric vehicle charge points at certain domestic properties in the UK through the EV Chargepoint Grant. (This scheme has recently replaced the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme.) Full details of the scheme can be found here and may change from time to time, but you need to make sure your property and charging point are included in the eligible lists.

The EV Chargepoint Grant is not available for homeowners. It is available to landlords and flat owners and renters. Landlords can get up to 200 grants for residential properties and 100 grants for commercial properties in each financial year (spread across several properties and installations or for one property).

EV Infrastructure Grant

Landlords can also get help improving infrastructure to enable the installation of chargepoints. If wider building and installation work is needed to install multiple chargepoint sockets, you can get up to £30,000 or 75% off the cost of the work (depending on the number of parking spaces). Landlords can get up to 30 grants per year, each used for a different property.

Small-to-medium-sized businesses can also apply for the infrastructure grant, receiving up to £15,000 per grant, getting up to:

Read more about the rules and eligibility here.

There used to be a vehicle requirement for these types of grants (meaning they were only available for certain vehicles), but there is no longer a vehicle requirement.

There also used to be a limitation on which smart chargepoints were eligible for the government grant (e.g. Alfen, Bloova, Anderson, BP Chargemaster, Chargepoint, City EV, EV Box, PodPoint, Vestel, etc.—but now it seems any chargepoints are eligible.

FAQs