Can you get an electric car if you live in a flat or rent? Absolutely!

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Picture the scene: you’re walking down a residential street lined with houses, all of them with private off-street parking. In every space is an electric vehicle (EV), plugged into a chargepoint fixed to the side of the house.

You pause and think to yourself “Blimey, aren’t EVs great? You can charge them overnight and wake up to a full battery, and save pennies (and the planet) at the same time! I should get one.”

But then you remember, you live in a flat. Or perhaps you’re just renting. Either way, with a heavy sigh, you move on, abandoning your dreams of EV ownership, knowing you couldn’t possibly get a charger installed.

Or can you? Well, yes, actually.

Introducing the OZEV Grant for flats and renters

Historically, the UK Government’s financial support to reduce the costs of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure for homes has been targeted at households with private off-street parking.

However, as part of the eligibility criteria, the grant could only be claimed by households which owned the parking space or had sole legal right to it. As a result, people living in flats or apartments, whether owning or renting, were ineligible from receiving the grant, even if the property had off-street parking.

In other words, if you didn’t have a driveway or own the property outright, it was difficult (but not impossible) to own an EV.

All that changed in April 2022 when the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) brought its grant targeted at homeowners - the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) - to an end.

In its place, OZEV created a new grant to make EV charging more accessible for renters and people who own a flat.

The OZEV EV Chargepoint Grant

With the OZEV grant, you can lower the cost of purchasing and installing a chargepoint by up to £350. It’s exclusively targeted at people living in flats and apartments, or those who rent accommodation, but there are some caveats.

Eligibility criteria

In order to be able to claim the grant, you need to meet the following criteria:

• You live in a rented property or own a flat
• You have dedicated off-street parking
• You own, lease, or have use of an EV or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) which is eligible for the grant*
• You haven’t already claimed this grant or the old EVHS grant

Also worth noting is that, unlike the previous grant, you can’t claim for 2 chargepoints if you own a second EV.

*All fully battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are eligible. However, a PHEV must have CO2 emissions below 50g/km to qualify.

How to claim the grant

To start, you can only claim the grant before you get your charger installed. Provided you meet the eligibility criteria above and you’ve sought permission from your landlord/property manager, all you need to do is provide some extra information and complete some documents when you order your Solo 3 home charger.

Once we’ve got this, we’ll do the heavy lifting and claim the grant on your behalf.

One important thing to note is that you’ll only be able to claim the grant if we can connect the charger to your property’s electrical supply and meter. For instance, if you have a meter in your property, your power supply isn’t connected to a communal supply so you can claim the grant.

However, if you don’t, it’s still worth checking with your property manager/landlord as some buildings house the meters for each property in a communal space, like a plant room.

Otherwise, if it connects to a communal supply, you won’t be able to claim the grant. If this is the case, however, your landlord or property manager may be able to take advantage of one of the other grants detailed below.

What if you can’t claim the grant?

If you can’t claim the grant, your landlord or property manager may instead be able to claim one of two grants to bring EV charging to your property.

Find out more about other available grants, including the OZEV EV chargepoint and infrastructure grant for landlords.

Need help convincing your landlord/property manager?

If you can’t claim the OZEV EV chargepoint grant but aren’t sure which grant your landlord/property manager should go for, don’t worry! Simply point them our way and we’ll run through the details of the property with them to guide them to the right grant.

Simply use this template letter to kickstart the conversation, or direct them to our residential enquiry page.

What other options are there?

Even if you decide not to get a charger installed, you can still easily own an EV if you live in a flat or rent. Just like electric car owners who don’t have off-street parking, you can still keep your EV topped up by exploring how to charge an electric car with no driveway:

• Destination charging using public charging networks like ours
• Workplace chargers if your company offers them

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