The price cap for passenger cars that are eligible for the grant has been reduced from £35,000 to £32,000, with the grant itself reduced from £2,500 to £1,500. Commercial vehicles are also affected, with the large van grant falling from £6,000 to £5,000, while the incentive for small vans falls from £3,000 to £2,500. Van grants are also restricted to no more than 1,000 in one year, for any one company. Wheelchair-accessible vehicles will retain the current £2,500 grant and £35,000 price cap. 

The Government’s list of remaining eligible cars will be published this afternoon, but will include the MG5, Peugeot e-208, Vauxhall e-Corsa, Renault Zoe and lower-spec versions of the Nissan Leaf and MG ZS EV. 

In the e-mail to the industry, the Government defended the move saying it “has a responsibility to manage the grant budget and deliver value for money for taxpayers and, as signalled to the industry following the March 2021 grant changes, has therefore been unable to provide notice ahead of the grant changes.”

One concession is that orders placed in the last seven days before the changes made on December 15th 2021 will retain the higher previous grant aid and maintain the eligibility criteria. But, for firms considering the move into electric vehicles for their fleets, the reduction in grants could prove very costly.