In addition to the generous incentives the UK Government provides for electric cars, there are additional incentives in Scotland. Primarily these are a loan towards purchasing an electric car and a grant towards the cost of a charge point.

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Electric Vehicle Loan

The interest-free Electric Vehicle Loan, funded by Transport Scotland (an agency of the Scottish Government), currently offers drivers in Scotland loans of:

• up to £35,000 to cover the cost of purchasing a new pure electric / plug-in hybrid vehicle
• up to £10,000 to cover the cost of purchasing a new electric motorcycle or scooter

The loan has a repayment term of up to six years. The purchased electric vehicle, motorcycle or scooter should be the only plug-in vehicle owned by the applicant and must be eligible for the ‘plug-in car, motorcycle and van grants’ funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). Second hand vehicles are not eligible.

With the exception of an initial deposit, applicants must not have made any other payment towards the purchase of the vehicle before receiving a loan offer under this programme as funding is not provided retrospectively.

The program is administered by the Energy Saving Trust, and expires at the end of March 2018. For more details see Electric Vehicle Loan.

Home Charge Point Funding

Energy Saving Trust can provide £500 funding towards the cost of a 32 amp home charge point installation. This is on top of the £500 provided by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).

The typical cost for a home charge point and installation is approximately £1000.  As part of its Electric Vehicle Homecharge scheme, OLEV currently offers applicants £500 towards this cost. EST will provide up to £500 further funding on top of this. For the cost covered by OLEV you will not need to make any payment to your supplier, as they will receive this money from OLEV directly. For the costs above what OLEV cover, you will have to pay your supplier and the Energy Saving Trust will then provide you with your (up to £500) reimbursement. Any remaining costs above the £500 provided by OLEV and the £500 provided by the Energy Saving Trust you would need to pay for yourself.

For more details see Domestic Charge Point Funding.