£1.3bn boost to electric vehicle grant scheme predicted in Budget

The Electric Car Grant scheme, which started in July, has helped 35,000 people switch to EVs, according to the government.

The scheme is part of the move to transition the UK to use of zero emission vehicles, however early research suggests the scheme has not made much headway to attract entirely new buyers to the EV market.

Additional funding will also go towards increasing the number of charging points, and a consultation on helping people without driveways to charge their cars, according to reports.

The boost comes alongside the possibility that EV owners could face a new tax in Wednesday's Budget, supposedly in the form of a pay-per-mile charge.

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From 2030, a ban on new petrol and diesel cars means all new vehicles will have to be either full electric, or hybrid.

The Electric Car Grant scheme, launched with an initial fund of £650m, provides a discount of up to £3,750 on eligible vehicles.

New AutoMotive, a non-profit supporting the UK's transition to electric vehicles, found in a recent study that the scheme had yet to expand the market for EVs, finding the percentage of EVs registered as part of the overall new registrations figure remaining the same (around 24%) as before the grant scheme was announced.

David Farrar, policy manager for New AutoMotive, said that it "isn't yet clear" that the scheme is encouraging people to consider buying cards "that they wouldn't have gone ahead and bought anyway".

Alongside the EV boost, the Budget is also expected to announce a further £200m for speeding up the rollout of charging points across the UK.

There are currently just under 90,000 charging points in the UK, across around 44,000 locations, according to Zapmap data. These include locations like supermarket carparks and lamppost chargers.

Speaking on the proposed funding, the government said: "The proposed funding will support the creation of thousands of charging points and provide extra resources for local authorities to ramp up charging infrastructure on local streets - making it easier for everyone to access reliable charging, including those without off-street parking."

Chancellor Rachel Reeves, it added, was "expected to publish a consultation on Permitted Development Rights to make it easier and cheaper for people without a driveway to charge".

However, it is also possible that EV owners could face a new tax in the Budget in the form of a pay-per-mile charge from 2028.

On this, a government spokesman said that whilst there is fuel duty on petrol and diesel, there is no electric equivalent and the government "wants a fairer system for all drivers".