The Government has withdrawn the plug-in car grant (PiCG), which was worth up to £1,500 off an EV costing less than £32,000, with immediate effect.
According to the Department for Transport (DfT), £300 million in grant funding will now be refocused towards extending plug-in grants to boost sales of plug-in taxis, motorcycles, vans and trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles, as announced in the autumn statement.
It adds that all existing applications for the PiCG will continue to be honoured.
The PiCG has helped increase the sales of fully electric cars from less than 1,000 in 2011 to around 100,000 in the first five months of 2022.
Battery and hybrid EVs now make up more than half of all new cars sold and fully electric car sales have risen by 70% in the last year, now representing 1 in 6 new cars joining UK roads.
Transport minister Trudy Harrison said, “The Government continues to invest record amounts in the transition to EVs, with £2.5 billion injected since 2020, and has set the most ambitious phase-out dates for new diesel and petrol sales of any major country.
“Having successfully kickstarted the electric car market, we now want to use plug-in grants to match that success across other vehicle types, from taxis to delivery vans and everything in between, to help make the switch to zero emission travel cheaper and easier.”
Mike Coulton, EV Consultant at Volkswagen Financial Services UK, said, “Whilst it should not come as a surprise to see the Government have brought to a close the PICG, it is nonetheless hugely disappointing that more is not being done to encourage and support lower-income households in the transition to EVs.”
