ANDREW Stephenson MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, confirmed the revised Plug-in Car Grant will be with us in its current format until at least 2020.
Speaking to the 200 guests at the BVRLA organised Parliamentary Reception (June 18, 2019) Mr Stephenson also added: “On a personal note, I hope further than that too.”
The event was organised by the BVRLA to highlight its ‘report card’ on the Government’s Road to Zero strategy, which was very much in the ‘could do better category’.
The BVRLA highlighted:
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Lack of clarity on tax policy is holding back large fleet buyers from going electric.
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Lack of charge point access means still too many rapid charge point ‘blackspots’ along with inability to roam between different charging networks.
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Lack of example – the Government has set a target to make 25% of its car fleet ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVs) by 2022, but so far it’s only 2%.
The current plug-in car grant, revised in October 2018, is worth £3500 for cars with CO2 emissions below 50g/km and which can travel at least 70 miles in zero emission mode.
The grant will pay for 35% of the purchase price for such zero emission vehicles, capped at £3500.
For vans the grant criteria is slightly different. The grant will pay for 20% of the purchase price up to a maximum of £8000.
Van CO2 emissions must be below 75g/km and able to travel at least 10 miles without any emissions at all. It means, for example, vehicles such as the plug-in electric hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander Commercial qualifies for the grant.
Controversially, the Government withdrew the grant for plug-in electric hybrid cars in October 2018.
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