If you charge your electric vehicle (EV) at home on a driveway, you pay 5% VAT on your electricity. If you rely on public charging because you rent, live in a flat, or simply don’t have off-street parking, you pay 20%.
Same car. Same journey. Four times the VAT rate.
It’s a disparity that’s been called a “two-tier system” and one that char.gy has been vocal about for years.
The good news? The government has taken notice.
In April, Ed Miliband announced a package of EV charging reforms aimed at making charging fairer for drivers who don’t have the luxury of a private driveway. Here’s what’s changing, and what it means for you.
What’s been announced
Grants are increasing
From 1 April 2026, the EV charge point grant has increased from £350 to £500 per socket a rise of more than 40%. Renters and flat owners with allocated or private parking can now claim up to £500 towards installing a home charger. For drivers wondering how to install an EV charger without a driveway, a separate cross-pavement solution is available, allowing a charging cable to safely cross the pavement to a parked vehicle — although this usually requires additional approval from your local highways authority. The scheme has also been extended until March 2027, giving more drivers time to take advantage of it.
Planning permission requirements are being relaxed
One of the biggest practical barriers to installing a charger has been red tape. To address this, the government is introducing permitted development rights for on-street EV charging and cross-pavement solutions. In practice, this means most installations will no longer require a lengthy planning application.
New buildings will need charging infrastructure
Under the proposed reforms, new covered car parks will be required to include public chargers. The government is also consulting on changes to building regulations aimed at making it easier for renters and leaseholders to request and install chargers at home.
Why this matters
Around 40% of UK households do not have access to a private driveway. For those drivers, going electric has often meant accepting a cost penalty — paying more per charge and navigating a system that wasn’t designed with them in mind.
That’s not a niche problem. With UK EV registrations reaching a record 86,000 in March 2026 alone, the VAT disparity between home and public charging is becoming an increasingly urgent mainstream issue.
As John Lewis, CEO of char.gy, said when the reforms were announced:
“On-street lamppost charging has always been about meeting drivers where they are — using infrastructure that’s already on every street in the country. These reforms will help unlock that potential at the scale and speed the transition demands.”
What’s still missing
These reforms are a genuine step forward — but they don’t solve everything.
The biggest issue remains VAT. Public charging is still taxed at 20%, while home charging sits at 5%. Earlier this year, a UK tribunal ruled that the higher VAT rate unfairly penalizes drivers without off-street parking, although the government has indicated it intends to appeal that decision. Until VAT on public charging is brought in line with home charging, drivers who rely on the public network will continue to pay more than they should.
What this means for char.gy drivers
If you already charge with char.gy, your day-to-day routine won’t change. You can already plug in and charge where you park without needing a driveway, private parking, or complicated planning approval.
What these reforms do change is access: they make it easier for more people to benefit from the same experience, whether through on-street lamppost charging or improved support for home charging in rented properties. The direction of travel is right. Affordable, accessible charging for every driver — wherever they live — is exactly what the EV transition needs. And we’ll keep making the case until it gets there.
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