The gap between electric vehicles and their fuel predecessors is quickly closing with demand for electric vehicles growing exponentially across the UK. Businesses are seeing financial gains from switching their fleet vehicles over the electric and here’s why:

Grant Funding:

EV fleets operators can claim Government funding to offset the cost of their vehicles – instantly bringing down the initial purchase costs that currently cause hesitation amongst those considering the switch. It’s available for vehicle dealerships and manufacturers and is deducted from the vehicle’s lease or purchase price.

The Plug-in Car Grant offers funding for up to 35% of the vehicle cost including any added extras and VAT costs, up to a maximum of £6,000 per vehicle, but the entitlement amount and eligibility is dependent on your vehicle type. To find out what you’re entitled to, click here.

Home and business owners are also eligible for charge point installation funding, meaning they’ll save up to £350 towards the cost of their installation with the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) and Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS). Click the links to find out if you’re eligible.

Qualifying for the plug-in grant:

To qualify for the grant, you must be purchasing a brand-new electric vehicle that meets the following criteria:

Tax relief on company cars

Switching to an EV fleet could offer tax benefits for companies supporting the electric and hybrid vehicle deployment.

Employers providing company vehicles with private usage, are liable for annual Class 1A National Insurance Contributions (NICs). The NI Contributions currently pay a rate of 13.8% of the taxable vehicle value based on CO2 emissions, but as of April 2022, the rate will increase to 15.05%, making it even cheaper for organisations to sign up to EV lease and/or finance fleet agreements.

In April 2020, a new set of incentives were enforced for vehicles that emit 50 g/km or less including:

• Electric vehicles with a range of 130 miles or more. These vehicles must have low emittance rates of 0 g/km CO2.
• Plug-in hybrid vehicles emitting between 1 g/km and 50 g/km CO2 will also benefit from reduced rates based on their electric-only range, according to the new tiered system.

To find out more about company vehicle tax bands, click here.

Standard EV Incentives

Although there are a range of fleet specific incentives, the standard switching incentives include:

• Charging at work: make the most of additional government funding towards the cost of charge point installations.
• Clean air zones: avoid getting caught out with clean air zone penalties.
• Fuel Costs: Charging cost are typically up to four times cheaper than the cost of refuelling a petrol or diesel vehicle. (Dependent on charge time due to tariffs)