You can get a discount on the price of brand new low-emission vehicles through a grant the government gives to vehicle dealerships and manufacturers.
 
You do not need to do anything if you want to buy one of these vehicles - the dealer will include the value of the grant in the vehicle’s price.
 
Cars and Vans:
The maximum grant available for cars is £2,500. The grant will pay for 35% of the purchase price for small vans, up to a maximum of £3,000. The grant will pay for 35% of the purchase price for these vehicles, up to a maximum of £6,000.
 
Trucks:
These vehicles are between 3,500kg and 12,000kg gross vehicle weight, have CO2 emissions of at least 50% less than the equivalent conventional Euro VI vehicle that can carry the same capacity. They can travel at least 96km (60 miles) without any emissions at all: BD Auto eDucato (4.25 tonnes), FUSO eCanter, Paneltex Z75.
You can get a grant that covers 20% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £16,000. This grant is available for the first 250 orders placed. Grants at the £16,000 rate are limited to 10 per customer. After the 250 order limit is reached, a maximum grant rate of £6,000 will apply.
 
Chargers:
You can get up to £350 (including VAT) off the cost of installing a charger at home through the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme.
 
Vans are ideal for electric power as they normally take predictable routes, have frequent stops and often return to the same base each night where they can be recharged.
 
Reduced costs:
As well as the grant for buying an electric vehicles, businesses can benefit from significantly reduced fuel costs: 'With the average UK electricity price sitting at around 14p per kWh and if you assume an electric car will travel 3.5 miles per kWh on average, to travel 100 miles would cost around £4 or 4p per mile.' [edf energy .
 
Road tax:
Full electric cars are exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED).
 
Company vehicles:
You still have to pay Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax for electric company cars. Financial Year 2021/22 sees pure-electric models rated at 1% for BIK, and these rates rise to 2% for FY 22/23 and 23/24. Company van for private use, you pay a ‘benefit charge’ instead of company-car tax. This is £3,490 for normal vans, but employees pay 80 per cent of that figure on an electric van. Cars with CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km are also eligible for 100% first year capital allowances. This means with electric cars, you can deduct the full cost from your pre-tax profits. On a car costing around £40,000 this could amount to a tax relief of £7,600 in the first year.
 
Lower vehicle maintenance costs:
An electric car in comparison has a lot less to wear out, so maintenance costs can be as much as fifty percent less. EV range has now increased so it makes more sense to drive electric for business.
 
Exempt from London congestion charge:
Electric vehicles (EVs) will be required to pay the congestion charge from December 2025, as discounts for alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) are phased out from next year.
 
From 8 April 2019, only cars capable of achieving zero emissions – such as plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) – will be exempt from the Congestion Charge.
 
Keep up to date with E vehicle reviews at Fully Charged, the world’s number 1 clean energy & electric vehicle channel hosted by writer, broadcaster and actor Robert Llewellyn, Maddie Moate, Rory Reid, Helen Czerski, Chelsea Sexton and Andy Torbet.
 
Updated May 2021