The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) has announced it is continuing the electric vehicle home charge scheme (EVHS) and workplace charging scheme (WCS), but is reducing it from £500 to £350 from 1 April 2020.

OLEV is also re-confirming the continuation of the ‘on street residential chargepoint scheme’ (ORCS) for another year.

The new rate will apply to installations on or after 1st April 2020 for EVHS, and will apply to voucher applications submitted on or after 1st April 2020 for WCS.

The government claims the change in the grant will enable twice as many people to benefit from a grant (from 30,000 to 57,000 under the EVHS). 

The government is also extending who can benefit from the EVHS scheme to include larger electric motorbikes. Currently only electric cars and vans are eligible.

It is also addressing the needs of businesses by doubling the number of sockets allowed under the workplace charging scheme from 20 to 40.