6:45 am, November 24, 2025
The government is set to unveil another £1.3bn to support the Electric Car Grant (ECG) in this week’s Budget, along with extra cash to speed up the roll-out of new charging points.
The incentive scheme to drive consumers into brand new EVs was launched in July, and sees just under 40 cars being eligible for discounts of £1,500 or £3,750.
Only four cars so far qualify for the maximum £3,750 saving as they fall into the ECG’s Band 1 bracket, which is for cars with the lowest CO2 manufacturing footprint.
When it was lunched in July, the ECG had an initial fund of £650m. But another £1.3bn is expected to be injected into the pot, along with more cash for charging points, and the publication of a consultation on assisting people without driveways to charge their cars, reported the BBC.
The extra funding is expected to be revealed in this week’s Budget, where it’s also thought electric car drivers could be slapped with a pay-by-mile charge in the future.
The government says the ECG has so far helped 35,000 people switch to EVs.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, transport secretary Heidi Alexander said subsidising sales of electric vehicles would support wider economic growth.
‘This is an investment in the country’s future… and the good quality manufacturing jobs associated with that,’ she said, using Nissan building the new Leaf in Sunderland as an example.
‘So making sure that we are enabling people to buy a new electric vehicle if that’s what they want to do, whilst also investing in charging infrastructure, it is the right long-term decision.’
The government is also expected to unveil an extra £200m for supercharging the rollout of EV charging points.
It said: ‘The proposed funding will support the creation of thousands of charge points and provide extra resources for local authorities to ramp up charging infrastructure on local streets – making it easier for everyone to access reliable charging, including those without off-street parking.’
A consultation is also expected to be published on ‘Permitted Development Rights to make it easier and cheaper for people without a driveway to charge’.
Commenting on the extra investment to support the switch to EVs, AA president Edmund King said: ‘The initiatives to boost EV take up are going in the right direction but we just hope that speculation about EV “pay as you go” doesn’t stall this progress.
‘Drivers accept that EV owners should pay their way but the timing of current speculation about a scheme that may be introduced in three years isn’t really helping.
‘Ultimately, we probably need a fundamental review of all motoring taxation to set it on a fair basis that doesn’t discriminate against rural and disabled drivers.’
Which cars get £3,750 saving?
- Citroen e-C5 Aircross Long Range
- Ford E-Tourneo Courier
- Ford Puma Gen-E
- Nissan Leaf
Which cars get the £1,500 saving?
- Alpine A290
- Citroen e-C3, Citroen e-C3 Aircross and Citroen e-C3 Urban Range
- Citroen e-C4 and Citroen e-C4 X
- Citroen e-C5 Aircross
- Citroen e-Berlingo
- Citroen e-SpaceTourer
- Cupra Born
- DS DS3
- DS N°4
- Mini Countryman Electric
- Nissan Ariya
- Nissan Micra
- Peugeot E-208
- Peugeot E-2008
- Peugeot E-308
- Peugeot E-408
- Peugeot E-Rifter
- Peugeot E-Traveller
- Renault 4
- Renault 5
- Renault Megane
- Renault Scenic
- Skoda Elroq
- Skoda Enyaq
- Toyota Proace City Verso
- Vauxhall Astra Electric
- Vauxhall Combo Life Electric
- Vauxhall Corsa Electric
- Vauxhall Frontera Electric
- Vauxhall Grandland Electric
- Vauxhall Mokka Electric
- Vauxhall Vivaro Life Electric
- Volkswagen ID.3
- Volkswagen ID.4
- Volkswagen ID.5
