Joint letter: Urgent need to introduce social leasing of electric vehicles to support lower income households.

The UK’s electric vehicle (EV) transition is gathering pace, with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) making up 23.4% of new registrations in 2025. Yet BEVs remain out of reach for many lower-income households. High upfront and leasing costs mean families on below-median incomes are often locked out of the EV market and stuck with older, more polluting cars that cost more to run.

While manufacturers are beginning to produce smaller, more affordable models, leasing still costs too much. The cheapest BEV lease is currently £141 a month, compared with under £100 spent monthly on motoring purchases/leasing by the bottom 40% of households.

France has shown there’s a fairer way. Its social leasing scheme, offering subsidised BEV leases to lower-income households, has delivered over 100,000 leases and secured huge demand.

The UK can follow suit — cutting household bills, reducing emissions, and keeping British manufacturing competitive.

New modelling shows several ways the government could make this work:

• Social leasing scheme: BEV lease costs as low as £77/month for households below median income.

• Bundled scheme: Includes insurance, maintenance, and charging from £222/month.

• Scrappage-for-leasing scheme: Discounts for retiring old petrol or diesel cars, reducing costs to as low as £56/month for eligible households.

Funding could come from redirecting the £1.3 billion Electric Car Grant uplift or modest reforms to vehicle taxation, capable of financing nearly 200,000 social leases each year, for less than the cost of another fuel duty freeze.

Sustained to 2034, this policy could deliver 950,000 extra BEVs by 2035 cutting current domestic transport emissions by 9%.

This is about fairness and opportunity.

A UK social leasing scheme would help key workers like social care workers, rural residents, and low-income families save on travel costs while driving cleaner vehicles.

The government now has a chance to act: lowering energy bills, accelerating the transition, and ensuring no one is left behind.

Download our joint letter and full report ‘No one left behind’ to read in full.