Funding

Plugged-in Communities Grant Fund

Location notice

Please note that this page contains information and links most relevant for people living in Scotland.

The Plugged-in Communities Grant Fund (formerly Plugged-in Households) is an opportunity for not-for-profit housing associations, housing cooperatives and constituted community groups in Scotland to apply for funding to procure the services of a zero emission car club vehicle, for use by their tenants and the wider local community.

Plugged-in Communities is funded by Transport Scotland and delivered by Energy Saving Trust.

The fund is currently closed. Please email us for more information about Plugged-in Communities.

More than 280,000 homes in Scotland are part of housing associations and co-operatives. Often tenants and residents of the wider community don’t have access to private, off-street parking spaces, which means they can’t participate in the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) market unless they charge solely off public charge points.

Eligible housing associations, cooperatives and constituted community groups in Scotland can bid for a share of the £500,000 of grant funding available from Energy Saving Trust to procure the services of a zero emission car club service for their residents and the wider local community. A car club provides shared access to one or more vehicles as an alternative to private car ownership. This provides:

affordable access to zero-emission vehicles to households across Scotland, including those without allocated off-street parking
a viable alternative to owning a vehicle for people who only need one occasionally
access to alternative transport options for people who don’t have their own vehicle
an opportunity to experience electric vehicles regardless of income or location

Free webinar and support

The webinar available is designed to help prospective applicants develop their proposals so that they meet the desired programme outcomes. Topics include: identifying your target audience and car-club sites, charging infrastructure requirements and funding, designing a sustainable car-club, and marketing and promotional support.

Further to the webinar recording, Energy Saving Trust can provide one-to-one support to organisations via phone or via video conference, and where resources allow, in person. Please contact a member of the team on 0131 555 8642 or email [email protected] to make arrangements.

Watch the webinar online.

Application criteria

Each application should meet the following criteria:

the application must be for at least one zero emission vehicle
each vehicle should have one allocated and enforced bay within the site
the applicant must apply for grant funding via ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) for the installation of charging infrastructure for this bay
the zero emission vehicle and car club service should be provided by an accredited Car Club operator
all vehicle management should be provided by the Car Club operator
back-office telematics data will be collected and shared by the Car Club operator
the contract with the Car Club operator should last 12 months from the point of vehicle delivery, with the possibility of extension subject to each project’s financial viability and / or available funding