If you're a taxi or private hire driver thinking about switching to electric, 2026 has brought some significant changes to what you can claim — and one of them is bad news that's easy to miss. The dedicated £4,000 grant for purpose-built electric taxis has now closed, while a separate grant for ordinary electric cars was relaunched. Knowing which grants still exist, how much they're worth and exactly who qualifies could be the difference between a smart purchase and an expensive mistake. Here's the full, up-to-date picture.
The headline change: The £4,000 Plug-in Taxi Grant for purpose-built zero-emission taxis closed on 6 April 2026 in England. If you were counting on it for a new black cab, it's no longer available — but other grants for electric cars and vans remain open.
The Plug-in Taxi Grant has closed — what that means
For several years, drivers buying a brand-new purpose-built electric or plug-in hybrid taxi — the kind of wheelchair-accessible hackney carriage used in licensed trades up and down the country — could get a substantial discount through the Plug-in Taxi Grant. It was worth up to £4,000 for vehicles with a longer zero-emission range, or up to £3,000 for shorter-range models, taken straight off the price at the point of sale.
That scheme ended on 6 April 2026 in England. It had been one of the main things bridging the price gap between a traditional diesel cab and a far more expensive electric one, so its closure genuinely raises the upfront cost of going electric for hackney drivers. If you're in the market for a new purpose-built taxi, it's worth factoring in that this specific discount is no longer on the table — and worth checking whether any dealer stock was ordered before the deadline, as transitional arrangements can sometimes apply.
The Electric Car Grant — still open, and useful for PHV drivers
The better news is that the government relaunched a separate scheme, the Electric Car Grant, which applies to ordinary new electric cars rather than purpose-built taxis. For private hire and minicab drivers — who typically use a standard car rather than a purpose-built cab — this is the one that matters most.
It works on a two-band system, and the discount is applied automatically by the dealer at the point of sale, so there's no application paperwork on your side:
| Band | Discount | Which cars |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | Up to £3,750 | EVs from manufacturers meeting the strictest sustainability criteria |
| Band 2 | Up to £1,500 | Other eligible EVs that meet the standard criteria |
The key eligibility rules are straightforward. The car must be brand new, fully electric (zero emissions at the tailpipe), and have a list price of £37,000 or less. It also needs a minimum battery range and to meet basic sustainability standards — but since the government pre-approves eligible models, the simplest check is whether the specific car you want appears on the official approved list. If it's on the list and under £37,000, it qualifies.
Which band a car falls into depends on the manufacturer, not you, and the list changes regularly as more models get certified. Popular models that have appeared in the higher Band 1 (the full £3,750) include cars like the Renault 5, Nissan Leaf and Ford Puma Gen-E, while a wider range of vehicles such as several Volkswagen, Skoda and Vauxhall models sit in Band 2 for £1,500. Because the list is genuinely fluid, always check the current status of your chosen model before ordering.
Thinking about going electric?
Read our full guide on whether switching to an EV actually pays off for private hire work.
Read: Going electric as a PHV driver →Driving a van? There's a grant for that too
Some private hire and courier-style drivers use electric vans rather than cars. If that's you, the Plug-in Van Grant remains available and has been extended, offering up to £2,500 off a smaller electric van (under 2.5 tonnes) and up to £5,000 off a larger one. As with the car grant, it's applied automatically at the point of sale, the van must be new and fully electric with a minimum 60-mile zero-emission range, and plug-in hybrids no longer qualify. There's a cap on how many grants a single business can claim per year, but for an individual driver buying one vehicle that won't be an issue.
Don't forget the charging grants
The vehicle is only half the equation — charging it cheaply at home is where the real running-cost savings come from. There are separate grants to help with installing a home charger, and importantly these are completely separate from the vehicle grants, so you can claim both.
The catch is that the main home charger grant is now aimed at people who live in flats or rented properties (worth up to £350 towards an installation), rather than homeowners with their own driveway, who used to be covered but generally no longer are. If you rent or live in a flat, it's well worth claiming. Either way, a home charger is what makes an EV genuinely cheap to run, because charging at home overnight costs a fraction of public rapid charging.
So is it still worth going electric in 2026?
That's the real question, and the honest answer is: it depends on your situation. The closure of the taxi grant has made a new purpose-built electric cab more expensive than it was, which is a real setback for hackney drivers. But for private hire drivers using a standard car, the Electric Car Grant still knocks a meaningful amount off the price, and the running-cost savings remain compelling — home charging is dramatically cheaper than petrol or diesel, servicing costs are lower, and an electric vehicle sidesteps Clean Air Zone and ULEZ charges entirely.
The maths works best if you do high mileage (so the fuel savings add up fast), can charge at home or work, and pick a car that qualifies for the grant and stays under the price cap. It works least well if you'd be relying on expensive public charging or buying a vehicle that doesn't qualify.
Important: Grant amounts, eligibility and deadlines change frequently, and some schemes differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Always confirm the current details on the official GOV.UK pages or with your dealer before making a purchase decision — this guide is a starting point, not financial advice.
The bottom line
The grant landscape in 2026 is a mixed picture for drivers. The dedicated taxi grant is gone, which hurts if you're buying a purpose-built cab. But the Electric Car Grant (up to £3,750 off a new EV under £37,000), the Plug-in Van Grant (up to £5,000 off a van), and the home charger grants for renters all remain genuinely valuable. If electric is on your radar, the smart move is to check exactly which grants apply to your specific vehicle and circumstances before you buy — and to weigh the upfront cost against the substantial savings on fuel, servicing and clean air charges over the years you'll own it.
For more on the real-world costs and benefits, see our companion guide on going electric as a private hire driver, and browse our vehicles section for deals on EVs and accessories.