The take home salary boost available to employees who are able to switch from a petrol or diesel to an electric company car could help counteract cost of living pressures for them, Arval UK is reporting.
Joel Lund, who was appointed as Commercial Director in March, said that for a 20% tax payer with access to an electric vehicle (EV) via a company car scheme, the saving in benefit in kind tax tended to be between £1,000 – £2,000 per annum, which was important while the cost of living was rising at pace.
Joel (above) said: “Very low benefit in kind and the resultant lower tax deduction, has been a key factor in electric car adoption from the moment that it became available, but it has become even more decisive in the last few months.
“At a time when prices of ordinary goods and fuel are visibly rising by the month, a take home pay increase of this kind has genuine value. “Of course, the savings don’t just stop with tax. The cost of personal mileage for an EV driver is currently reduced compared to someone driving an internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalent, which can easily run into hundreds of pounds every year for an average motorist. “What we are seeing is both individual drivers and entire fleets, which may have been slow when it came to electrification, suddenly find impetus, which very much fits in with our stated corporate strategy of supporting our customers’ transition to electrified vehicles as soon as possible. And by employers enabling more employees to access electric cars through salary sacrifice, it’s also a more inclusive approach for all employees.” |
Filling stations are cashing in at motorists’ expenses today, says the RAC.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said, “With oil dropping by $10 a barrel yesterday causing wholesale prices of both petrol and diesel to fall further, even more pressure is now on the supermarkets to act and treat drivers fairly. “We can guarantee retailers will be rushing to buy new stock today at these low prices, but they will no doubt still remain reluctant to reduce their forecourt prices. If we don’t see a significant supermarket cut in the next few days it will be nothing short of scandalous. “And, even if retailers eventually do the right thing, we still need further help from the Government to make the cost of driving more affordable as so many people are being financially impacted by the record high prices. Perhaps a change at No 11 will finally lead to the fuel tax cuts we’ve been calling for.” |
New data analysis from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association shows half of all charging points for electric cars in the European Union are concentrated in only two countries – the Netherlands (90,000 chargers) and Germany (60,000).
These two countries make up less than 10% of the entire EU surface area.
Octopus Energy has entered the new car market for EVs.
Octopus has also pre-ordered popular EVs to help drivers beat long lead times.