Funding currently available for EVs and EV charging

Plug-in cars are now available in various types, including medium-sized vans, SUVs and cars. It makes total sense for businesses to change their fleet of vehicles to electric vehicles. The government is showing efforts of transforming the economy into a green economy by setting aside Government EV funding to help people buy electric cars.

The EVHS, also known as Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, is a grant made available by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (also known as the OZEV Grant). This fund is an effort towards providing additional funds to UK Electric Vehicle drivers.

The grant provides up to £350 discount on the cost of buying and installing a charging unit at your residence. You can claim this grant on many plug-in hybrid vehicles or fully electric vehicles currently available in the market.

• EV owners can claim a single home charger per eligible plug-in or electric vehicle and a maximum of two eligible cars per household.

• If you own a home charger, it has to be approved by OZEV and for installation, it must be done by a charge point installed that is approved by OZEV.

• The grant is available for most of the plug-in hybrid and electric cars.

You will qualify for the grant if:

• You must have purchased an eligible electric or plug-in vehicle from 1st October 2016 onwards.

• You must have off-street parking, such as a driveway or garage.

• Your home charger must be OZEV-approved and installed by an OZEV-approved charge point installer.

• You must provide evidence of ownership, lease, and be named as the primary user of the vehicle, or have a vehicle on order.

• The date of installation must not be more than 4 months ahead of the date of delivery or start date of vehicle use.

• OZEV application must be completed 6 weeks prior to the date of installation of the EV charger.

Workplace charging scheme

The Workplace Charging Scheme can provide funds to buy and install EV chargers for various businesses, public sector organisations and charities.

The scheme is voucher-based whereby, the home car charger grant can cover a maximum of 75% of the total cost of buying and installing EV chargers, up to £350 per socket. The grant can cover a maximum of 40 sockets.

On-street residential ChargePoint scheme

Most EV owners prefer charging their cars at home. Most drivers, especially those in the cities, don’t have personal garages or private drivers to do so. The On-street Residential ChargePoint Scheme provides grant funds for local authorities to cover the costs of setting up on-street residential EV chargers. The grant scheme is operated by Energy Saving Trust and has money set aside for local authorities but based on a first come, first served.

The office for Zero Emission Vehicles

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles, also known as OLEV, operates across various UK areas. They have recently renamed themselves to OZEV, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. Their main aim is to put the UK on the map as the main leader in ultra-low emission vehicle production and use. They hope to contribute to the growth of the economy by reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

They also run a recharging infrastructure strategy across the country that provides funds for eight pilot areas that is under a program known as plugged-in places. For an example of such infrastructure, check out the UK’s first fully electric forecourt by Gridserve.

According to recent research, approximately 57% of the British people prefer purchasing electric cars if they can meet the budget. The price of EVs is projected to drop over the coming decade and the infrastructure for electric vehicles will be rolled out throughout the UK. Electric vehicles will take up most of the market share in the near future.

The UK government is working towards providing people with funds to make them go green and choose electric vehicles over the conventional cars to achieve their ‘road to zero’ plan. This can be seen in the recent funds that have been rolled out to achieve this plan.

However, some challenges are being experienced by the UK government in an effort towards going green such as charging price and capacity and insufficient EV chargers in rural areas. But these challenges could be addressed easily by starting communications campaigns to educate the public on electric vehicles’ myths, provide EV funds for people and businesses, distribute comprehensive funds evenly, and offer advice to local authorities’ establishment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.