Finance and more

Road tax, officially known as Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), is calculated based on the CO₂ tailpipe emissions of your vehicle, its list price and which year it was registered in.

• Pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are exempt from VED.
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) pay reduced VED.
• Any vehicle (excluding BEVs) with a list price of £40,000 or above will incur an additional premium rate for 5 years (starting from the second time the vehicle is taxed).

Insuring an electric car is as easy as insuring a car with an internal combustion engine, although it still costs slightly more.

• Most major insurers like Aviva, Direct Line and Admiral now cover electric cars.
• Electric car insurance is more expensive than conventional insurance, due to the need for specialist parts and servicing.
• There are specialist electric car insurance companies that offer tailored policies for low emissions vehicles.

Electric drive trains have far fewer moving parts than internal combustion engines (ICE), meaning that electric car service costs are much lower when compared to ICE vehicles.

Despite that, they do still require some regular maintenance that incurs cost, such as:

• Tyres and brakes
• Windscreens, wiper blades and washer fluid
• Battery repair or replacement (rare!)
• General wear and tear

Company car tax, officially known as Benefit in Kind Tax (BiK), is calculated based on the P11D value of the vehicle, its CO₂ tailpipe emissions and the employee’s income tax band.

• The BiK tax rate is set by HM Treasury and usually collected through your PAYE (pay-as-you-earn).
• You can make considerable savings by choosing a low or zero emissions plug-in vehicle over an equivalent petrol or diesel vehicle.
• Preferential BiK rates until at least 2025 make pure battery and efficient plug-in hybrid electric vehicles more compelling than ever.

There are a range of business models that can be applied to electric vehicle charging points, each suited to a different business objective.

They include:

• Loss leader model; offer free charging to attract drivers.
• Cost recovery; set a usage fee to cover the cost of your chargepoints.
• Profit making; set a usage fee that covers your costs and generates profit.
• Fully funded; a network operator funds the installation of your chargepoints, with conditions on their operation.

With the push to transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and leave the internal combustion engines (ICE) in the past, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) is offering a range of grants to help make the switch more cost-effective and easier.

As the number of grants increases, and frequently gets updated, it can get confusing. What grants apply to which situation, and how do you check if you’re eligible?

The UK plug-in vehicle grant is administered by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV). It is designed to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles in the UK by reducing the initial cost to drivers.

• It offers up to £500 off the price of eligible motorcycles, £150 off eligible mopeds, and up to £5,000 off eligible vans (£2,500 for small vans).
• It is only available on the greenest plug-in models.
• The grant is typically applied for by the vehicle manufacturers on the customers behalf and acts as a straightforward discount to the list price.
• The plug-in grant for cars ended on 14th June 2022.

In the context of home charging, the “OZEV Grant” refers to a government grant for electric car home chargers, provided by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).

• The OZEV EV chargepoint grant provides up to £350 off the cost of purchasing and installing a home charging point.

• You can only claim one chargepoint per eligible vehicle and household.

• The grant is available for people who live in a rented property or own a flat with dedicated off-street parking.

• Your landlord or property manager may also be able to claim up to an additional £500 per bay (up to 60 bays) towards the cost of installing infrastructure for you and your neighbours via the EV infrastructure grant for residential car parks.

• OZEV also offers grants for businesses to reduce the cost of installing EV infrastructure for staff and fleet parking.

The Motability scheme allows disabled people to exchange their mobility allowance for a new car, scooter or wheelchair.

• There are several plug-in vehicles available under the scheme.
• You can claim the motability scheme by speaking to your car dealership.
• By choosing an electric vehicle, you can save up to £1,000 a year in running costs.
• The government grant from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) is available for homeowners who live in flats and people in rental accommodation.

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a grant that businesses can use to reduce the cost of installing electric vehicle chargepoints for their staff.

• The WCS grant is capped at £350 per chargepoint socket up to a maximum 40 sockets per applicant business.
• It's available to any businesses, charity, public authority, or small accommodation business with some conditions.
• The grant is provided by the government's Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).
• There is also an infrastructure grant for staff and fleets, to help small and medium sized businesses install the infrastructure they need for chargepoints.
• Also available is the commercial landlord grant, which helps to reduce the cost of installation for owners of residential or commercially let properties.

The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme provides grant funding for local authorities to install on-street charging points for use by electric vehicle drivers in their area.

• The scheme provides up to £7,500 towards a chargepoint.
• It is designed to provide charging infrastructure for electric car drivers who can’t have a home charger installed.
• Funds are made available to local authorities to install the charging infrastructure.