Bradford Council offers grants of up to £10,000 to encourage EV switch

Bradford Council is offering taxi and private hire drivers grants of up to £10,000 to switch to cleaner vehicles.

The grants, which will be available later this year, are to help with purchase, lease or running costs of electric vehicles. The council says this is the highest grant of its type anywhere in the UK. The move is part of efforts to improve air quality, following the introduction of the Bradford Clean Air Zone for the city area last September.

The council says 98% of the 4,000 licensed taxi and private hire vehicles in the Bradford district already meet the CAZ standard, but the £4 million of funding is being made available to encourage take-up of EVs, including for hybrid vehicle drivers wanting to go fully-electric.

Drivers will be able to apply from May 2023, and the grant will be increased for non-Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles from £6,000 over 2 years to £10,000 over 2 years which brings it into line with the Hackney Carriage and Wheelchair Accessible Private Hire Vehicle EV grants.

Taxis that have already upgraded to other compliant vehicle types (such as petrol/electric hybrid) can apply for a top-up grant if they choose to go fully electric.

Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for healthy people and places, said: “We are pleased to further extend our support to the Bradford taxi trade for the upgrade of their vehicles to fully electric by offering up to £10,000 per vehicle in grant funding to assist proprietors with the running costs of a fully electric Hackney Carriage or Private Hire Vehicle.

The grants are on a sliding scale depending on vehicle type. Bradford Council has published details of the Clean Air Taxi (CAT) programme, which includes the following:

Four-seat and 5-8 seat non-wheelchair accessible Private Hire Vehicles: up to £3,200 for purchase of vehicle replacement.

Up to £3,200 for LPG options, including the cost of converting an existing licensed Euro 5 or 6 petrol car to LPG, or against the purchase of a compliant LPG vehicle. LPG conversions must be in accordance with UKLPG Approved Installers Scheme.

£6,000 is available for help towards the running costs of a fully electric vehicle with first payment of £3,000 on completion of application and second payment one year later subject to continued compliance with the terms and conditions of the award.

For Hackney Carriages and Wheelchair Accessible Private Hire Vehicles, up to £5,000 is available for purchase of vehicle replacement or conversion of a non-compliant vehicle to compliant standard, such as LPG.

£10,000 is available for help towards the running costs of a fully electric vehicle with first payment of £5,000 on completion of application and second payment one year later subject to continued compliance with the terms and conditions of the award.

Grants will only be awarded where a replacement vehicle is a ‘like for like’ replacement, or the replacement is a 4-seat petrol-electric hybrid private hire vehicle.

The funding will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, click here: https://www.bradford.gov.uk/breathe-better-bradford/what-help-is-available/find-out-if-you-are-eligible-for-a-cat-programme-grant/