For the past few years, electric car owners have benefited from government support to buy their new chargepoints. But all this is set to change early next year.
The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) grant, or the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) as it’s officially known, is closing to most homeowners.
It’s done its job, as the UK now has at least 300,000 private residential chargers (as well as over 26,000 public charging stations). Additionally, the government plans to make EV chargepoints compulsory in new build properties with parking spaces.
Existing grant closure details
Up till now, the OZEV grant has offered up to 75% (max. £350) towards the cost of installing an EV chargepoint. This was for owners of an eligible electric vehicle, with off-street parking, for a smart charger by an OZEV approved installer.
But from April 2022, this scheme will no longer be open to owners of single unit properties (e.g. detached, semi-detached or terraced houses).
Who will still be eligible?
The existing chargepoint grants will only be available for people living in flats (freehold and leasehold) or rental accommodation. The value of the grant will remain the same, and you will still need to have an eligible EV and dedicated off-street parking.
The scheme will also be open to non-resident owners (i.e. landlords) for up to £350 per socket, with a maximum of 200 applications per person per year. You must be a registered business or public authority, and the property must have associated parking.
What this means for Spirit installs
At Spirit, we only install EV chargepoints at the same time as new solar PV systems.
Installations eligible for the current scheme must be completed by 31 March 2022 and the claim submitted to the DVLA by 30 April 2022.
Given that we install the chargepoint at the same time as the PV, the lead time is about 3 months due to the solar DNO application. Therefore we won’t be selling projects with an OZEV grant included from January 2022, as the vast majority of our clients won’t be eligible anymore.
