Could/should the OLEV EV charging point grant be scrapped?

Forget the actual installation methods and practice, concentrate on the business model.


Electrician completes the C&G and gains training certificates from charger manufacturers then registers with OLEV.


As I understand it at the end of the first month the installer submits the grant claims then it may take two months to get the payment from OLEV.


So assuming two installations a week, at the end of the first month the installer is owed £4,000 by OLEV and submits the claim, by the time it is paid the installer is owed £12,000.


One of the YouTube vloggers said book all the materials through a wholesaler, then pay off the debt at the end of the second month using a credit card to get another month of credit. So at the end of the second month the customer has owned and been using the charger for two months, both the wholesaler and charger manufacturers should have been paid in full, but the electrician is left financing it all with debt on a credit card waiting for the OLEV grant payment.


If the grant is scrapped the electrician could leave the job having taken full payment by card or other means, then just pay the wholesalers, who then pay the manufacturer with everything being settled by the end of the second month.


So why do it? It seems that in many instances it the grant is just being used as part of an up selling package to include solar PV and storage batteries, by significantly increasing the overall cost the grant becomes a less significant part of the payment allowing all costs to be covered with the wholesalers manufacturers being paid out of the payment received rather than being financed by the electrician.


I outlined the business plan that some guys are apparently trying to follow to my wife, she made comments that included mad and barge pole.


The grant just seems to be a disincentive rather than an encouragement for small businesses and sole traders to engage in EV charger installation, if going at it relatively seriously and installing a charger a day the money owed would rack up at £2,500 a week with possibly £30,000 being owed before the first payment is received at at the time of each subsequent payment.


Andy Betteridge 

Forget the actual installation methods and practice, concentrate on the business model.


Electrician completes the C&G and gains training certificates from charger manufacturers then registers with OLEV.


As I understand it at the end of the first month the installer submits the grant claims then it may take two months to get the payment from OLEV.


So assuming two installations a week, at the end of the first month the installer is owed £4,000 by OLEV and submits the claim, by the time it is paid the installer is owed £12,000.


One of the YouTube vloggers said book all the materials through a wholesaler, then pay off the debt at the end of the second month using a credit card to get another month of credit. So at the end of the second month the customer has owned and been using the charger for two months, both the wholesaler and charger manufacturers should have been paid in full, but the electrician is left financing it all with debt on a credit card waiting for the OLEV grant payment.


If the grant is scrapped the electrician could leave the job having taken full payment by card or other means, then just pay the wholesalers, who then pay the manufacturer with everything being settled by the end of the second month.


So why do it? It seems that in many instances it the grant is just being used as part of an up selling package to include solar PV and storage batteries, by significantly increasing the overall cost the grant becomes a less significant part of the payment allowing all costs to be covered with the wholesalers manufacturers being paid out of the payment received rather than being financed by the electrician.


I outlined the business plan that some guys are apparently trying to follow to my wife, she made comments that included mad and barge pole.


The grant just seems to be a disincentive rather than an encouragement for small businesses and sole traders to engage in EV charger installation, if going at it relatively seriously and installing a charger a day the money owed would rack up at £2,500 a week with possibly £30,000 being owed before the first payment is received at at the time of each subsequent payment.


Andy Betteridge