Guidance

Guidelines to meet the plug-in taxi grant warranty criterion

Updated 8 April 2024

To be considered eligible for a grant under the plug-in taxi grant scheme, applicants are required to offer a warranty to the consumers.

This must conform with the requirements of Directive 1999/44/EC.

The vehicle warranty must be transferable to the consumer’s successors in title for the balance of the warranty period.

The Department for Transport (DfT) does not intend to dictate the precise terms of the warranty to be provided by applicants to consumers.

The full extent of the warranty will be largely determined by market forces and will form a key differential selling point for vehicles of this type.

DfT reserves the right to disqualify an application should it believe the warranty being offered by the applicant fails to meet the minimum criteria required by the DfT.

In addition, the applicant must be able to satisfy the DfT that it is able to fulfil the terms of the warranty being offered by it.

Vehicle warranty requirements

To qualify for a grant under the plug-in taxi grant, the applicant must, as a minimum, provide the following to the consumer:

• a warranty of at least 3 years or 60,000 miles (96,500km) from the date of transfer of ownership to the consumer, whichever comes first, this regards the vehicle but excludes the battery or fuel cell and electric drive train

For the avoidance of doubt, the warranty should cover all equipment supplied with the vehicle, including the charge cable.

External equipment installed in the customers’ property, for example charging units, does not need to be covered by the vehicle warranty.

The applicant may limit its liability under the warranty or thereafter for any fault or deficiency in performance if this arises from normal wear and tear or the following actions from the consumer or representative:

• negligence
• improper use
• faulty storage
• insufficient care
• modification of the vehicle

Energy storage and drive train warranty

In addition to the vehicle warranty, the energy storage and drive train^{[footnote 1]} must be covered by a warranty of at least 3 years or 60,000 miles (96,500km) from the date of transfer of ownership to the consumer.

The applicant must also offer to the consumer the option of extending the warranty by a further 2 years. The applicant may choose to attach an additional cost to this warranty extension.

Where the battery or fuel cell and broader electric drive train is leased to the customer, the leasing agreement must offer a level of support to the customer that is at least equivalent to the warranty.

For vehicles designed to use detachable batteries (easily removable by the consumer without the use of tools), the warranty shall only apply to the batteries first supplied with the vehicle.

The applicant must guarantee to the consumer that the battery or fuel cell and electric drive train of the vehicle will retain a reasonable degree of performance for the period of the warranty.

In the event of a fault or deficiency in performance being found in the battery or fuel cell or electric drive train of the vehicle, the applicant must repair or replace defective parts free of charge.

Free of charge in this context refers to the necessary costs incurred including, the cost of postage, labour and materials.

Glossary

Applicants: manufacturers, their agents, or importers of vehicles that benefit from the grant.

Consumers: purchasers of vehicles and their successors in title.

Directive 1999/44/EC: this directive of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 May 1999 concerns certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees.

1. Drive train refers to the parts that send power from the engine to the wheels. These include the clutch, transmission (gear box), drive shafts, U-joints and differential. ↩