Electric Van Purchase Grant

The van must be a new, SEAI-approved battery-electric vehicle in the N1 goods-vehicle category, powered entirely by electricity with zero tailpipe carbon-dioxide emissions. Hybrids and vehicles with combustion engines are outside this offer. It must be registered for the first time in Ireland. A vehicle previously registered in Ireland or abroad, including a used import, is ineligible.

The vehicle must have a warranty of at least three years or 100,000 km.

Buy through an SEAI-approved dealer authorised to sell the approved model. For a commercial van grant, the vehicle must be registered and taxed in the “company” category. This scheme classification applies even when the buyer is a private individual. Dealer-owned demonstration vehicles use a separate application category.

Commercial grants count as de minimis aid, a form of limited public support to a business. The total covered aid from Ireland must not exceed €300,000 for the business or its linked group over a rolling three-year period. Count awards when the legal right to the aid is granted, rather than when the money is paid. Aid from other Irish public bodies counts too; award letters identify whether funding is de minimis aid. Declare previous aid through the dealer’s application. SEAI withholds payment where the applicable limit would be exceeded.

For this limit, a linked group—called a “single undertaking”—includes businesses connected through majority voting rights, the right to appoint or remove most board members, or a right to exercise dominant influence under a contract or constitutional documents. It also includes a shareholder or member controlling a majority of votes through an agreement with others. Indirect links through other businesses count. Businesses whose only connection is to the same public body or bodies are not automatically grouped together; their independent decision-making must be taken into account.

The general de minimis rules exclude aid for primary farming, fishing and aquaculture production. A business with both excluded and eligible activities can receive aid for the eligible activity only if activities or accounts are separated so the excluded activity does not benefit. For agricultural, fishery and aquaculture processing or marketing, aid fixed by the price or quantity of products bought or marketed is excluded. Agricultural processing or marketing aid is also excluded if it must be passed partly or wholly to primary producers. Export exclusions concern aid directly linked to export quantities, setting up or running an overseas distribution network, or other current export costs. Aid conditional on choosing domestic over imported goods or services is also excluded. Combining this grant with other public aid for the same costs must stay within the applicable aid limits.

Status

Öppet löpande

Begränsningar i omgången

• Apply through an approved dealer before first registration and motor taxation.
• Grant and payment availability are subject to scheme funding.
• Registration, taxation and complete payment claim must be within the Letter of Offer period.

Use SEAI’s dealer register to find a participating dealer, then agree the exact approved van variant and the full price breakdown. The dealer enters the application online, and both you and the dealer sign the application form before submission. For a commercial customer, the dealer system asks for the purchaser’s VAT number; for a hire-purchase or leasing agreement it asks for the leasing company’s VAT number.

The dealer must obtain the Letter of Offer before the van is first registered or taxed. Registration, first motor taxation and the complete payment claim must fall within the offer period. It normally ends after four months or on 31 December of the approval year, whichever is earlier, unless SEAI states otherwise.

The dealer must monitor SEAI’s published terms. SEAI can revise them after an application, and the revised terms apply unless the dealer withdraws the application or grant offer.

If the wrong variant was entered, the dealer must contact SEAI and submit a corrected application as directed. Do not assume it can be fixed after registration. If delivery runs beyond the offer period, the dealer must cancel the grant and reapply. If the purchase is cancelled, the dealer submits a cancellation request.

At handover, complete payment and the transfer of ownership, then sign the transaction document with the dealer. The dealer submits the registration number, handover date, signed document and paid invoice. The invoice must identify you and the vehicle and show the starting price, VAT and VRT, discounts or trade-in, the grant deduction and final price, marked “Paid in Full”.

SEAI checks first registration, tax dates, the exact variant and the dealer’s tax clearance and insurance before paying the dealer. Grants are first come, first served within available funding. If the annual payment budget is exhausted, dealer payments can be deferred and then receive priority when further funds become available.

The dealer must give SEAI and its agents access to its premises within seven days of a request, except where SEAI accepts exceptional circumstances. Breach of the scheme terms can lead to cancellation or recovery from the dealer, with repayment due within one month of SEAI’s written demand.