The government has announced changes to the Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) meaning that the grant rate for pure electric vehicles will reduce from £4,500 to £3,500 and Plug-in Hybrids will no longer be eligible for the grant.
New grant rates will come into effect on Friday 9 November.
The government will now focus its support on zero emission models such as pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell cars.
The PICG was first introduced in 2011, designed to help stimulate the early market for ultra-low emission vehicles.
For the last seven years, the Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) has provided a discount to the price of over 160,000 new ultra-low emission vehicles.
With plug-in hybrid models such as the Mitsubishi Outlander becoming popular among consumers, the government is focussing its attention to zero emission models such as the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3.
The government says that plug-in hybrid vehicles are among the cleanest on the road, and can deliver significant CO2 savings compared to petrol/diesel cars; these vehicles will continue to receive support through lower car tax rates, grants for charging infrastructure and local incentives (such as free parking).
The government has rolled out Plug-In Van and Motorcycle grants available to both private and business buyers across the UK.
Following the Last Mile call for evidence, and in light of evidence from other countries, a £2 million fund is planned. This will contribute 20% of the purchase price of new e-cargo bikes, up to a threshold of £5,000. Funding will be conditional on individual businesses following a code of cycle safety good practice.
This new fund will help to cut congestion and improve air quality, encouraging companies to replace older, polluting vans with a zero emission alternative to create a cleaner, greener future. Money will be split between larger fleets and smaller operators to ensure benefits are available to and spread between all sizes of business.
Category 1 vehicles have CO₂emissions of less than 50g/km and a zero emission range of at least 70 miles.
Category 2 vehicles have CO₂emissions of less than 50g/km and a zero emission range between 10 and 69 miles.
Category 3 vehicles have CO₂emissions of 50 to 75g/km and a zero emission range of at least 20 miles.
The changes to the grant announced will mean:
The grant rate for Category 1 vehicles will reduce from £4,500 to £3,500.
Category 2 and 3 vehicles will no longer be eligible for the grant.
New grant rates will come into effect on Friday 9 November.
The new grant rate for category 1 vehicles will be set at £3,500 to reflect the recent reductions in the price of electric vehicles – Category 1 vehicles have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 70 miles without any CO2 emissions from the tailpipe.
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