WHAT DOES FURTHER EV INCENTIVE WITHDRAWAL MEAN FOR CAR RETAILERS?

As the climate changes, The Department for Transport’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) has warned car retailers there could be more changes to the plug-in car grant (PiCG) Electric Vehicle (EV) incentives.

The PiCG grant has been extended until 2022/23, however when the grant was first introduced there were low levels of demand, now more and more people are purchasing EVs and learning about the available incentives, the demand grew much higher, great for car retailers. However, the increased demand led the government to lower the offering in March 2021 with a £500 cut to the grant (£3,000 lowered to £2,500) and accompanying £15,000 reduction in the price cap (no longer available on cars costing £50,000, now on cars priced £35,000 and under only). Higher priced cars were no longer privy to the incentive. The government felt they needed to manage the grant budget and deliver value for money to the taxpayers. Feedback at the time from car retailers was less than favourable as the announcement was made with little warning.

OZEV have confirmed they will continue to review the grant as the market grows and all grants are subject to change at any time, which is not ideal for car retailers. However one thing that is certain around uncertainty you need a plan to succeed. This is now an opportunity for car retailers to prepare campaigns and provide further EV education and knowledge to their audience about why EVs are value for money and what benefits they bring.

As the UK rolls out more and more charging stations per year, the infrastructure constantly evolves and improves. If the incentives begin to phase out, then it will sit with the car retailer’s to attempt to diminish doubts consumers have about, price, range and charge time for EVs. A content strategy to push the EV movement forward. Starting point for many brands would be to identify which customers have purchased EVs, find out the reasons why they made the swap, mixed in with affirmations about the known doubts the relevant audience has and attempt to target non EV owners effectively.

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