Plug in electric car grant cut by £1,000

66Mustang

The government grant towards buying an electric car has been cut from £2,500 to £1,500 essentially making some electric cars £1,000 more expensive for the consumer.

The amount a car can cost to be eligible for the grant has also been reduced: previously, you’d get the grant for a car under £35,000 list price, now it has to be under £32,000.

I notice Motability has deleted almost every electric car from their car list; there were around 90 electric cars available via the scheme as recently as this week, now there are 9. I wonder whether they have been removed or just temporarily taken down while the advance payments are reviewed and possibly adjusted upwards to reflect the additional cost?

I just thought I’d share in case anyone was interested and to see if anyone wants to share their views.

Alex_Alumni

That is interesting, thanks for sharing @66Mustang

Personally, I'd be tempted to try and get an electric car through Motability when I'm next due to. I hope the choice does go back to being wider. It would be quite limiting to only have a few makes available, as the garages won't be close by for everyone. One of the things I factor into my choice of car is the location of the garage for things like MOTs/Services. 

I think facilities for electric cars, like charging points, will really have to be scaled up to make buyers feel more comfortable about making the switch. But that can't happen unless there's higher demand in the first place I'm guessing!

66Mustang

Good points @Alex_Scope

Something I thought was that, if the government do want us all in electric cars, surely the Motability scheme is one of the best ways of getting them out there and into the hands of the public, not just for the scheme members but also because in 3 years time they become a used car for someone else to buy

Alex_Alumni

That's also a good point @66Mustang but then who knows what will come in the next few years, hopefully something more positive.

poppy123456

There's been a huge amount of cars removed from the list with motability within the last couple of months. I can only guess it's because there's just too many people on the waiting list for new cars.

My son in law works for a well known main dealer and he told me the list of people waiting for new cars is the longest he's ever seen.

66Mustang

Yeah I think that you are right regarding all the cars being removed from the list over the last few months.

Do manufacturers get less money for a Motability “sale” vs. a regular sale? I guess if that’s the case some are probably prioritising the regular customers.

I did find it a bit of a coincidence that all the electric cars disappeared together, right after the announcement.

A perfect storm maybe.

A bit off topic but I’d be interested to know how they actually decide which cars go on the scheme, but I guess each manufacturer has a different method of deciding!

OverlyAnxious

Yes, as you suggest, the profit made on Motability sales is considerably less than private sales.  Several dealerships are now prioritising private customers because of that.

Motability could afford to pay the dealerships more out of the profits they make, which would make manufacturers more likely to offer their cars on the scheme.  But they don't seem interested in reducing their own profit margin for that.  It's a difficult balance though as they need to keep enough people in the scheme to keep it going.

woodbine

In October the UK produced the same number of cars as we did in October 1956, mainly due to the shortage of computer chips which is set to continue into next year, as for electric car grants I think they are hoping they will start to become cheaper, I think I remember reading that 28% of all cars sold recently were electric ones.

66Mustang

Thanks for the insight everyone

Just noticed that all the electric cars are back in the scheme now. From what I can see the prices are the same as before, at least the ones I can remember

poppy123456

I would love an electric car but my problem is i have no drive to install anything. The thought of charging else where is not very appealing to me.

woodbine

As we progress charging points will become as common place as petrol pumps, and batteries will be improved so they will do far more miles than the 280 or so they do now on a full charge.