Following the establishment of the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), the UK has become one of the few governments with a comprehensive strategy for national electrification. In 2018, OZEV published the Road to Zero strategy with a £290m budget toward cleaner road transport. Out of that budget is £80m set aside for improving the EV charging infrastructure, some of which you might be entitled to when it comes to installing new charge points.
As of 27th September 2022, OZEV has launched a series of schemes focusing on charge point funding grants for a number of different purposes and type of charge point installation applicants. These grants are offered namely to destination chargers, however, there is also funding available for public authorities to install on-street charge points.
Note: Be sure to check the latest and upcoming regulations to ensure you'll be installing chargers that meet the government guidelines to avoid any required upgrades in the near future. A reputable installer should be able to advise on this, but it is always best to fully understand your investment.
There are grants available to landlords wishing to install charge points on their rental properties, as well as grants for those who rent or own a flat that might struggle with installation on their property. However, we will focus on the larger scale grant opportunities offered by OZEV:
Workplace Charging | Staff & Fleets | Super Deductions | Residential Car Parks | On-Street Residential Chargers
The Workplace Charging Scheme
The Workplace Charging Scheme offers businesses, charities, and public sector organisations grant funding of up to 75% of the total costs, including VAT, of purchasing and installing EV charge points.
However, there are limitations to how much you can claim, with a cap of £350 per socket (note that some charge points have more than one charging socket), as well as it will only cover up to 40 sockets across all sites per applicant. If you have multiple sites, you will need to consider how many sockets will be required to be funded, but, if you apply for less than 40 sockets, you are allowed to submit further applications in the future for more funding until you have reached this limit.
Once your funding application is approved, you will be sent a voucher code that can be redeemed through an authorised installer within 6 months of receiving your voucher.
Grant to install charge points for your staff and fleets
The EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets is a scheme aimed at small to medium sized UK businesses. The grant will cover up to 75% of the cost of installing the entire infrastructure needed for charge points to operate in your existing business premises, as well as the costs in installing any charge points. These charge points must be available on your premises as off-street locations, and the installed infrastructure must support a minimum of five parking spaces and have one working charge point.
Though the limit is a generous £15,000 per grant, it might be surprising to find out how quickly the costs will add up and you wind up reaching the cap. Each charge point socket (remember, some charge points have more than one socket) you could be granted £350. In addition to this, you could receive £500 per parking space enabled with charging access.
For a small or medium sized business, this kind of financial support to establish an EV charging infrastructure for staff and fleets could be monumentally beneficial, and it can hopefully push more businesses to transition to an EV infrastructure.
Super Deductions for Workplace EV Chargers
Until the end of March 2023, the government is offering a super-deduction tax incentive that can be utilised when purchasing and installing charge points to your business premises as well as fleet vehicles such as vans and lorries. These companies can claim 130% of their capital allowances on the qualifying machinery in the first year.
In summary, when under the super-deduction scheme, every pound a company invests in qualifying machinery, their taxes are cut by 25p. This includes a number of other qualifying plant and machinery investments that could be used to improve struggling businesses after the impacts of the COVID pandemic. Other qualifying machinery includes solar panels, computer equipment and servers, office equipment, and other larger plant machinery.
Residential car park charge points
OZEV also offers incentives to landlords and residential management companies to install EV infrastructures in their residential carparks. This grant covers up to 75% of the cost of installing the infrastructure and charge points. These charge points must be available in your residential carpark as off-street locations, and the installed infrastructure must support a minimum of five parking spaces and have one working charge point.
The scheme has an impressive £30,000 limit per grant application, which can be added up from receiving £350 per charge point socket installed, as well as £500 per parking space. Each parking space must be either associated with a unique installed charge point or set up within the infrastructure to allow for a future charge socket to be installed.
On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme
To encourage more local authorities, such as city and town councils, to assist in enabling the transition to EVs in their local area, OZEV has allocated £30 million of funding in 2022 and 2023 for the On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme. There is even a push for residential streets to move toward being “future proof” by promoting that new lampposts include charge sockets to allow for drivers with on-street parking to have access to the EV charging infrastructure in their area.
The funding is offered up to 60% of the capital costs up to £7,500 per charge point. Though, exceptions can be made due to extraneous electrical connection costs, in which the government is willing to offer a substantial £13,000 per charge point.
Note: This scheme requires charge points to be equipped with minimal payment systems, such as contactless, so it is important to consider this when budgeting for charge points. Contactless will soon become a standard due to upcoming regulations, so it is essential to shop for your chargers accordingly.
The application for this grant is a bit more complex, as it is assessed and approved by project, however, it is a great scheme with lots of funding available to help grow the country’s EV charging infrastructure. There is support available, such as the Energy Saving Trust, to local authorities to research, develop delivery plans for an EV infrastructure, applications for grants, and even assist in market testing to drum up investing CPOs to help subsidize capital costs.
We pride ourselves here at Fuuse in offering a robust, easy to use, innovative platform for your EV chargers. Learn more about what we can offer your organisation by getting in touch with our expert team.
