Four more electric cars qualify for Labour’s £3,750 discount scheme – but will

A week after the Chancellor announced that electric car owners would incur pay-per-mile taxation, the Government has confirmed that four new EVs have qualified for the full discount amount in its grant scheme designed to drive sales. 

The Department for Transport today said the Mini Countryman and long-range versions of the Alpine A290 and Renault’s 4 and 5 EVs have all met its stringent sustainability criteria and will be awarded a £3,750 discount off their retail prices with immediate effect.

Rachel Reeves in her Autumn Budget statement last Wednesday confirmed a further £1.3billion in funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG) to extend its availability until 2029-30. It had originally been propped up by a taxpayer backed £650million investment.

Ministers say the grant will ‘help to tackle upfront costs’ of purchasing EVs, which is ‘traditionally one of the biggest barriers to uptake’.

However, Reeves also confirmed in last week’s Budget an electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) charge of 3p per mile for EVs owners – and 1.5p for drivers of plug-in hybrid cars – will be levied from 2028, which motor industry insiders say could cripple demand.

Since the grant debuted in July, over 40,000 customers have reportedly taken advantage of lower electric car prices, according to the DfT.

The DfT has today confirmed that four new models will qualify for its full £3,750 Electric Car Grant. But will it stimulate demand after recently announcing pay-per-mile taxation for EVs from 2028?

In total, there are now 40 different electric models that are eligible for the ECG.

However, just eight – 20 per cent – are subject to receiving the full £3,750 discount allowance.

The remaining EVs receive a reduced grant of £1,500 having failed to meet the scheme’s strict sustainability requirements.

Car makers must prove the emissions produced during the battery’s manufacturing, the vehicle’s assembly, and the carbon intensity of the electric grids in the countries where the car is made when applying for grants.

The ruling on sustainability has seen all Chinese brands excluded from the scheme so far, while no EVs from Korean manufacturers are yet to meet the eligibility criteria either.

The scheme offers buyers money off new all-electric models that are sustainably manufactured and priced at – or under – £37,000.

A certain threshold (which has not been confirmed by the DfT) needs to be met to qualify as a ‘Band 1’ model and the full £3,750 subsidy. Models failing to meet this benchmark will be deemed ‘Band 2’ and only receive a £1,500 discount. 

Ministers say the aim if the ‘targeted’ scheme is to make ‘affordable’ EVs even more appealing to private buyers by reducing their prices further to make them more attainable.

The Renault 5+ with the larger 52kW battery pack has qualified for the full £3,750 ECG discount. This is because it meets a higher sustainability criteria due to its batteries being sourced from Renault Group’s newly opened Douai gigafactory

The batteries used in the Renault 4+ (also qualifying for the full ECG) are produced at its gigafactory in the ‘sustainability-focused Electri-city car production hub’ in northern France

The Alpine A290+ – which is based on the Renault 5+ – has also qualified for the £3,750 discount

While the Alpine A290, Renault 4 and Renault 5 with the smaller 40kW batteries had already qualified for the band 2 discount, the variants with the long-range 52kW battery pack are now confirmed as receiving the full £3,750 band 1 saving.

This is because the latter are fitted with batteries sourced from Renault Group’s newly opened Douai gigafactory, and which is run in partnership with AESC, and part of the ‘sustainability-focused Electri-city car production hub’ in northern France. 

‘The awarding of the top-tier £3,750 Electric Car Grant is great news for customers who are thinking about switching to electric,’ said Adam Wood, managing director of Renault Group UK. 

‘Renault 5 and Renault 4 are multi award-winning vehicles thanks to their unique blend of head and heart appeal and, now, thanks to the added incentive of top tier Electric Car Grant, they are more accessible than ever.’

He added: ‘We are pleased to see that our focus on environmental accountability and investment in made-in-Europe battery manufacturing has been recognised by the awarding of the top-tier Electric Car Grant. 

‘Since the grant was introduced we have seen momentum build in the market, and this decision will further boost the UK’s rising EV sales even further.’

Prices for Renault 5+ models eligible for the grant will now start from £23,945, while the bigger-battery Renault 4+ range is priced from £23,445 including the ECG discount.

While first deliveries of the new Alpine A290+ won’t arrive until…