Getting started: grants, incentives and support

Switching to an ultra-low emission vehicle could make you major savings.

Compared to petrol or diesel, electricity is less than a third of the cost.

So travelling 100 miles will cost between £2 and £4 in an electric vehicle, compared to around £13 to £16 in a petrol or diesel vehicle.

The cost savings are greatest through an off-peak overnight electricity tariff.

The annual maintenance cost was also about 10% lower than for petrol or diesel cars in 2015, the latest year analysed.

To find out just how much you could save, Go Ultra Low offer a Journey Cost Savings Calculator.

Vehicles eligible for a grant

The government’s 2018 Road to Zero Strategy set a target of at least 50% of new car sales to be ultra-low emission by 2030.

A number of financial incentives are now available when purchasing an ultra-low emission vehicle.

The amount of the grant depends on which category the vehicle is in. The five categories are:

Cars
Vans
Motorcycles
Mopeds
Taxis

You do not need to do anything if you want to buy one of these vehicles - the dealer will include the value of the grant in the vehicle’s price.

Not all electric vehicles will get a grant. Only vehicles that have been approved by the government are eligible for a grant.

Full details of eligible vehicles are available on the Government website.

Cars

The government’s scheme will pay for 35% of the purchase price of vehicles with CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 112km (70 miles) without any CO2 emissions at all, up to a maximum of £3,500.

Motorcycles

The grant will pay for 20% of the purchase price for motorcycles, which have no CO2 emissions and can travel at least 50km (31 miles) between charges, up to a maximum of £1,500.

Mopeds

The grant will pay for 20% of the purchase price for mopeds, which have no CO2 emissions and can travel at least 30km (19 miles) between charges, up to a maximum of £1,500.

Vans

The grant will pay for 20% of the purchase price for vans, which have CO2 emissions of less than 75g/km and can travel at least 16km (10 miles) without any CO2 emissions at all, up to a maximum of £8,000.

Taxis

The grant will pay for 20% of the purchase price for purpose-built taxis which have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 112km (70 miles) without any CO2 emissions at all, up to a maximum of £7,500.

OLEV home charge point grant

If you plan on charging your vehicle at home, you could get £500 towards the cost of installing an authorised home charging unit.

Road tax

The way vehicle tax is calculated has changed for cars first registered with DVLA from 1 April 2017.

For the first year this is based on CO2 emissions. After that, the amount of tax to be paid depends on the fuel type of the vehicle. So by switching to a low emission vehicles, you’ll receive a road tax discount.

Pay no road tax for pure electric cars (costing less than £40,000).
Alternative fuel vehicles (which includes plug-in hybrids) get a £10 discount each year.