Five EVs added to Labour’s Electric Car Grant as dealers blast ‘shambolic’ scheme and lack of models getting the full £3,750 discount

Five new EVs have been added to the list of models that qualify for the Government’s Electric Car Grant (ECG), with volume sellers from Volkswagen, Cupra and Peugeot now eligible and taking the full quota to 22 discounted models.

However, to date, every car announced so far has only qualified for the ECG’s lower £1,500 allowance, with Labour’s strict emissions-based requisite to receive the full £3,750 subsidy having a 100 per cent strike rate to date.

Launched on 14 July, the grant is a two-tier discount scheme for electric models priced below £37,000 aimed at boosting appetite for EVs amidst the catastrophic slowdown in private sales in recent years, which threatens to derail the Government’s green targets.

The most sustainably made EVs qualify as Band 1 and receive the full £3,750 discount, while Band 2 cars are subject to just £1,500. Models deemed not green enough are rejected from the scheme entirely.

As of today (August 16), all 22 cars have been signed off by the Department for Transport (DfT) at the reduced £1,500 amount.

Dealers have lashed out at the scheme, saying buyers have been delaying purchases to understand which models might get the full £3,750 discount. As such, they say there’s been no dramatic increase in sales of EVs as yet.

Retailers blamed the ‘shambolic’ system deployed by ministers, which has seen a drip feed of models qualifying for the grant, which has only intensified consumer uncertainty.

Industry insiders also pointed to major confusion among motorists, with car manufacturers – many assuming they will not qualify for the ECG at all – launching their own grants offering the same discounts as the official government scheme.

Volkswagen’s smallest electric car, the ID.3, which starts from £30,860, is one of the five EVs now eligible for the Government scheme.

The hatchback, which is the electric equivalent to the iconic VW Golf, offers a range of 240 to 369 miles depending on trim.

However, it wasn’t VW’s best-selling electric car last year. 

That was the ID.4 SUV, which starts from below £37,000 but is not yet confirmed for the grant.

The ID.5 coupe SUV, like the ID.4, starts from £36,995 and technically does qualify on price grounds alone. However, the ID.5 is due to be axed next year. 

While the ID.3 is now eligible, customers were already able to save £1,500 on the price thanks to Volkswagen Group providing its own £1,500 ‘Grant Guarantee’ scheme as of 4 August.

A limited selection of ID.4s are included in the manufacturer-provided discounts, too. 

In a statement given to Daily Mail, the company said: ‘Eligibility for further ID models in the Volkswagen range is due to be confirmed by the Government soon.’

The ID.3’s eligibility for Labour’s grant comes in the wake of the German company introducing a controversial new subscription-based ‘optional power upgrade’ for the EV. 

Customers purchasing certain versions of ID.3 are being offered the chance to pay £16.50 a month to unlock the extra 27bhp that’s available from the powertrain but being kept out of reach of owners who don’t pay the subscription fee.

As well as the ID.3, the sister Cupra model – Born – also qualifies for Labour’s official ECG. Like the ID.3, it too has been discounted by £1,500 by Volkswagen Group’s own Grant Guarantee since the start of the month.

The other three ECG-eligible cars added to the full list are all Peugeot models.

The French manufacturer announced last month that it had ‘formally submitted’ applications to the grant scheme for the e-208, e-2008, e-308, e-308 SW, e-408, e-Rifter, and e-Traveller models.

Today’s announcement sees just the 208, 2008 and e-Rifter make the cut for the £1,500 discount for now.

Peugeot said in a statement that ahead of official government confirmation, it will underwrite the ECG amount of £1,500 on new e-408, e-308, e-308 SW, and e-Traveller purchases from today. 

The DfT said the addition of these five new models will help ‘put money back in the pockets of millions of drivers’ and ‘make it cheaper and easier to own an EV while supporting jobs and growth as part of the Plan for Change’.

However, not a single model has yet to meet the requirements to be awarded the full £3,750 discount.

The previous round of EVs qualifying for £1,500 grants released a week ago today included Nissan models, with the exclusion of the new Leaf EV, which is due to arrive later this year.

Produced in the UK and powered by locally supplied batteries, Nissan has told us it is ‘anticipated it will get the highest-level grant of £3,750’ when the DfT comes round to approving it.

However, there is still no clarification around which other EVs will be issued the full grant amount. 

Dealers say drip-feed of ECG models is doing nothing for customer appetite 

Trade magazine Car Dealer has been told by dealers that the ECG is causing ‘chaos’ in showrooms, with drivers withholding purchases while they wait to see which cars receive the grant – and, more importantly, which will receive the higher Band 1 discount of £3,750.

Peter Smyth, director of retailer group Swansway, told the title that the roll-out of the scheme has been ‘shambolic’, adding that it should have been far simpler than what he dubbed a ‘typical government bureaucratic mess’.

Other retailers told Car Dealer the grant has been ‘ill thought out’ and as such has created a logjam of customers waiting to get the full picture of which EVs will qualify for the grant and the size of the discount before committing to purchases.

Some motorists, failing to understand the convoluted grant scheme, have reportedly been walking into showrooms demanding the £3,750 discount in full.  

Another boss of a ‘large dealer group’ told Car Dealer of its frustration that models are being added almost on a weekly basis, rather than a comprehensive list of all eligible EVs being provided from the start.

The drip-feed of qualifying cars is due to the scheme requiring manufacturers to apply for discounts via an online portal.

Once the DfT deems if the vehicles qualify at all, it then has to determine the band based on the car’s ‘sustainability criteria’.

This includes 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.

It took the DfT three weeks to announce the first batch of qualifying cars on 4 August due to the procedure.

The DfT has said it is processing applications ‘as quickly as possible’ and on a first-come, first-served basis. 

The sustainability criteria is also ruling out a large number of manufacturers from the Band 1 £3,750 discount – especially those using batteries produced in China.

This has led to many car makers launching their own schemes. On our last count, 16 brands have launched their own grants in response.

Commenting in response to criticism of how the grant has been handled, a DfT spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘We expect dozens of models to be eligible for the Electric Car Grant with 22 models announced to date and many more to come, providing a substantial boost for the industry and saving drivers thousands of pounds.

‘The list of eligible models is published online and regularly updated with discounts available for the public at dealerships. 

‘We have also published comprehensive guidance for manufacturers who we will continue to work with alongside dealers to help more of their customers access the grant.’ 

The DfT added that it will update the list of eligible cars ‘on a regular basis’, and any new models are accompanied by communications to support consumer awareness’.

It added that application guidance is targeted at manufacturers and dealers because ‘consumers don’t need to do any paperwork to access grant funding’.