17 minute read
Grants & Incentives
from GreenFleet 141
by PSI Media
Sponsored by Grants & Incentives
Funding to support the switch to electric vehicles
There is various funding support for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, but with the criteria and focus changing often, we summarise the latest government grants to ease the switch to zero emission vehicles
Plug-in vehicle grants
The plug-in car grant ended earlier this year, with the government saying it had achieved its objective of stimulating the EV market. It has however retained a form of the grant for taxis, motorcycles, vans, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles.
The grant for small vans apply to vehicles that are less than 2,500kg gross vehicle weight, have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 60 miles with no emissions. The grant will pay for 35 per cent of the purchase price for small vans, up to a maximum of £2,500.
The grant for large vans meanwhile is for vehicles that are between 2,500kg and 4,250kg gross vehicle weight, have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km, and can travel at least 60 miles without any emissions at all. The grant will pay for 35 per cent of the purchase price for these vehicles, up to a maximum of £5,000.
The grant for taxis can be used on vehicles with CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km that can travel at least 70 miles without any emissions at all, such as the Dynamo Taxi and LEVC TX. The grant will pay for 20 per cent of the purchase price for these vehicles, up to a maximum of £7,500.
The grant for small trucks is for vehicles that are between 4,250kg and 12,000kg gross weight, with CO2 emissions of at least 50 per cent less than the equivalent conventional Euro VI vehicle that can carry the same capacity and can travel at least 60 miles with no emissions. The grant will pay for 20 per cent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £16,000.
Between 1 April to 31 March there are a limited number of grants available. These are 250 grants at the £16,000 rate and up to 10 grants per business or organisation at the £16,000 rate. If either of these limits are reached, the maximum a business or organisation can apply for is £5,000.
The maximum amount of plug-in van or truck grants a business or organisation can get each year is 1,000. The limits reset every year on 1 April.
For large trucks, the grants are for vehicles that are heavier than 12,000kg and have CO2 emissions of at least 50 per cent less than the equivalent conventional Euro VI vehicle that can carry the same capacity. They must be able to travel at least 60 miles with no emissions.
The grant will pay for 20 per cent of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £25,000. There are a limited number of grants available, which is 100 grants at the £25,000 rate and up to five grants per company or organisation at the £25,000 rate.
If either of these limits are reached, the maximum a business can apply for is £16,000. A business or organisation can get up to 10 grants at this rate. There are 250 grants of up to £16,000 available. After that, the maximum a business or organisation can apply for is £5,000.
A total of 1,000 plug-in van and truck grants can be applied for each year, and this limit resets every year on 1 April.
The workplace charging grant
The workplace charging grant covers up to 75 per cent of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV chargepoints and is capped at a maximum of £350 per sockets and 40 sockets across all sites per applicant. If you apply for less than 40 sockets, you can submit additional applications in the future until you reach that limit. The grant works as a voucherbased scheme, with successful applicants receiving a voucher code by email, which can then be given to the chargepoint installer, which has to be OZEV-authorised.
Once the chargepoints have been installed, the installer can claim the grant from OZEV on the applicant’s behalf. The chargepoint installation must be completed and the voucher claimed within six months of the voucher’s issue date.
The sites where the charge points are needed must have dedicated off-street E
There is no doubt that for organisations that depend on a predictable and steady flow of new vehicles, the huge drop seen in new vehicle production – and which looks likely to continue well into 2023 – is a huge challenge. Planning ahead and considering different mobility solutions is vital to keep operations moving.
Starting to think about the transition to zero also needs to be planned for carefully, and with partners that can be flexible to an organisation’s changing needs.
Every fleet manager we talk to wants to be able to transition to zero emissions in a manageable way and renting an electric vehicle makes sense for individuals and businesses – to cut their carbon footprint and to ‘try before they buy’.
Indeed, building on learnings from trying out a mix of different electric motoring options is becoming the big focus for many of the fleet managers we are talking to. Avoiding long-term commitments to leasing or outright purchase until they have a complete understanding of any impact on productivity, as well as identifying driver training that will make their mobility flow efficiently, is all part of the process.
Working collaboratively with a partner that takes a flexible, and long-term, view of an organisation’s mobility needs is, we believe, crucial. That’s why at Europcar Mobility Group UK, we are focusing on giving businesses of any size the chance to get on their journey to decarbonisation, with a level of flexibility that simply isn’t possible with traditional leasing or outright purchase.
Our solutions offer plenty of flexibility and, combined, with a growing fleet of low and zero emission vehicles, provide a great opportunity to have a real-world EV experience, which we believe is vital before making long-term fleet decisions. L
FURTHER INFORMATION
www.europcar.co.uk/business/electric
Ron Santiago, Managing Director, Europcar Mobility Group UK
parking, and either be owned by the applicant, or if not, have consent from the landlord.
Each site must have a minimum power supply of 3kW to each individual socket that is not diminished by their simultaneous use, and have no more than one socket installed for each accessible parking space.
Before applying, applicants are encouraged to discuss their needs with one or more authorised approved installers and identify which of the models on the approved chargepoint list they want to install.
They must undergo a site survey with an authorised installer to ensure the electrical capacity of the site can support the number of sockets for which they are applying.
If the applicant does not own or manage the land where they wish to install chargepoints, they must also secure the necessary permissions ahead of making an application. For example, if the applicant has access to off-street parking via a garage or private car park that is provided by a third party, they are eligible for the WCS provided the parking space meets all other eligibility criteria. If they do not own the parking space, however, they will be required to gain written permission from the landlord or owner.
The Workplace Charging Scheme is also open to charities and small accommodation businesses, such as hotels, B&Bs, campsites, recreational vehicle parks and trailer parks. They must have 249 employees or less to be eligible.
EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets
The EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets gives money towards the infrastructure needed for chargepoints, as well as for installing the chargepoints themselves. It is for small and medium sized companies, with 249 employees or less.
It is a different grant from the Workplace Charging Scheme, which does not help towards the cost of chargepoint infrastructure.
Businesses do not have to install all the chargepoints at once, but it allows them to plan for the future by creating infrastructure that can enable chargepoints to be installed later on.
A business can receive up to five grants in total. Each grant must be for a different site that the business owns, leases or rents.
The chargepoints installed must be exclusively for staff or fleet use and cannot be for visitor or guest use.
The grant supports the provision of chargepoints and future chargepoint locations where chargepoints may be installed at a later date. A minimum of five parking spaces must be provisioned with charging infrastructure, at least one of which must have a working chargepoint.
Businesses can get up to £500 for each parking space that will get charging infrastructure.
Each grant application can be for up to a maximum of £15,000. If more chargepoints are needed in addition to those provided by this grant, then the Workplace Charging Scheme may be used.
This grant covers the costs of installing the infrastructure needed for chargepoints to operate and for future chargepoints to be installed. It includes work like electrical connections at a metered electrical supply point, such as a consumer unit or feeder pillar, and dedicated, safe, and unobstructed routes for electrical cabling.
The work undertaken, and charging infrastructure provided, must ensure there is appropriate power for all the chargepoints and future connection locations. This may include power upgrades to the local supply or network; the implementation of load balancing solutions and upgrades to the building’s electrical control room. The charging infrastructure provided must include any additional earthing needed for the chargepoint and identification of any earthing locations needed for any future connection locations.
On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme
The On-Street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS) is for local authorities, and its aims is to increase the availability of on-street chargepoints in residential streets where off-street parking is not available.
The scheme is administered by the Energy Saving Trust, Cenex and PA Consulting. It provides up to a maximum of 60 per cent of project capital costs, down from the previous level of 75 per cent, although applications submitted to the Energy Saving Trust prior to 1 April 2022 are eligible for the higher level of funding.
All chargepoints installed through this scheme must have a minimum payment method, such as contactless, and be as accessible as possible.
The Plug-in Car grant ended earlier this year, with the government saying it had achieved its objective of stimulating the electric vehicle market. It has however retained a form of the grant for taxis, motorcycles, vans, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles, paying a percentage of the cost
Chargepoints may be installed on land not owned by a local authority. It is hoped this is particularly beneficial for rural local authorities, where community-owned land (for example, a village hall car park) is often well suited to providing charging infrastructure. This will be considered on a discretionary basis where it can be demonstrated that a lack of suitable local authority land poses a barrier to the installation of residential chargepoints. £20 million is allocated to this scheme for 2022 to 2023. Funding is for up to 60 per cent of eligible capital costs and the total funding provided will not exceed £7,500 per chargepoint unless electrical connection costs are exceptionally high. In these cases, funding up to £13,000 per chargepoint may be provided.
Capital funding will be provided for the installation of the chargepoints. The capital items that are eligible for claim are limited to the purchase cost of the chargepoint up to 22 kW; the purchase cost of electrical components related to the chargepoint, including distribution network operator (DNO) connection costs; and the cost of civil engineering works related to the installation. Labour and hardware costs of the installation are also included, and where applicable, the capital costs of a parking bay and traffic regulation orders.
Rapid charging fund
The rapid charging fund (RCF) is a £950 million fund to future-proof electrical capacity at motorway and major A road service areas to prepare the network for the mass adoption of electric vehicles. However, it is not yet open for applications.
When the fund opens, it will aim to help achieve the government’s vision for the rapid chargepoint network in England, which is to have at least six high-powered, open-access chargepoints (150-350 kW capable) at motorway service areas in England by 2023.
By 2030, the government expects around 2,500 high-powered, openaccess chargepoints across England’s motorways and major A roads, and by 2035, it expects around 6,000.
EV chargepoint grant
The EV chargepoint grant provides funding towards the cost of installing electric vehicle smart chargepoints at domestic properties across the UK. It replaced the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) on 1 April 2022.
The EV chargepoint grant is for anyone who owns and lives in a flat or rents any residential property. It covers up to 75 per cent of the cost to buy and install a chargepoint socket, up to £350 per grant.
The property must have its own private off-street parking space, and the person that will use the chargepoint must own a qualifying vehicle. L
FURTHER INFORMATION
Ecosystem of fleet solutions
From fleet management to telematics, AssetWorks has spent over 40 years perfecting its globally integrated cloud-based SaaS technology to provide an outstanding commitment to safety, compliance, efficiency, and sustainability. Their ecosystem of fleet solutions helps organisations control every asset-related interaction within the fleet management journey. AssetWorks leads over 575+ fleets into operational efficiency while achieving its sustainability goals.
Sponsoring the ‘Transition to Electric’ special was an opportunity to demonstrate how important data management is for transitioning fleets and why fleets shouldn’t fear transitioning. By harnessing data, AssetWorks customers have seen EVs becoming more cost-effective to run and maintain as well as seeing improvements in their preventative maintenance schedules.
Mike Gadd, AssetWorks, managing director shares: “Supporting companies like GreenFleet who are educating and helping fleets prepare for tomorrow is in AssetWorks DNA. No fleet should have to comprise their operational efficiency to become sustainable – it is all about using data to plan ahead.”
For modern fleets, investing in EVs is just the beginning. ‘A blended strategy of EV, as well as other alternative fuel types, must be the first step into managing carbon reduction. In the next five years, we may improve on EVs, but other alternative fuels have their place with heavy fleets. Without a doubt, battery technology is going to improve - the length and time of batteries’ capabilities and the marketplace is going to improve. It may not be the only powertrain for the future, but it is certainly the first step’ adds Gadd.
AssetWorks’ FuelFocusEV empowers fleet managers to transition their fleets while maintaining total control and visibility of their fleet data. AssetWorks industry-leading EV charging experts created an integrated software package to monitor, alert and record all relevant data from charging. AssetWorks software can help fleets embrace the EV technology of today while preparing for alternative fuels as they become the stronger solution to net zero. L
FURTHER INFORMATION
www.assetworks.co.uk communications@assetworks.com 0161 927 3680
Mike Gadd, managing director of AssetWorks
Understanding how and when to electrify your fleet
Within a decade, new ICE vehicles will no longer be sold in the UK. Deciding which of your vehicles to switch to electric, and when, can be a daunting project, especially when charging and automotive options and the resale value of ICE vehicles change frequently, together with government incentives. Tailoring an EV transition plan to suit your unique fleet operations, regularly reassessing that plan, and updating your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) illustration is key to success
The characteristics of your fleet
Every business’ fleet electrification plan should uniquely reflect the fabric of that business and the types of journeys that a fleet typically makes. This can differ wildly from business to business, and across industries and regions. Examine the following characteristics of your fleet to help you determine the best way to go electric.
Mileage. What is the longest single trip that each vehicle makes? EV range will be a factor for your business when choosing appropriate EV models. As well as the length of individual trips, examine roughly how many miles each vehicle will need to travel in a day. Choosing vehicles that exceed your daily range requirements will help drivers feel at ease and allow them to work without interruption. If longer trips are infrequent, consider those routes and the potential charging points along the way to help you decide whether a lower-range vehicle would suffice. There are some exceptions to this rule, which we’ll explore below.
Specification. Some businesses will easily be able to match EV models with their daily operations. If you require specialist or customised vehicles, these may be harder to find. In this situation, your plan could include electrifying part of your fleet now and transitioning the more specialised vehicles when more options become available to you. Make a note of what each vehicle needs to do, and importantly what it needs to carry, to form your payload criteria before you start looking for options.
Activity. Where each vehicle is parked overnight is equally as important as where it might stay parked for a substantial period during the day, as these are both options for charging locations. Also consider how many of your vehicles are kept in these areas. Could you address more than one vehicle’s charging needs with a single charger, or by installing a double charger in the same location? If you use a vehicle tracking system, examine your vehicle usage patterns, as this can help you to spot surprising charging opportunities and to economise.
Location. Public charging infrastructure is expanding at a rapid rate. Ensure you have the latest information to hand when listing your charging opportunities. Include convenient public chargers in your charging plan to limit your installation requirements, but incorporate the cost of using those public chargers in your forecast for a complete picture.
Drivers. Your drivers are the heart of your fleet operations and it’s critical to consider how an EV would impact their daily job. Communicate any changes to them and listen to their views and concerns, but also factor into your plan the more logistical characteristics of how they use your vehicles. For example, the vehicles may be shared between operatives, they may be taken home at night or currently permitted for personal use. Consider how an EV plan will accommodate or impact your employee vehicle policy and your drivers’ commutes or other working arrangements. You should also investigate whether it’s possible to install chargers in your drivers’ home locations.
Create an agile plan
Once you have examined the characteristics of your fleet profile and considered your unique requirements for an electric-powered operation, it is time to devise a feasible plan, select the best EV models for the job and understand the costs. This research could either be conducted by a consultant, by your leasing provider, or in-house.
At Quartix, we offer a comprehensive service that intelligently uses your GPS tracking data and third-party sources to create a recommendation for your fleet, presenting you with the latest options and minimising the work involved.
If you decide to do the research yourself, or pay a one-off fee for advice, keep in mind that the landscape is constantly changing, and the best recommendation today may be different tomorrow. Look for sources that can be refreshed to give you the latest information, and stay informed of government incentives too, so that you can make the most cost-effective decisions.
Illustrate the outcome
Remember the reasons why you are switching to electric. Illustrating emission reductions alongside your forecasted costs will show the difference this will be making, an achievement well worth celebrating with your team. Tools such as Quartix EVolve can illustrate a TCO forecast, and the fuel and emission reductions that your EV transition will result in, helping you put things into perspective with little effort. If you are calculating TCO independently, remember to include vehicle tax changes, vehicle depreciation, driving charges and electricity costs, for a holistic view encompassing all factors. L
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