24th December 2021

Changes to the OLEV and plug-in grants

ev charging grants

There are some changes to the OLEV and plug-in grants, which can affect drivers switching to zero and low emission vehicles.

What is OLEV grant:  The OLEV grant refers to a government grant for electric car home chargers, offered by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). It provides up to £350 off the cost of purchasing & installing a home charging point.

The OLEV Home charge point grant will end on 31st March 2022 and can’t be claimed after this date.

To qualify, you should have purchased an EV or plug-in hybrid (C02 emissions must be below 50g/km), have off street parking, install an approved charge point and have the installation completed by 31st March 2022.

What is the Plug-In Grant: It is a grant provided by the government to help reduce the price of brand new low-emission vehicles. You do not need to apply for it – the value of the grant will be included in the vehicle’s price.

On 15th December 2021 the government announced an immediate change to the rates and eligibility criteria for the Plug-In Car Grant and the Plug-in Van Grant.

An overview of these changes have been listed by the BVRLA:

  • The Plug-in Car Grant has been cut from £2,500 to £1,500 and also excludes models that cost more than £32,000.
  • The Plug-in Car Grant will remain at £2,500 – and £35,000 – for vehicles converted to wheelchair accessible (subject to limits).
  • The Plug-in Van Grant has been cut to a maximum of £2,500 for small vans (< 2.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight) and £5,000 for large vans (2.5t-3.5t GVW).
  • Each business, organisation or individual may receive up to 1,000 plug-in van grants each financial year (1 April to 31 March). These limits apply to end customers and not to lease companies.
  • There are no changes to grant rates for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.
  • The new terms apply from 07:00 on Wednesday 15 December 2021. The portal has been suspended while these changes are made.
  • The guidance on the gov.​uk website will be updated to reflect the new grant rates and eligibility criteria. A revised list of vehicles which are now eligible for the grants will be available after 12 noon on 15 December 2021.
  • Dealers and manufacturers will be able to claim for any orders that were placed by customers in the seven consecutive days before the grant rate change which had not been logged on the portal. This means that any orders placed by customers between 00:01 on 08 December 2021 and 23:59 on 14 December 2021 before the grants rate changed that had not yet been logged on the portal will be paid at previous rates and eligibility criteria.

You can find out more information and BVRLA’s response here.