The UK is the only one of our markets with a purchase grant in 2026: the Zero Emission Truck Grant (from 1 April 2026) pays up to £81,000 per truck over 26 t (max. 40 % of the price, up to 100 trucks per customer). The Depot Charging Scheme covers 70 % of charger hardware and installation (cap £1m per organisation; application window 2 runs 28 October 2026 to 29 January 2027). Zero-emission HGVs pay no HGV levy (£576/year for a Euro VI 44-tonner) and £0 VED, and companies can write off the full price in year one (full expensing). There are no distance-based tolls in the UK, so – unlike Germany – tolls are not part of the case.
Open since 1 April 2026 for new zero-emission trucks: up to £81,000 for vehicles over 26 t, £52,000 for 18–26 t, £37,000 for 12–18 t and £15,000 for 4.25–12 t – capped at 40 % of the purchase price and 100 vehicles per customer. The grant is applied by the dealer at the point of sale; the calculator deducts it from the purchase price (default £81k, adjustable).
£170 million until 2030 for depot charging: 70 % of hardware and installation, up to £1 million per organisation. The second application window runs from 28 October 2026 to 29 January 2027. With £50k of infrastructure per e-truck the grant is worth £35k per vehicle – and it turns the grid-connection question from a cost problem into a lead-time problem (6–18 months).
A Euro VI 44-tonne articulated diesel pays the HGV levy (£576/year for the heaviest band) plus VED. Zero-emission HGVs are exempt from the levy and pay £0 VED. The UK has no distance-based HGV toll, so the £35k a year that German operators save on tolls does not exist here – the case rests on energy, grants and maintenance.
Companies can deduct 100 % of the cost of new plant and machinery – including trucks and chargers – in the year of purchase. On a £270k e-truck at 25 % corporation tax that is a cash-flow advantage of roughly £67k in year one against writing it down over several years. Not a grant, but tax brought forward.
Zero-emission HGVs may run up to 2 t heavier than the diesel limits (within axle limits) to compensate for the battery – relevant for 2- and 3-axle rigids in particular.
The UK phases out the sale of new non-zero-emission HGVs up to 26 t in 2035 and all HGVs in 2040. In 2025 only 587 of 40,504 new HGVs were zero-emission (1.4 %); with the grant and the depot scheme the government expects the share to rise sharply from 2026 – which is exactly when residual values of diesel tractors begin to move.
Department for Transport / OZEV (Zero Emission Truck Grant, Depot Charging Scheme), HMRC (full expensing, HGV levy, VED), SMMT (HGV registrations 2025). UK, as of September 2026.
Short, concrete answers. Figures from the Electric Hub, as of September 2026.
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