Government supercharges electric vehicle market with £390m investment

The UK’s electric vehicle market has received a £390m boost from the government, with major incentives for businesses looking to install charge points.

In today’s Autumn Statement chancellor Phillip Hammond unveiled a series of measures to help build on the UK’s position as a leader in the adoption of electric vehicles.

Among them were plans to invest £80m in charging infrastructure and a significant tax break for businesses installing electric charge points. Under the new rules, companies that spend at least £200,000 a year on plant and machinery investment will be able to deduct the full cost of a new charge point from their profits before tax. The new ‘100 per cent first year allowance’ has been opened to businesses immediately and will expire in March 2019 for corporation tax purposes and April 2019 for income tax purposes.

The tax incentive builds on the existing workplace charging scheme, which offers £300 per installation of an EV charging socket.

Tim Payne, CEO of InstaVolt, says: “Today’s Autumn Statement really signals the UK government’s commitment to making our country a world-leader in electric vehicles. I’m particularly pleased to see new measures making it even easier for businesses to switch their fleets to electric.

“A survey from the Department for Transport earlier this year showed the most significant barriers that deter people from buying electric vehicles were not being able to recharge and ‘range anxiety’. These latest incentives will help to ease those worries by encouraging more charge points to be installed.”

2016 has been a significant year for the UK’s electric vehicle market. The government has introduced a number of schemes to encourage the roll-out of electric charging points, including a £2.5m fund for councils that commit to putting charge points on streets with no private parking. Major car manufacturers, including Nissan, have also stepped up investment in electric vehicle production.