Electric vehicle marketers are facing a new challenge now that the UK government’s Office of Low Emission Vehicles is reducing – from 1 September – home recharge point subsidies of 75% of the cost to a maximum of GBP900 from GBP1,000.
Householders must also now be able to provide evidence of ownership of, or access to, a plug-in vehicle in order to be able to qualify for the grant.
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British Gas, a major supplier of boxes linked to the O2 mobile phone network for monitoring, now says on its website: “Further to the Office of Low Emission Vehicles’ recent announcement to reduce the subsidised funding for electric vehicle home charge points, we can no longer offer a charging point free of charge. Our new price for a subsidised charging point is GBP115 (including VAT) for the 16 amp data-enabled charging point (4.5m cable) with a recommended connector that’s most suitable for your own specific vehicle. Other options including 30A and non tethered units are also available.”
Chargemaster is continuing to offer a free, fully installed, 3kW charging unit until 31 March, 2015 with a 7kW unit available for GBP95 including VAT.
Nissan has a range of offers ahead of the 1 September change that range in price from GBP50 to GBP125. It also offers a faster on-board charger option for its Leaf EV.
But Renault said it would still include a 7kW wall box with its Zoe EV, installed for free at domestic properties in the UK, and claimed to be worth GBP214.
