Grants and incentives for electric vehicles

By Tom Seymour

Last updated: May 1st 2024

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There is funding available if you're looking to buy and install a smart home charger, but the UK government will occasionally update and change these incentives.

It's worth checking what you might be entitled to in order to get additional financial support towards the cost of an installation.

If you're not eligible for any of the grants detailed below, there's also still the option of making things a bit more manageable with the option of finance.

Electric vehicle chargepoint grant for renters and flat owners

The EV chargepoint grant provides up to a 75% contribution to the cost of a home electric car charger and its installation.

The grant cap is set at £350 including VAT, per installation.

Am I eligible for the electric vehicle chargepoint grant for renters and flat owners?

You must live in rental accommodation or own a flat that comes with a dedicated parking space where a charge point can be installed.

The scheme is administered by the installer (more on that in a moment); the installer must confirm whether you own the property.

If you're renting, the installer must confirm the name and address of the person or entity letting the property as it appears on the rental agreement.

You'll also be unable to claim for two charging points if you own a second electric vehicle or a plug in hybrid vehicle.

How do I apply for the Electric vehicle chargepoint grant for renters and flat owners?

The grant works by you choosing an installer to install a charging point. The installer checks whether you qualify and then applies on your behalf.

The installer will then bill you for the price of the installation, minus the grant amount they have applied for. If the application is successful, the installer will be paid the grant amount that they have offset from your bill.

The Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV) aims to process claims for experienced installers within 30 working days.

Electric vehicle chargepoint grant for properties without a driveway

The UK government announced on March 18, 2024 that it would expand the grant for those with properties without a driveway. This is available until March 31, 2025.

The Government says the £350 grant, providing a maximum of up to 75% off the cost of purchasing and installing a charge point, will be widened to those who own or rent and have access to adequate street parking.

EV drivers will require permission from their council to install a cross-pavement charging solution, with applications made online.

Am I eligible for the electric vehicle charge point grant for properties without a driveway?

This will be a similar process to the grant eligibility for those renting and in flats, but it's just been expanded to those that are looking for a cross pavement solution, like Kerbo Charge (read our interview with co-founder Michael Goulden here).

This means if you're in a terraced house, but you have parking just outside, you can get some funding to help with the installation of your home charge point.

Street parking has to be generally available outside your house and the road needs to be "sufficiently wide to allow easy passage of traffic".

The final decision on whether your property has adequate on-street parking will rest with your local planning and highways authorities, who will determine whether a cable channel is suitable for your property.

You'll need to have permission from your local planning and highways authorities to install a cross-pavement charging solution between your home and the approved parking space, before you apply for the grant.

You'll need permission from your landlord or freeholder or managing agent of a block of flats before you apply too.

The cross-pavement charging solution has to be in place before you can access the grant funding. Head to Kerbo Charge, to find out some more information, as it's one of the companies pioneering cross-pavement solutions for home chargers.

Kerbo Charge can also help with sorting out permissions with the various local authorities and council as part of its service.

How do I apply for the Electric vehicle chargepoint grant for properties without a driveway?

If you're eligible this is something your chargepoint installer can help you with too. The installer checks whether you qualify and then applies on your behalf.

The installer will then bill you for the price of the installation, minus the grant amount they have applied for.

If the application is successful, the installer will be paid the grant amount that they have offset from your bill. The Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles (OZEV) aims to process claims for experienced installers within 30 working days.

EV Chargepoint Grant for landlords and social housing providers

Funding is also available to help incentivise landlords to be proactive and help those renting get access home charging and the cost savings it can bring for EV drivers.

Each EV charge point socket will be eligible for a £350 contribution.

Am I eligible for the EV Chargepoint Grant for landlords and social housing providers?

The OZEV Grant Landlord Scheme is open to non-resident building owners, including landlords and social housing providers. 

Vacation rentals are not eligible.

There are some requirements in order to qualify for the grant:

• You cannot reside at the property you wish to claim the grant against

• A grant of up to £350 per socket is available with a limit of 200 sockets.

• A maximum grant of £70,000 is permitted.

• Applicants must be a registered business or public authority. If they are a private organisation, they may be registered with Companies House, have a VAT registration, or be a private registered provider of social housing.

• The property must have associated private parking. There is no limit as to how many chargepoint sockets can be installed in each property within the overall number of grants available.

How do I apply for the EV Chargepoint Grant for landlords and social housing providers?

You need to set up an account directly with the Government informing them of the premises you rent out and wish to have EV charger installations completed at.

You will need to state the property type, such as flat, house or apartment, which will initiate an application for the installation address specified. 

If you are given authorisation by OZEV, you will be quoted a reference number/voucher code. You will then supply this code to your chosen OZEV-approved charge point installer, such as Smart Home Charge, when you purchase your EV charger. Your £350 grant discount should be applied upfront.

After your installation is completed, the approved installer will submit the details of the installation including your voucher code to the OZEV department portal.

Workplace Charging Scheme

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is Government funded scheme that provides financial support to businesses wishing to have electric vehicle charge points installed at their work premises.

The WCS is a voucher-based scheme that contributes up to £350 towards the upfront costs of a car charging point purchase and installation.

It is managed by the Government OZEV department (Office for Zero Emission Vehicles).

Am I eligible for the EV infrastructure grant for the Workplace Charging Scheme?

You will need to prove that the site of installation is linked to the business and that parking is dedicated to staff or fleet use.

This means you will need to have a parking policy in place or photographic evidence that the parking is only for business staff/fleet.

You will also need to have evidence of the following:

• Companies House Reference or VAT Registration Number.
• If you’re a charity, you will need to upload your certificate of registration to the Charity Commission.
• You will need photographic evidence of your dedicated off-street parking that is for staff or fleet use only.

How do I apply for the Workplace Charging Scheme?

As a Workplace Charging Scheme approved installer, Smart Home Charge apply your voucher discount at the point of purchase (if you are eligible).

We then claim the voucher funds on your behalf as it has already been discounted from your invoice.

Workplace Charging Scheme for state-funded education institutions

The Workplace Charging Scheme for state-funded education institutions is similar to the workplace charging scheme but is aimed specifically for places of education such as schools. 

As part of the scheme, eligible schools can get up to 75% off the cost to buy and install chargepoints up to a maximum of £2500 per socket and up to 40 sockets across their sites

Also like WCS, this scheme is voucher-based, with applicants having up to 180 days to claim from the date of issue.

 Am I eligible for the EV infrastructure grant for the Workplace Charging Scheme for State-Funded Education Institutions?

Aside from needing to be state-funded, places of education across the UK will need to have:

• An existing or future need for charging an electric vehicle  

• Designated off-street parking facilities that are clearly associated with your premises (the parking may be used by customers, guests, visitors, staff or others)  

• Had a site survey done by an installer, who has confirmed that your site can support EV charging  

• Not have applied for a grant for the same chargepoint under the EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets or any other grant scheme   

• Have the authority to apply for the Workplace Charging Scheme on behalf of your organisation  

Privately funded schools can still apply for regular Workplace Charging Scheme.

How do I apply for the Workplace Charging Scheme for State-Funded Education Institutions?

To be eligible, you'll need to have a site survey conducted by an authorised installer. They will check if the electrical capacity of your site can support the number of sockets you want.

Once the survey is done, you will need to:

• complete the online application form  

• Prove that you are a school or education institution by giving the government your ID, SEED or reference number  

• Apply using an email address domain that matches the email domain of your institution - for example, when applying for school 1: [email protected]    

Multi academy trusts may apply for up to the maximum of 40 sockets for each school or institution within the trust. You should complete a separate application for each school or institution. 

EV infrastructure grant for residential car parks

An EV infrastructure grant gives you money off the cost of wider building and installation work that’s needed to install multiple chargepoint sockets.

The work can be for sockets you want to install now and in the future.

For example, an EV infrastructure grant can cover things like wiring and posts.

You can get up to £30,000 or 75% off the cost of the work. The amount depends on how many parking spaces the work covers.

You can get up to 30 infrastructure grants each financial year.

Each infrastructure grant must be used for a different property.

Am I eligible for the EV infrastructure grant for residential car parks?

You can apply for an electric vehicle infrastructure grant, chargepoint grant or infrastructure grant as a residential landlord if you’re:

• an individual with property to let

• a right to manage (RTM) company

• a residents’ management company (RMC)

• a company or person owning the freehold of a property

• a company owning a building’s common areas, including shareholders who are the leaseholders

• a property factor in Scotland

• a private registered provider of social housing (PRP)

• a public sector organisation - for example government departments, local councils, the armed forces or the NHS and emergency services

• a charity that manages or owns residential property

There are also a few additional points to cover specifically for the infrastructure grant. If you’re applying, you must:

• be using the infrastructure for a property with multiple homes - for example an apartment block, or estate with buildings that share a car park

• be installing at least one chargepoint socket as part of the work

• carry out work on at least five parking spaces, so they either have chargepoint sockets or are ready to have them installed in the future

EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets

This grant provides small and medium-sized businesses money off the cost of installing electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints and supporting infrastructure for their staff and fleet of electric vehicles.

The work can be for sockets you want to install now and in the future. For example, an EV infrastructure grant can cover things like wiring and posts.

The grant covers 75% of the cost of the work, up to a maximum of £15,000. You can get:

• up to £350 per chargepoint socket installed

• up to £500 per parking space enabled with supporting infrastructure

You can receive up to five grants across five different sites.

Am I eligible for the EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets?

You can apply for the electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure grant if you’re a business with 249 employees or fewer.

You must be either registered at Companies House or VAT registered with HMRC.

Property requirements

Your property must be in the UK and you can't apply for this grant if the property is in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man.

The chargepoint can only be used by the building’s staff and vehicles. While you can put further infrastructure provisions in place using this grant, you have to install at least one chargepoint socket as part of the work.

The work also needs to be for a minimum of five charge points, so there has to be enough for five sockets installed at the time or in the future.

Parking requirements

Each parking space must be:

• off-street, private and clearly defined - it does not have to be part of the property

• owned by you, or be one you have the legal right to

How do I apply for the EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets?

Before applying the company needs to make sure all the upgrades that are needed to the building's electric supply have been completed.

There needs to be a provision in place for regular maintenance checks on the chargepoints, the chargepoints will need to be accessible and the fleet needs to have done work on how the electricity and running costs will be paid.

Fleets will also need to update their property's risk assessment information to include details of the chargepoints.

Once all that's done you need to contact an OZEV approved installer (again, like Smart Home Charge) and apply to create an account on the OZEV Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grants portal.

Your installer will then complete your claim and you can apply for multiple sockets at the same address.

Your installer will claim the grant on your behalf after they’ve completed the work.

They’ll give details of your chargepoint to OZEV, along with photographs of the installation and an invoice.

OZEV will send you an email to sign into your online account and review the claim.

If you do nothing, the claim will be submitted to OZEV as it is. If it’s incorrect, you’ll have a week to respond - you’ll be told how to do this when you review the claim in your account.

If OZEV approves the claim, the grant will be paid to your chargepoint installer who will take the amount off your bill.

Your invoice will show the total installation cost minus the grant amount.

Plug-in van and truck grant

The plug-in van grant (PIVG) was launched in 2012 to help bridge the price gap between the cost of ultra-low emission vans and diesel vans. It was extended to trucks, also referred to as heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) in 2016.

The maximum discount available for some small vans is £2,500, while large vans can get up to £5,000, small trucks can get £16,000 and large trucks can get £25,000.

Am I eligible for the Plug-in van and truck grant?

If you're buying an electric van or truck you can get some funding from the Government towards it. Check out the full list of eligible vehicles here.

Models include the Peugeot e-Partner, Ford E-Transit and the Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo Commerce.

How do I apply for the Plug-in van and truck grant?

The grant is available to customers at the point of purchase directly from the dealer or van/truck manufacturer. Consumers do not have to go through a grant application process themselves, so it's something the dealership or manufacturer will do directly for you.

The dealership or manufacturer will apply using an OZEV portal and the discount will be applied to the price of your eligible vehicle before you buy it.