About the Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant

A government-funded Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant scheme has been introduced to assist homeowners to install an electric vehicle charge point on their property.

The existing free home charger scheme operated by ESB ecars ended on 31/12/2107.

The Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant will provide a grant up to the value of €600 towards the purchase and installation of a home charger unit.

The applicant must be the owner of an eligible new or second-hand electric vehicle (EV).

Who qualifies for the home charger grant

Applicant

• Any private owner who buys an eligible EV in 2018 or later is eligible to apply for this grant.
• The EV must be parked in an off-street parking location associated with the home and the charger must be connected back to the fuse board of the home of the applicant.
• The Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN), which you can find on your electricity bill, will be used to confirm the location of your home.
• The property cannot be associated with a previous EV vehicle grant and charge point offer. For example, it can not have availed of the free ESB Ecars home charger pre-2018.
• Do not commence any work before the start date on your Letter of Offer otherwise, this expenditure will be deemed ineligible and you will not receive grant support for it.

Vehicle

• Only vehicles registered new or bought second hand from 2018 onwards are eligible for a home charger grant.
• Only vehicles which are now or were previously eligible for grant support under the EV Grant Scheme are eligible.
• EVs include Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) or Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
• Vehicles purchased new in Ireland, privately imported as new or privately imported as second hand and registered in Ireland in 2018 or later are eligible.
• Second-hand cars where ownership by the applicant occurs in 2018 or onwards are eligible.
• Vehicles must be registered for private use.

How do you apply for the Electric Vehicle Home Charger Grant?

1. Complete our online EV Home Charger grant application form.
   1. 1.  You will need your Meter Point Reference Number (the full 11 digit number on the top of your electricity bill)
      2. and your home address Eircode.
      3. If you are buying a new EV here in Ireland and receiving an EV grant from SEAI,
      4. you will need to provide your application ID which will be available from your car dealer.
2. Once your application has been approved, you will receive a Letter of Offer. This will be issued to you complete with a set of Terms and Conditions and a Payment Request form.
3. From when you receive your Letter of Offer, you have 6 months to complete the installation of your charge point.
4. The work can only be performed by a fully qualified electrician who has registered accordingly with Safe Electric Ireland. 
5. Once the installation is completed you should complete the Payment Request Form. This will be completed by you and your Electrician.
6. Your Electrician must provide you with a copy of the Certificate Number 3. Review this and ensure it is completed properly.
7. Post your Payment Request Form to the address indicated on the Form together with the following items:

• Fully signed and completed Payment Request Form including bank account details
• Certificate Number 3
• Copy of Test Record sheet from Electrician
• Vehicle Registration Form (not required for a New car purchased in Ireland)
• Photographs of the installed charge point and the EV showing vehicle registration plate

Your electrician must send a fully completed copy of the Certificate Number 3 to Safe Electric Ireland.

We will check with Safe Electric Ireland that the relevant certificate has been filled for that work and that the electrician is a fully approved and registered electrician.

Once this is confirmed, we will make an electronic payment of the grant amount to the bank details provided by you.

What size of charger should I install?

Typical homes have a maximum fuse size of 64 amps. At 230 Volts single phase supply, this would allow a maximum possible power consumption of 14.7kW by the home.

Electric cars have on-board AC to DC chargers.

Typically chargers come available in 16 amp and 32 amp connections sizes resulting in 3.7kW and 7.4kW maximum charger sizes respectively.

Note that your car could be capable of 7.4kW power but your Home Charger may only be sized to supply 3.7kW or less power to the charger.

In this case the car should automatically adjust to the lower power supply.  So it is important to establish what the on-board car charger is capable of firstly.

Next it is important to survey the electrical loads in the house.

The following gives an example of typical large loads:

• Modern Electric Power Shower = 8-10kW
• Electric Oven = 2.4 to 5kW
• Immersion Hot Water Heater = 3kW
• Kettle = 2kW

If all of these were going at the same time your home would be consuming 20kW of power which is far in excess of the maximum ability of the typical house supply limit of 14.7kW!

In this case the main fuse in your fuse board would trip and disconnect you very quickly from the electricity network.

You would then need to switch off some of these loads before resetting the fuse and reconnecting your home to the electrical power supply.

Now if you add a 7kW or larger EV Home Charger to this list of loads you could have a problem if someone decides to use the Power Shower for instance.

In this case it may be possible to use a Priority Switch to ensure that only one of these loads is able to run at any given time.

We will be able to advise on this option once your fuse box is inspected.  It is important to note that the EV Home Charger will not be supplying 7kW all of the time.

Typically the power demand from the car battery pack is larger at the start of the charging cycle and drops off towards the end.

So if your car started charging at 11pm, the power consumption by the charger would be at a maximum value at the start and as it nears full charge status later on the power consumption will be significantly lower

What Home Charger products are acceptable?

SEAI does not currently maintain a list of approved products.We will will assist you in sourcing a suitable Home Charger product.

The following minimum Technical Standards and Directives must apply to the Home Charger product installed:

• 93/465/EEC – The affixing and use of the CE conformity marking
• IEC 61851 – Electric vehicle conductive charging system
• IEC 62196 – Plugs, socket-outlets, vehicle couplers and vehicle inlets – Conductive charging of electric vehicles
• 89/336/EEC – Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive
• WEEE(2002/96/EC) – Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive

Value of electric vehicle grants

Privately bought EVs

A maximum grant of €5,000 is available for qualifying electric vehicles when purchased privately.

Approved EVs with a List Price of less than €14,000 will not receive a grant.

The grant level applies to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV).

It depends on the list price of the vehicle. This is the full non-discounted price in the absence of VRT relief or grant support.

Commercially bought EVs

This relates to purchases made by a commercial or public entity. It includes all purchases of an N1 vehicle, regardless of the declared customer type.

A maximum grant of €3,800 is available for qualifying EVs when purchased commercially. Approved EVs with a list price of less than €14,000 will not receive a grant.

The grant level depends on the list price of the vehicle. This is the full non-discounted price in the absence of VRT relief or grant support.

Commercial purchases and De Minimis Funding

EV Scheme grants are classed as de minimis state aid and therefore are subject to the 3 year €200,000 ceiling.

How to apply for the electric vehicle grant

1. Choose a make/model of EV. Our comparison tool can help you make your choice.
2. Head to your nearest dealer to take a test drive. The dealer will answer any performance and specification queries you may have.
3. When purchasing a vehicle the dealer will apply for the grant for you. The grant amount is deducted from the total price agreed for your new Electric Vehicle.

As with any purchase we recommend contacting a number of dealers to obtain the best price for your vehicle.

*Please note that SEAI grants are not available for second hand EVs.*

Additional financial incentives

Direct CO2 emission values are used to calculate the Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and annual Motor Tax bands for vehicles.

• Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) have no tail pipe emissions of CO2
• Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) should have CO2 emissions circa 60g/km

VRT

VRT is paid whenever a car is registered for the first time in Ireland.

Electric Vehicles receive VRT relief separately to SEAI grant support.

VRT relief for BEVs is in place until the end of 2021 and for PHEVs until end of 2018.

Motor tax

Motor Tax for a BEV is €120 per annum and typically €170 per annum for a PHEV.

For more information on Grants

please visit the SEAI web site @  www.seai.ie or email them for information @  evgrantscheme@seai.ie

ACA and Triple E

The Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) is only applicable to energy efficient equipment on the Triple E Product Register. ACA is based on the existing capital allowances tax structure, or wear and tear allowance, for plants and machinery. Claiming the ACA is carried out the same way as for the standard capital allowances.

Organisations who invest in eligible energy efficient capital equipment can deduct the full cost of the equipment from their profits in the year of purchase. This reduces the taxable profit in year one by the full cost of the equipment.

Who is Eligible for ACA

Companies, sole traders, and farmers that operate and pay corporation tax in Ireland can avail of the ACA scheme.

Equipment use

The equipment purchased must be new and bought for use in a trade. It cannot be leased, let or hired to any person.

Time period for aca

ACA can be claimed for the accounting period in which the equipment was first provided, as long as the equipment is included on the published list at some stage during that accounting period.

Eligible costs and minimum expenditure

ACA is available for costs directly related to providing the equipment. Expenditure on the technology must be equal to or exceed the minimum amounts for the relevant class of technology. Find the minimum amounts on the categories and criteria for Triple E page.

How to claim the ACA

1. Decide on the equipment you require.
2. Ensure the equipment model is eligible for ACA by checking the Triple E product register before making purchase.
3. Claim the ACA through your company’s return of income form (CT1). There is now a field for ACA on the form alongside the standard capital allowances entry field.

Rules and qualifications

The ACA is subject to the same rules as the standard plant & machinery wear and tear allowance. The difference is the acceleration to 100% of capital expenditure during the first year of its purchase. You don’t need approval for expenditure on energy efficient equipment, normal self-assessment tax provisions apply.

Still unclear on whether you qualify for the ACA? Get assistance from your taxation advisor or by visiting revenue.ie.