Manufacturers divided after british gas revises EV home charging offers

Manufacturers divided after british gas revises EV home charging offers

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Zapmap
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Under the new Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) EV Homecharge Scheme, British Gas has decided to withdraw its free installation offer, leaving car manufacturers divided on whether to absorb the costs for their customers.

OLEV has now reduced the maximum domestic charging subsidy it will provide from £1000 to £900, causing British Gas to rethink their free installation offer for a 3kW charging unit.

British Gas now price the installation of a 3kW domestic charging point at £115, and will charge an extra £99 to upgrade to a 7kW unit. Included in the fee is a full suitability survey, fitting of a dedicated charging circuit and three years warranty.

Notably, this has had knock on effects for Renault, Nissan, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Vauxhall, Volswagen and Volvo, who all share a partnership with British Gas.

Renault and Nissan have both decided to absorb the installation cost of a 3kW British Gas domestic charging unit so customers can have a charging point fitted at home for no extra fee. In fact, Renault are taking it a step further by offering to pay for the additional costs of a fast-rated 7kW charging station for Renault ZE customers.

However, not all manufacturers have decided to subsidise British Gas’s new fees. Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Toyota, Volvo and Vauxhall are all currently asking customers to pay the £115 plus VAT installation charge.

This may lead EV owners to look elsewhere with other domestic charging suppliers, such as Chargemaster and POD Point, pledging to continue their free installation offers until at least March 2015.

For more details on suppliers and the different home charging offers available, go to the Charging at Home page.

Business Car, British Gas, Renault