2020 has been an unprecedented year for the UK automotive sector, with significant declines in the sales and market share of tailpipe emission, petrol and diesel vehicles. However, zero-tailpipe emission electric vehicles (EV) has driven the other way i.e. an astounding increase of 168% in the SMMT new car registrations to date (October 2020).
With the increased adoption of electric cars in the UK, the deployment of EV charging infrastructure has also gathered momentum, in particular, the deployment of EV home charging stations. This article will assist those of you new to electric driving to learn more about the UK government grants for electric car home charging points.
For those of you new to zero-emission electric driving, we encourage you to read the following articles on the e-zoomed Electric Living Blog:
- Which electric cars are compatible with Type 2 to Type 2 EV charging cables?
- Which electric cars are compatible with Type 1 to Type 2 EV charging cables?
- Best electric car charging tariffs.
- Charging speeds electric cars: home and public charging.
- How to charge an electric car: a beginner’s guide.
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Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS)
The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) is a government incentive framework to encourage the adoption of plug-in electric cars in the UK, to include, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), like the award-winning Jaguar I-PACE and plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs) like the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
The EV charging point grant is for a maximum of £350 (including VAT) or up to 75% towards the cost of installation of a home electric car charging station like the EVBox Elvi home charger. This grant is only available for domestic properties. The charge point funding was introduced in 2014. Since then, it has funded up to 60,000 home EV charging points in the UK.
The grant is available for most plug-in pure electric cars and plug-in hybrid electric cars. However to be eligible for the grant, you will have to demonstrate ownership of an electric vehicle, installed an OLEV approved charge point, have off-street parking and used an OLEV approved charge point installer.
However only vehicles that have been approved as ultra-low emission vehicles by OLEV will be eligible for the grant. The EV should have been bought or leased after 1st October 2016. Moreover, for a leased vehicle, the lease must be at least for a period of 6 months. If your EV is not approved by OLEV or it is registered outside the UK, the grant will not be available.
The grant is available for a maximum of two EV home charging stations at a single residential address.
The electric car home charging grant is administered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and as of July 2019 only provides funding for ‘smart’ EV residential charging points. The UK government is keen to encourage innovation in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as part of its objectives outlined in the Road to Zero Strategy.
We at e-zoomed supply and install only smart electric car charging stations approved for the OLEV grant. We work with leading UK and European EV charging station manufacturers, to include, market leaders EVBox, Wallbox, PodPoint and Myenergi. For an installation quote simply follow this link.
We encourage consumers to only buy and install ‘smart’ EV charging points. You can take advantage of the OLEV grant and also future proof your purchase! You should also make certain that the installer is also approved by OLEV.
For the EV home charger to be approved for the OLEV grant, the EV charge point must meet a minimum standard. This guidance is for the charge point manufacturer to follow.
We expect a significant increase in installations of home EV charging points as we move into 2021 to meet the needs of the rapid growing EV consumer base. Moreover, the UK government has also made it mandatory for all newly built homes to include EV charging infrastructure.
EV Charging Cables
We at e-zoomed offer a wide variety of high quality and high performance electric car charging cables (type 2 and type 1), perfect for charging your electric car at home or at public EV charging stations.
