One in five homes could benefit from new rental EV home charger grants which look to make it easier for landlords, tenants and flat owners to install charge points at their properties.

The original home charger grant was phased out in March. Whereas that had a real focus on privately-owned homes, a new grant has replaced it that looks to help those in rental properties and flats. It provides a £350 saving off the cost of a new charger and could benefit up to one in five properties.

Though having a charger installed at home can make owning an EV a much simpler and hassle-free process, many tenants in rented properties find it hard to have chargers installed at their property because they cannot make changes without permission and many landlords do not see an incentive to fit them.

However, this grant makes the process easier by reducing the cost for both landlords and tenants while potentially future-proofing properties as more people look to make the change to an electric vehicle.

This year there were around 460,000 electric vehicles on the UK’s roads, with data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showing that more than 77,000 EVs have been registered this year so far – an increase of 88 per cent on the same period in 2021.

Danny Morgan, editor and marketing manager at Smart Home Charge said: “The new EV Chargepoint Grants for landlords, tenants and flat owners are exciting, as they help open up the UK rental market to affordable home electric car charging.

“It’s also very well-timed too, as there are more and more EVs on UK roads and many people, particularly younger individuals who rent homes, want to make the switch from petrol and diesel-powered vehicles.”

EV chargepoint retailer and installer Smart Home Charge says it is working with rental property provider Annington to install chargers for tenants.

Gary Smith, property manager at Annington, said: “We’ve seen a huge increase in interest in EVs from our tenants, who are now actively looking for properties that have chargers in place, so their homes are ‘EV ready’.

“That’s why Annington is working with Smart Home Charge to install charge points at a number of its properties, so they can be used by existing tenants but also future-proofed for those who are yet to make the shift to an electric vehicle.”