The Citroen e-C5 Aircross Long Range has become the second car to qualify for the full amount of the government’s electric car grant. The large, family SUV joins the smaller Ford Puma Gen-E and the van-based Ford E-Tourneo Courier people carrier, which were the first EVs to be awarded the maximum £3,750 subsidy when the scheme launched back in August.
Citroen’s two-pronged approach with the e-C5 Aircross means there are two battery sizes available – 73 and 97kWh – yet it’s only the larger battery which gets the £3,750 discount via the Electric Car Grant. The smaller battery e-C5 Aircross models only get £1,500 off, due to the larger battery scoring higher on the Science Based Targets necessary to receive a grant in the first place. The 97kWh battery is locally produced in France.
However, the government’s announcement of the e-C5 Aircross Long Range’s £3,750 discount has also come before Citroen has announced prices for the car. The Independent expects that a mid-spec e-C5 Aircross Long Range in Plus trim will cost just over £39,000, with the £3,750 bringing the price down to around £35,500. The same car with the smaller ‘Comfort Range’ battery costs £36,750, reducing to £35,250 with the £1,500 grant – within a few hundred pounds of a car with the bigger battery, which adds up to 112 miles of extra range (310 miles claimed maximum for Comfort Range, 422 miles for Long Range).
Similarly, the entry-level You trim level costs £34,065 for the Comfort Range model, reducing to £32,565 with the grant, while the Long Range version of that car is likely to cost just in the region of £36,500 with the £3,750 grant discount bringing the bigger battery car very close to the cost of the shorter range model. Citroen is likely to have to differentiate the deals on the two cars by offering a bigger finance deposit contribution on Comfort Range cars.
The grant now covers 38 electric models across various brands, and is designed to incentivise the purchase of the most sustainably produced EVs. It operates in two bands, offering either £3,750 or £1,500 off the list price, with the discount applied directly at the dealership.
Greg Taylor, managing director at Citroen UK, said: “It’s really important to us at Citroen that the transition to electrification is made as accessible as possible. The e-C5 Aircross Long Range is the first vehicle of its size and type to receive the full grant, which is testament to the hard work of the team at Citroen to make cars that are practical for all.”
With a laser focus on comfort and a class-leading official range of up to 422 miles, the e-C5 Aircross impressed us in our review, where we called it “a new all-electric flagship that delivers on price, comfort, range and practicality.” The full £3,750 grant will knock more than 10 per cent off the e-C5 Aircross’s list price, making it an even more attractive proposition for families.
The news comes as the latest UK industry data reveals strong electric car sales, which made up one in four new vehicles sold in October, and as the government invests £381 million to help councils roll out more than 100,000 new charging points across the country.
As EV adoption picks up pace, the government is also reported to have plans for a new pay-per-mile tax for electric and hybrid vehicle owners, designed to offset falling fuel duty revenues as drivers switch away from petrol and diesel engines.
