New changes to the OZEV Electric Vehicle Charging Grants
The Office for Zero-Emission Vehicles (OZEV) have announced some major changes to their electric vehicle charging schemes. These updates will be delivered in February 2022 via a new OZEV digital platform.
Changes to the Home Charging scheme (EVHS)
The current Electric Vehicle Home Charge Scheme (EVHS) will continue until the 31st March 2022. This is the date that the last application will be accepted for the current EVHS. Read about the EVHS scheme here.
The following aspect of the home charge scheme will stay the same:
Individuals living in flats (including leasehold flats) and rental accommodation will be eligible to:
Up to £350 is available towards the cost of installing a chargepoint.
It will be open to people living in either a flat or rental accommodation.
Only one application will be permitted per person.
The applicant must have a qualifying electric vehicle and their property must have dedicated off-street parking.
This will be provided through a new digital platform
The new scheme will include the following changes.
1. Non-resident building owners (including landlords and social housing providers) will be allowed to apply for an EVHS grant.
Up to £350 will be available per socket towards the cost of installing a chargepoint, with a limit of 200 applications per year per applicant
The applicant must be a registered business or a public authority. If they are a private entity, they may be registered with Companies House, have a VAT registration, or be a private registered provider of social housing.
The property must have associated private parking. There is no limit as to how many chargepoint sockets can be installed in each property (within the overall number of grants available).
This change means landlords can increase the value of their properties by installing up to 200 charge points per year at their properties. Installing EV charging to apartment blocks especially will make them
2. Additional help will be provided for apartment block owners to provide chargepoints to the building's associated parking.
Up to £30,000 will be available per building towards the cost of installing chargepoints, with a limit of 30 applications per year per applicant.
The amount of grant available per application will depend on how many parking bays are being provisioned with either a chargepoint socket (up to £850 available per bay) or supporting infrastructure for a chargepoint to be installed at a later date (up to £500 available per bay).
The applicant must be a registered business or a public authority. If they are a private entity, they may be registered with Companies House, have a VAT registration, or be a private registered provider of social housing.
The property must have associated private parking. There is no limit as to how many chargepoint sockets can be installed in each property (within the overall limit of £30,000 per property). A minimum of five bays must be provisioned, at least one of which must have a working chargepoint.
The allocation will be in addition to that available under the EVHS extension listed above.
This change makes it easier for companies who own apartment blocks to apply for grants to install EV charging in the associated parking. Beforehand, each apartment building owner would have to apply for their own grant. These changes mean that registered companies owning multiple apartment blocks can place a grant for each apartment block to install chargepoints, with up to £30,000 per building per year.
Changes to the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS):
1. Additional help for small and medium-sized enterprises to provide their staff or fleet car parks with EV charge points:
Up to £15,000 will be available per building towards the cost of installing charge points, with a maximum of 5 grants available.
The amount of grant available will depend on how many parking bays are being provisioned. If a bay is provisioned with a chargepoint, a grant of up to £850 will be available towards the cost of that (within the overall provision). If a bay is just provisioned with supporting infrastructure, a grant of up to £500 will be available towards the overall cost of installation.
The applicant must be a registered business with Companies House or hold a VAT registration, with less than 250 employees.
The business location must have associated private parking. There is no limit as to how many chargepoint sockets can be installed at each site (within the overall number of grants available). A minimum of 5 bays must be provisioned, at least one of which must have a working chargepoint.
The allocation will be in addition to that available under the current WCS.
This will be provided by a new digital platform for OZEV chargepoint grants (available early 2022).
This means that if you are a small or medium enterprise and you'd like to install electric vehicle charging for the staff or fleet charging, you can apply for a grant of up to £15,000 per building. This is in addition to the £350 that has been available through the workplace charging scheme so far.
2. Owners of commercially let properties to apply for a WCS grant to install charge points for the staff or fleet use of current or future business tenants:
up to £350 will be available per socket towards the cost of a chargepoint, with a limit of 100 applications per year per applicant.
The applicant must be a registered business or a public authority. If they are a private entity, they may be registered with Companies House, have a VAT registration.
The property must be a commercially let unit that has parking associated with it. The chargepoint must be installed in private parking that is reserved for staff or fleet use.
This will be provided by a new digital platform for OZEV chargepoint grants (available early 2022).
This means that if you own a commercial property and you rent it out, you can apply for a grant to install up to 100 electric vehicle chargepoints and increase the value of your property.
3. Small accommodation businesses (such as B&B’s and campsites) and charities access to WCS funding to provide charge points for guests or visitors:
up to £350 will be available per socket towards the cost of a chargepoint, with a maximum of 40 grants available.
The applicant must be a registered charity or an accommodation business that has less than 250 employees. The accommodation business must be registered business with Companies House or have a VAT registration.
The business site must have off-street parking, but it need not be limited to staff or fleet use.
This may be provided by an extension to the current WCS platform. It should be available in early 2022.
The following aspect of the home charge scheme will stay the same:
4. We will continue supporting businesses to install charge points for their staff and fleets using the current WCS digital platform:
up to £350 is available per socket towards the cost of a chargepoint, with a maximum of 40 grants available.
The applicant must be a registered business with Companies House or have a VAT registration.
The site must have private parking associated with it, wherein the chargepoint is located with private parking reserved for staff or fleet use.
Summary
Home Charge Scheme: The home charge scheme is no longer available to those who own their home (with or without a mortgage). Instead, the home charge scheme has changed to help:
Apartment building owners
Landlords & social housing providers
Individuals living in flats and rental accommodation
Workplace scheme: The workplace charging scheme is expanding to include more businesses and landlords. The scheme will be expanded to help:
Small accommodation businesses (such as B&B’s and campsites) and charities
Owners of commercially let properties
Owners of small and medium-sized enterprises
In addition to these changes, the process will be changing to a digital platform, which is expected to make applications for this grant easier and faster.
