What Electric Cars will receive the New Government Grant (ECG) - Update 9 August

The New Government Grant (ECG) - What Electric Cars will receive the grant?

The UK’s press and media are still hot with the news that more electric cars will be receiving additional Government support. Only today The Guardian released an article asking whether the new grant (of up to £3,750) will be enough to encourage more personal and business customers to move into battery electric transport.

As the report suggests, there is a growing fear of purchase prices and range anxiety which is potentially making some customers consider other forms of fuel. However, with the grant only expected to run until 2027 / 2028, there is a big question on when to buy.

Ultimately there is no perfect time to buy or lease an EV; prices change, vehicles improve, deals come and go. There will never be a perfect time period when all of those drivers sat on the periphery will suddenly make the transition. But having positive incentives, publicity and education will help us get there.

As the article does suggest, there is much to consider here, including the response of brands who only have vehicles which are beyond the £37,000 cut-off for the grant, the Chinese brands who cannot qualify on the science-based nature of the targets and how some of the other challenges facing the market will be overcome.

With the ZEV Mandate essentially determining what vehicles can be sold in the UK over the coming years, the true impact of the policy will be monitored via the volume of car registrations. On a month to month basis, the SMMT Group publish the statistics to monitor the changing habits of customers with fuel choices.

In addition, other improvements do need to be considered too. This isn’t just a battle of pricing and deals; even key aspects like the vehicle charging network are now under scrutiny as part of helping more UK drivers upgrade to battery technology. Again, our trusted partners over at Zap Map produce monthly metrics which outline the state of play in the UK’s public charging network. Taking July 2025 as an example, some key stats can be garnered including:

41,979 locations have access to dedicated EV charging;
84,218 devices exist among those locations;
1,849 new charging devices were added during July 2025;
6,515 locations now have rapid (50kW-149kW DC) or ultra-rapid (150kW + DC) resources; and
239 new rapid or ultra-rapid resources were installed.

Going forward, we are going to be continually updating those customers who want to know which EVs will qualify for the ECG. As mentioned, grants will either be Band 1 (set at £3,750) or Band 2 (£1,500). So far we have no EVs which have yet qualified for the bigger grant.

However, following on from more announcements on 8 August 2025, we now have more qualifying vehicles on the list which the Government is regularly updating. While you can find the “Low-emission vehicles eligible for a plug-in grant” on the UK Government website we have set out a list with the corresponding link to the vehicle to make it easier to research your new car.

Band 1 Cars

There are no cars eligible for a Band 1 discount.

Band 2 cars

The maximum discount is £1,500.

The vehicles include: