Earlier this month, The Irish Times revealed Government plans to pilot a new scheme aimed at incentivising the purchase of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The now oversubscribed ICE2EV initiative, which opens tomorrow, is the first State-backed scrappage scheme in 16 years.For the non petrolheads among us, the acronym that looks like a lame attempt at youth-speak stands for “internal combustion engine to electric vehicle.”When translated into common parlance, that means “give up yer aul dirty pollutin’ petrol car and buy a shiny new electric jammer”.The grant, worth an extra €5,000 off the price of an EV, will be made available to some 2,000 drivers of cars that are 13 years or older, and weighted 65 per cent in favour of those living in rural areas countrywide on a first-come, first-served basis.On this week’s Better with Money, our motoring columnist Neil Briscoe takes us through the scheme’s criteria, whether it’s still worth applying and why some people – who got their name on the list weeks ago – may be left disappointed in car showrooms.“We know that they’re oversubscribed for this. We know that many more people have made inquiries and some have even paid booking deposits. But not everyone’s going to get the grant.”Even if you don’t manage to avail of the scheme this time around (Briscoe is confident Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien will announce a widening of the scheme), you can still avail of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s subvention worth €3,500, albeit this is already baked into the list prices of EVs on forecourts countrywide. He runs through the best value EVs on the market right now, from the cheapest options (like the Hyundai Inster) up to the €50,000 grant cap. He also explains why small EVs are getting cheaper and why the growing used-EV market shouldn’t be discounted.In fact, Briscoe believes the Government is foolishly ignoring the second-hand market despite the technological advances made by manufacturers and the enduring battery life that EVs have been able to demonstrate. “You’ve got to build up confidence in the second-hand market where electric cars are concerned, both in terms of residual value and in terms of their reliability and the longevity of the batteries. And I do think the Government, rather than putting up flashy, headline-grabbing scrappage schemes like this, needs to be looking more at that end of things because if you can imbue confidence in the second-hand market, you’ll build new sales as well.”But as with traditional cars, the advice for buying a used EV remains the same. Buy from reputable garages where possible, always get a battery health check and service history, and take the car for a test drive to check for any suspicious noises and telltale wear and tear.