![\"BYD](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/uk-electric-car-grant-set-to-exclude-chinese-and-asian-evs-under-tough-new-green-rules.jpg\" "\\"BYD")
<\/a><\/p>\nOther EVs manufactured in Asian countries, such as in Korea or Japan, are also expected not to qualify<\/p>\n
EVs manufactured in Asia, including in China, are expected to be excluded from new UK electric car purchase incentives once strict new criteria is applied, including penalising battery manufacturing in countries with carbon-intensive grids.<\/p>\n
The Electric Car Grant<\/a>\u00a0is backed by \u00a3650 million of government funding and will knock up to \u00a33750\u00a0off the price of a new EV.<\/p>\n The offer of funding is a win for the UK automotive industry following months of fierce lobbying to help ease some of the burden of having to hit the strict EV sales target imposed by the ZEV mandate<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the money will be hard to access. \u201cThe criteria for qualification looks quite tough,\u201d former Nissan<\/a> executive Andy Palmer told Autocar. \u201cI\u2019m in contact with several OEMs and they still don\u2019t know which models will qualify\u201d.<\/p>\n The basic criteria is easy to understand, such as the requirement that qualifying cars must be zero-emission and cost under \u00a337,000 (although higher trim levels can exceed that figure and still qualify, providing that an entry model with the same battery starts below it).\u00a0<\/p>\n Cars must also be offered with a battery warranty lasting for 100,000 miles or eight years, with an agreement to replace the pack if it\u00a0falls below 70% capacity during that period.<\/p>\n However, the deciding factor that determines whether a car falls into the highest band-one category for the full \u00a33750 grant or band two\u00a0for \u00a31500, or is excluded altogether,\u00a0is based on its environmental score \u2013\u00a0and that\u2019s where qualification process becomes opaque.<\/p>\n The score is based on the manufacturing location of not just the car but more importantly the battery cells. If the country of manufacture in question generates much of the power for its national grid\u00a0from fossil fuels, then the car is denied a grant.\u00a0<\/p>\n The cell source accounts for 70% of the environmental score, while vehicle assembly contributes just\u00a030%.\u00a0<\/p>\n The government has said that all cars are assessed equally and\u00a0the environmental score element is to \u201cincentivise more sustainable manufacturing practices\u201d, but the underlying purpose is pretty clear.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s call a spade a spade, this is probably looking to penalise cars that are produced in China,\u201d Tim Dexter, UK vehicles policy manager\u00a0for green pressure group Transport & Environment, told Autocar.<\/p>\n At this stage car makers are gathering evidence to prove they qualify, so we don\u2019t have a list of eligible cars yet. But the scheme is very similar to the one operated in France, and it can already be seen\u00a0which cars there make the minimum environmental score and which don\u2019t.<\/p>\n In France,\u00a0no Chinese brands qualify for the government EV incentive, and neither do any electric cars built in China by western brands, such as the Mini Cooper E<\/a> or Cupra Tavascan<\/a>. Mini might be rueing the decision to postpone production of the electric version at Oxford<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s not just China. No EV imported from Korea or Japan qualifies either. The French scheme takes into account distance travelled when totting up the environment score, which hurts the Asian manufacturers. The UK didn\u2019t copy that element, but the promised hard look at the grid cleanliness will penalise China, Korea and Japan, all of which are more reliant on fossil fuels than Europe.<\/p>\n European Union manufacturing locations will be assessed based on grid carbon intensity per country, rather than as a whole.<\/p>\n This means that Polish-built EVs, such as the Jeep Avenger, or anyone using batteries from LG Chem\u2019s vast plant there (the biggest battery factory in Europe) could be downgraded due to Poland\u2019s coal-fired grid, which is rated the worst in Europe for emissions at 594g CO\u2082\/kWh, according to the European Environmental Agency (EEA).<\/p>\n Other high-emitting countries in Europe include the Czech Republic, home to Skoda, at 361g CO\u2082\/kWh, and Germany, at 320g CO\u2082\/kWh.\u00a0<\/p>\n French-built cars should be fine given the country’s low-CO2 energy generation \u2013 the Renault 5 and 4 are built at Douai using batteries sourced nearby from Envision AESC.<\/p>\n Outside\u00a0Europe, EVs from Turkey, including the forthcoming Hyundai Ioniq 2<\/a>,\u00a0could be on shaky ground due to the country’s high grid emissions.<\/p>\n The forthcoming Nissan Leaf<\/a>\u00a0should also score well. The government has distanced itself from reports that the scheme was established to give Nissan a leg-up as it finally starts production of its new electric crossover in northern England, but it\u2019s hard to see how the car won\u2019t be an automatic band-one recipient of the full \u00a33750.<\/p>\n The UK is better than the European average on grid intensity, with a rating in 2023 of 162g\u00a0CO\u2082\/kWh, and Nissan has the added advantage of sourcing batteries in Sunderland from Envision AESC.<\/p>\n Reinforcing the idea that banding will be more generous to UK-embedded companies is a section on the car makers\u2019 application form that asks for ‘UK presence \u2013 facilities and support’ and ‘UK opportunities’.<\/p>\n A further qualification hurdle is that car companies must be signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative that monitors and approves CO2 reduction goals within that company. That immediately takes Tesla<\/a> out of the running after the US company backed out of its commitments. Hyundai<\/a> and Kia<\/a> aren\u2019t signed up either, according to the SBTi dashboard that lists all participating companies. Stellantis also isn\u2019t listed, although its former iteration PSA Peugeot<\/a>–Citro\u00ebn<\/a> is.<\/p>\n