As a market leader in EV charge point system design and installation having installed more than 10,000 charge points throughout the UK, Project Better Energy advises its customers not only on which type of charge points will best meet their needs, but also which government grants are the right ones to apply for, for them. After all, by tapping into these grants as much as 75% of the hardware and installation costs can be covered rendering it highly affordable for businesses of all sizes to offer EV charge points to employees, suppliers and visitors alike.
- Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) - for all sizes of business
The WCS offers up to 75% of the total cost of the purchase and installation of EV charge points capped at a maximum of £350 per socket to a maximum of £14,000 – thus covering 40 sockets across all sites per applicant.
This scheme is open to public sector organisations, charities and businesses of all sizes. It can even support micro businesses registered at your home. So, as long as your business is registered at your home address and you are operating from there to some degree then this Scheme can subsidise EV charge point installations there. Project Better Energy can help you with the application process and then help you select the right charging option(s) before configuring and installing it for you.
- Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) - for state-funded education institutions
The WCS for state-funded schools offers significant financial support for installing EV charge points. Here are the key details:
-Funding: The grant covers 75% of the cost to buy and install EV charge points, up to a maximum of £2,500 per socket.
-Maximum Sockets: You can receive funding for up to 40 sockets across all sites, including any previous applications made through the WCS.
-Eligibility: State-funded schools, nurseries, and academies in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are eligible.
-Application Period: The scheme is open until 31st March 2025 but is highly likely to be extended by DESNZ especially following the Clean Power 2030 Action plan recently released to great fanfare and evidence that adoption of EVs by consumers is running behind Government target to stop all non EV new car sales by 2030.
-Additional Benefits: Installing EV charge points can help reduce your school's carbon footprint, attract talent, and potentially generate revenue by offering public charging services for visitors and those living in flats locally, during off-peak hours.
- EV charge point grant – for commercial landlords
For installing charge points for EVs at a property you own, an EV charge point grant gives you money off the cost of installing an electric vehicle charge point socket. You can get either £350 or 75% off the cost to buy and install a socket, whichever amount is lower.
Each financial year, you can get up to:
-200 grants for residential properties
-100 grants for commercial properties
These can be across several properties and installations or for one property. It is clearly ideal for property developers, construction firms and commercial landlords.
4.EV infrastructure grant – ideal for SMBs with up to five offices around the country
The EV infrastructure grant can cover the cost of wider building and installation work that’s needed to install multiple charge point sockets.
The work can be for sockets you want to install now and to help pay for upgrades of fuse boards and other infrastructure equipment designed to support future EV charge point bays. You can get up to £30,000 or 75% off the cost of the work. The amount depends on how many parking spaces the work covers. You can currently get up to 30 infrastructure grants each financial year. Each infrastructure grant must be used for a different property.
So, for SMBs (Small and Medium-sized Businesses) you might choose to apply for an EV infrastructure grant to put in two EV charge points immediately and set up the electrical infrastructure for a further three for when this capacity is needed at some point in the near future.
The grant will pay for £350 per charge point socket that is installed and actively in use, and £350 per sockets that is ‘prepared for installation’ but not yet in use. In addition, this covers the broader infrastructure needed to support these charge points (e.g., wiring, posts) and you can receive up to £500 per ‘parking space enabled’ with this infrastructure. So, if you have 5 charge points with two made live immediately and a further three prepared to install, the grant can cover up to £1,750 for the live sockets and £1,050 for the prepared sockets, totalling £2,800 per site.
If you have four other offices around the country served by car park spaces, you could collect that same subsidy for each of those four to a total value of £14,000. Project Better Energy has already assisted several of its SMB customers to go live with two EV charge points for the early adopters and make ready to offer charging capacity to three more spaces when the time is right. You cannot apply for this grant if you are a commercial landlord – it is for business owners only.
Project Better Energy has recently completed EV charge point installations for nine schools in Cornwall and several others around the country. We can help you pick the grant scheme which works best for you and advise you on which type of charge point to install today or prepare to install in the future as demand rises.
