7:59 am, July 14, 2025
The Government finally appears set to answer industry calls for more EV incentives, with reports in the national media claiming the ‘final touches’ are currently being put on a £700m subsidy scheme.
A report in The Times over the weekend said that Whitehall officials have been working on a package, worth hundreds of millions of pounds, aimed at reducing the purchase costs of EVs.
It is expected that up to £700m of public funds will be set aside in order to be used for for subsidies or grants for electric car buyers.
An official announcement is now said to be likely over the next week, effectively replacing the plug-in car grant which was axed under the Tories in 2022.
While the Times does say that the plans are yet to receive final sign off, the measures are likely to be met with approval from the automotive industry, which has long been calling for help in incentivising electric vehicles.
Elsewhere, Labour is also set to pump an additional £25m into improving home charging for people without driveways.
New measures include cutting 20,000 new gullies into pavements across the country in order to allow charging cables to run safely beneath paving slabs.
Appearing on the BBC yesterday, transport secretary Heidi Alexander refused to confirm the plans, but did promise to make it cheaper for people to buy an electric car.
‘We are going to be making some announcements later this week on how we make it more affordable for people to buy an electric vehicle,’ Alexander told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
‘I can guarantee to your viewers that we will be making it cheaper for those who do want to make the switch to an electric vehicle.’
In a separate interview with The Telegraph over the weekend, she added: ‘We do know that the high upfront purchase cost of EVs is something that people are wary about.
‘I think we’ve got to be honest and say there are a lot of people out there who think that EVs are just for the very wealthiest.
‘We also want to really move away from people having range anxiety, to people having range awareness and knowing that they’re going to be able to make the journeys that they want to make.
‘It’s right that the Government thinks in the round about what we can do to tackle both of the issues, on charging and on the upfront cost of purchase.’
