To help businesses make the switch to electric vehicles, the government is providing £1 billion of funding through their Depot Charging Scheme and Zero Emissions Truck and Van grants. The scheme and grants both aim to assist with the transition to electric, removing the two largest barriers for businesses – access to charging ports and upfront costs.
The rollout of electric vans and trucks, with the support of government funding, will assist businesses across the UK with benefits such as increased savings and the cleaning up of millions of journey miles. The rollout will also help to alleviate any ongoing uncertainty that industries may be facing regarding changing fuel prices.
The Zero Emissions Truck grant will cover up to 40% of the cost of purchase, offering savings of up to £81,000 on zero emission trucks, and the Zero Emissions Van grant will provide discounts as high as £5,000 off when purchasing electric vans. Businesses and public authorities will also have up to 70% of the cost of installing charging infrastructure covered by the government’s Depot Charging Scheme, saving them up to £1 million each.
This isn’t the first government led sustainable transport initiative of the year, as in January an £18 million uplift was announced in order to decrease the price of green lorries by up to £120,000. This uplift helped support companies to go electric and decarbonise their fleets, reducing operational costs.
Now that 1 in 4 cars sold in the U.K are electric, the government is also spending over £600 million to install hundreds of thousands of EV chargers across the country, adding to the 118,000 already available.