Fiat EV grant: Italian brand offering £3,000 off 500 Electric and 500 convertible

Fiat has announced a new grant scheme offering drivers £3,000 to switch to an electric car.

The move comes a year after the UK government scrapped the £1,500 plug-in car grant and at the same time as the Italian brand has urged the government to help incentivise moving to an EV.

Drivers buying a Fiat 500 Electric or 500 Electric Convertible can claim a £3,000 discount, cutting the price of the standard hatchback to £25,195 and the ragtop to £31,195. 

The brand's managing director, Damien Dally, said that there were signs that EV uptake in the UK was plateauing and more needed to be done to encourage drivers to move from petrol and diesel to electric. He pointed out that 21 other countries in Europe currently offer some form of grant to EV buyers, worth up to €9,000.

Dally said: “There’s no doubt the government’s Plug-in Car Grant successfully kickstarted the UK’s electric car revolution – it supported the sale of nearly half a million electric cars.

 “We also appreciate it refocusing funding towards one of the main barriers to the electric vehicle transition, public charging. 

 “However, with the cost-of-living crisis and rising cost of electric vehicles, coupled with our net zero climate targets, we believe more needs to be done to incentivise individuals to be able to afford to make the switch. 

“That’s why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to launch the FIAT E-Grant, a £3,000 incentive towards the 500e and 500e Convertible."

The UK government removed the PICG for private passenger vehicles without notice in June 2022, saying it was refocusing £300 million funding on commercial vehicles such as taxis and delivery vans as well as motorbikes and wheelchair accessible vehicles.

The scheme ran for 11 years and the grant was gradually reduced from £5,000 to £1,500. At the time the Department for Transport said that repeated reductions in the grant had "had little effect on rapidly accelerating sales”.

EV sales have soared from 2,500 per year in 2013 to 267,000 in 2022. In May 2023, they accounted for 17% of all new car registrations and last year overtook diesel to become the UK's second most popular powertrain behind petrol. However, concerns remain that their relatively high price is a barrier to more drivers switching, especially amid a cost of living crisis, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders recently cut its prediction of EV sales this year from 19.7% to 18.4%, citing "broader economic conditions and charge point anxiety".