The Government has announced a number of changes to the plug-in car and van grants, NFDA Chief Executive Sue Robinson commented.
This week, the Government announced changes to the Plug-in Car Grant (PICG), the Plug-in Van Grant (PIVG) and the Plug in Truck Grant (PITrG) rates and eligibility criteria. NFDA Chief Executive Sue Robinson said the decision to cut the grant is “extremely disappointing” as it “risks undermining the progress the UK has been making towards a zero-emission market in line with the 2030/2035 deadline set by the Government”.
She added: “The cost of the electric cars currently available on the market remain higher than their petrol or diesel counterparts and it is vital that buyers continue to be incentivised. Additionally, commercial vehicles keep the economy running, as the recent increase in LCV registrations demonstrates, and this reduction will have a significant impact on small businesses and sole traders.
“Sales of electrified vehicles have been performing well but they still represent a relatively small proportion of the overall market; the timing of the cut to the grant is unfortunate as a number of private customers are currently waiting for showrooms to reopen to get familiar with new types of vehicles, including EVs. NFDA has repeatedly highlighted that we must avoid a situation where the least well-off drivers are deterred from buying a new, low-emission vehicle when the time comes to replace their old one”.
The new terms apply from 07:00 on 18 March 2021. Dealers will be allowed to claim for any orders that were placed by customers in the 28 days before the grant change which were not logged on the portal. Any orders placed by customers between 00:01 on 18 February 2021 and 23:59 on 17 March 2021 before the grants changed that had not yet been logged on the portal, will be paid at previous rates and eligibility criteria.
Please note the changes outlined below, and what they mean for all portal users and your customers.
Plug-in Car Grant
Grant rates changed
- From 35% of purchase price, up to £3,000
- To: 35% of purchase price, up to £2,500
Eligibility criteria changed
From: Cars must cost less than £50,000. This is the recommended retail price (RRP), and includes VAT and delivery fees.
To: Cars must cost less than £35,000. This is the recommended retail price (RRP), and includes VAT and delivery fees (see full definition below)
Plug-in Van Grant (N1/Light Commercial Vehicles)
Grant rates changed
From: -20% of purchase price up to £8000
To: -35% of purchase price up to £3,000 for small vans < 2.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight (t GVW) and 35% of purchase price up to £6,000 for large vans 2.5-3.5t GVW
Eligibility criteria changed
From:
- Vehicles have CO2 emissions of less than 75g/km and can travel at least 16km (10 miles) without any emissions at all.
- Zero emission vans can travel at least 60 miles without any emissions at all
To:
- Eligible vans have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km
- Eligible vans and trucks can travel at least 96km (60 miles) without any emissions at all.
- Plug-in Truck Grant (N2 and N3 Trucks)
Plug-in Truck Grant (N2 and N3 Trucks)
Grant rates changed
From:
- 20% of purchase price, up to £20,000 for N2 and N3 trucks (first 200 ordered, limited to 10 per customer) – these caps did not reset each financial year (FY).
To:
- 20% of purchase price, up to £16,000 for small trucks (N2, >3.5t-12t GVW). For the first 250 ordered per FY, limited to 10 per customer.
- 20% of purchase price, up to £25,000 for large trucks (N3, >12t GVW). For the first 100 ordered per FY, limited to 5 per customer.
Nb. March 2021 is included in the allocation for FY21-22
Eligibility criteria changed
From:
- Trucks can travel at least 16km (10 miles) without any emissions at all.
- Zero emission trucks can travel at least 60 miles without any emissions at all
To:
- Trucks can travel at least 96km (60 miles) without any emissions at all.
Plug in Car Grant Price Cap
To be eligible for the Plug-in Car Grant, cars must now be priced below £35,000 RRP.
The definition of price includes:
- VAT, including VAT reclaimable by a business
- vehicle manufacturer dealer’s mandatory extras including delivery charges or administration fees
- the battery cost (including where the battery is leased)
- any non-standard option fitted by the manufacturer or dealer affecting the capacity of the battery, drive train configuration or maximum net power
and excludes:
- any non-standard option fitted by the manufacturer or dealer which does not affect the capacity of the battery, drivetrain configuration or maximum net power
- modifications such as ‘police packs’, ambulance/fire engine modifications
- modifications for disabled users
- warranty/insurance and service packages etc
- first registration fee and cost of first licence
- discounts (including rebates)
Where a vehicle model has a price range which straddles the cap only those variants/trim levels priced below the cap will be eligible for the grant. Variants or trim levels of eligible vehicles which are priced above the price cap are not eligible for the grant. Vehicles which are no longer eligible for the plug-in car or van grant following these changes are being deactivated on the plug-in grant portal with immediate effect.
Claiming for Orders Placed in the 28 days before Grant Changes
Dealers are encouraged to send any orders placed by your customers between 00:01 18 Feb 2021 and 23:59 17 March 2021 to your Vehicle Manufacturer contact. Vehicle Manufacturers are responsible for collating claims from dealers and sending to OZEV. Vehicle manufacturers will have until 5pm on 29 March to provide details to OZEV. Details should include the following:
- Vehicle make and model (please separate into those above and below the new price cap)
- Number of vehicles sold
- Dealer name and ID (where applicable)
- Order IDs (where applicable)
- Date of sale (Please provide copies of the purchase agreements to verify your claims (Government will be auditing in depth)
Once OZEV has received these details they will pass information to the portal administrators at DVLA who will manage the process of verifying, progressing and auditing claims. Where customer orders were placed for vehicles which are still eligible for the grant, please create orders on the portal as normal before vehicles are registered and pass details of these vehicles to OZEV via your vehicle manufacturer contact.
Further Details
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 10am today and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/plug-in-car... are invited to join our next EV Group meeting on 24 March at 10:30; if you would like to join us, please email nfda@rmif.co.uk
