Do I need anything specific before starting my application?
You should have an idea of how much money you would like to borrow and be able to provide an overview of your monthly finances, such as income and outgoings, which will be used to assess your ability to afford loan repayments.
Do I need anything specific before starting my application?
Postcode applicants:
You won’t need to upload any documents; however, have your monthly finances to hand as we will ask you to confirm these for loan affordability purposes.
Income based applicants:
You will need to upload evidence of your annual income in the form of a recent payslip, pension statement or other document you feel verifies your income. You may need to supply additional evidence if requested.
Is the £50,000 household income limit before or after tax?
Household income is assessed on gross income before tax and any other deductions.
Someone in my household already received funding for an electric vehicle. Can I still apply?
Yes! Our loan is attached to the individual applying for funding.
When should I start looking for a vehicle?
We recommend that you begin searching for a vehicle only after receiving a loan offer. Loan offers remain valid for up to two months, which gives you plenty of time to find the right vehicle.
Since our goal is to process all applications within 10 working days after receiving full submissions, this approach helps avoid delays between finding and purchasing a vehicle, relieving any pressure to finalise a purchase before securing a loan offer.
For a smooth application process, please follow the steps below:
- Submit your application along with all required supporting documents.
- We process your application within the agreed timeframe and issue a loan offer.
- You accept the loan offer within 14 days.
- You source your vehicle from an eligible dealership during the loan offer period.
- You upload the invoice and any other claim documents to your online portal within the loan offer period.
- We process your complete claim within 10 working days.
- The dealership verifies the invoice to confirm its authenticity.
- We process payment within an additional 3-5 working days.
When selecting a vehicle, inform your dealer that you are using loan funds administered by Energy Saving Trust and provided by Transport Scotland, an agency of the Scottish Government.
As part of our fraud prevention measures, we require dealerships to verify their invoices. Please ensure your dealership is aware of this requirement, as quick verification will speed up the payment process.
Finally, confirm with your dealership the timelines outlined above, and remind them that we can’t process claims until they verify the invoice.
Can I put down a deposit to secure the vehicle?
Yes, but first ensure the dealership meets the loan criteria for being an eligible dealership. However, we recommend you wait until you have a loan offer in place. If your application is unsuccessful, we cannot reimburse deposits.
Are hybrids eligible for funding?
No, only pure electric vehicles are eligible for this funding.
Can I also buy a charge point with this loan?
No, but you may be eligible for funding through our charge point grant fund. Visit our website for eligibility criteria and more details; the fund is subject to availability.
Will I be credit checked when I submit the application?
Yes. This is a hard check and is required to submit the application.
Can I still apply if I’m planning to use a finance agreement to help purchase the vehicle?
Yes, but you must ensure that your finance agreement meets the loan eligibility criteria. The loan can’t be used to pay off another finance agreement and you must be the owner of the vehicle after purchase.
Can I save my application and return to it later?
Yes, by selecting the ‘next’ button in the application form. Don’t submit until you are sure you have entered all the correct information.
