The Government has announced it is increasing grants for EV workplace and home chargers from £350 to up to £500.
This means that the grant will cover almost half the cost of a typical charge point installation.
In a bid to make the EV charge point grant system easier to navigate, the Department for Transport (DfT) has also reduced the number of grants from 8 to 5.
The five grant types are:
- EV chargepoint grant for renters and flat owners
- EV chargepoint grant for residential landlords
- EV chargepoint grant for households with on-street parking
- Workplace charging scheme
- Workplace Charging Scheme for State-Funded Education Institutions
While some grants are closing, the DfT stressed that there is no change to overall funding for charge point grants.
Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander said: “We’re making it easier and cheaper than ever to go electric and against the backdrop of fluctuating petrol prices, switching to an EV has never made more sense.
“Bigger grants mean renters, flat owners, families and small businesses can install a charger for nearly half the usual cost, with home charging as low as 2p a mile.
“Backed by our electric car grant which has already helping over 85,000 drivers save thousands on a new EV, and record investment in public charging, we’re giving drivers and businesses the confidence to make the switch.”
When the increase was first announced in February, Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, said that many small businesses want to switch to electric vehicles, with half (51%) saying that more charging infrastructure would incentivise them to make the switch.
“Small firms want to cut their emissions and reduce their fuel bills and removing or lowering the barriers which currently tip the scales against electric vehicle adoption can only be a good thing,” said McKenzie.
DfT figures show that over 67,000 charge points have been installed through the workplace charging scheme since it went live in 2016. 7,734 sockets had been installed in the past 12 months.
