The Government has announced today (June 14th) that the Plug-in Grant for electric cars has closed* and £300 million in grant funding will go towards funding electric vans, taxis and motorcycles in a bid to boost sales in those sectors.

The car Plug-in Grant has helped boost sales of fully electric cars from just 1,000 in 2011 to almost 100,000 in the first five months of 2022 alone! Battery and hybrid vehicles now make up more than half of all new car sales and full electric sales have risen by 70% in the last year. Due to this success, the Government is now refocusing funding to help accelerate sales of plug-in taxis, trucks, motorcycles and wheelchair-accessible vehicles where the switch requires further development.

The Government has already pledged to spend a further £1.6 billion on expanding the existing ChargePoint network, helping to reduce “range anxiety” and ensuring the switch to a zero-emission future can go ahead as planned.

* If you’ve ordered an electric car in the two days before the announcement you will still qualify for your Plug-in Grant, also if you’ve already applied for the grant all existing applications will be processed.

Tony Campbell, CEO of the MCIA had this to say “Although the announcement is positive news for the sector, we are still liaising with Government on what improvements to the current grant are needed to ensure the right stimulus package is available to the consumer and businesses.”

How much can we expect?

The Department for Transport have told us that electric mopeds and motorcycles will be eligible for a reduction of up to 35% of their purchase cost up to a maximum of £150 for mopeds and £500 for motorcycles. That’s still some way off the original Plug-in Grant incentive but will certainly help buyers.

You may remember that the Motorcycle Plug-in Grant payments were suddenly cut by up to 90% last December, meaning the discount for buying a new electric motorcycle/scooter was cut from £1500 to just £150. Hopefully, this latest u-turn will see a significant boost for manufacturers and dealers alike.

You can find out more about the scheme and qualifying vehicles here.