Electric cars eligible for £3,750 discount announced

A bright yellow Ford Puma parked beside a street. A person in a red jacket, black shorts, and white sneakers walks on the pavement in front of a green building with horizontal white slats. The car faces right, and its license plate reads 'HOI108'.Ford
Pritti Mistry
Business reporter, BBC News

The first electric vehicles (EV) eligible for the £3,750 discount under the government's grant scheme have been announced.

The Department for Transport confirmed Ford's Puma Gen-E or e-Tourneo Courier would be discounted as part of plans to encourage drivers to move away from petrol and diesel vehicles.

Under the grant scheme, the discount applies to eligible car models costing up to £37,000, with the most environmentally friendly ones seeing the biggest reductions. Another 26 models have been cleared for discounts of £1,500.

Carmakers can apply for models to be eligible for grants, which are then automatically applied at the point of sale.

More vehicles are expected to be approved in the coming weeks and the DfT said the policy would bring down prices to "closely match their petrol and diesel counterparts".

The government has pledged to ban the sale of new fully petrol or diesel cars from 2030.

But many drivers cite upfront costs as a key barrier to buying an EV and some have told the BBC that the UK needs more charging points.

According to Ford's website, the recommended retail price (RRP) for a new Puma Gen-E starts from £29,905 while a petrol equivalent is upward of £26,060. With the reduction applied, buyers would be looking in the region of £26,155 for the EV version.

The grants to lower the cost of EVs will be funded through the £650m scheme, and will be available for three years.

There are around 1.3 million electric cars on Britain's roads but currently only around 82,000 public charging points.

Full list of EVs eligible for the £1,500 discount

  • Citroën ë-C3 and Citroën ë-C3 Aircross

  • Citroën ë-C4 and Citroën ë-C4 X

  • Citroën ë-C5 Aircross

  • Citroën ë-Berlingo

  • Cupra Born

  • DS DS3

  • DS N°4

  • Nissan Ariya

  • Nissan Micra

  • Peugeot E-208

  • Peugeot E-2008

  • Peugeot E-308

  • Peugeot E-408

  • Peugeot E-Rifter

  • Renault 4

  • Renault 5

  • Renault Alpine A290

  • Renault Megane

  • Renault Scenic

  • Vauxhall Astra Electric

  • Vauxhall Combo Life Electric

  • Vauxhall Corsa Electric

  • Vauxhall Frontera Electric

  • Vauxhall Grandland Electric

  • Vauxhall Mokka Electric

  • Volkswagen ID.3

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The up-front cost of EVs is higher on average than for petrol cars.

According to Autotrader, the average price of a new battery electric car was £49,790 in June 2025, based on manufacturers' recommended prices for 148 models.

The equivalent for a petrol car was £34,225, but the average covers a broad range of prices.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the grant scheme was making it "easier and cheaper for families to make the switch to electric".

Edmund King, president of the AA, said drivers "frequently tell us that the upfront costs of new EVs are a stumbling block to making the switch to electric".

"It is great to see some of these more substantial £3,750 discounts coming online because for some drivers this might just bridge the financial gap to make these cars affordable."

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