The Electric Car Scheme - New EV, Tax Benefit! Really??

In this product showcase we spoke to Thom Groot, CEO and Co-Founder of The
Electric Car Scheme (ECS) about ECS’ leading electric vehicle salary sacrifice
scheme.
The Electric Car Scheme enables staff across the UK to submit a request for a
heavily discounted electric car through their employers, in a similar vein to the
popular Cycle to Work scheme. This high-demand new staff benefit is a UK Government tax
incentive and works via a salary sacrifice scheme. This ends up saving employees
between 30-60% on an electric car of their choice. On the scheme, employees can
make savings on the full range of electric cars available on the market across lease
providers.
For more information, visit: www.electriccarscheme.com/ now
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#ElectricVehicles #EVs #evleasing #commercialvehicleleasing #vehicleleasing

[@richardloxley]

It’s a bit disingenuous that all his examples were for higher rate tax payers (and he didn’t even point that out, it was only in the on-screen small print). Plus he said go to the website and you can see exactly how much it would cost for your tax bracket. Nope, when you click the link you have to sign up with lots of personal details. No prices to be seen anywhere. Business that hide their prices behind a contact form get a huge “nope” from me.

[@owenashcroft8167]

Very much so, I think this is the second time that Fully Charged have hosted this sort of company and the figures displayed are always the most generous possible, it feels like one long advert, if they were being fair to all their viewers they'd include figures at all tax bands

[@mapryan]

I filled in the form & then got a follow up email from a salesperson a couple of days later

[@markkelly9095]

@@owenashcroft8167 it does says it’s a paid video and it how tax system work

[@michalkazmierczak7825]

@@mapryan what price did you get for what car and which tax band are you in?

[@holdupmaster]

@@owenashcroft8167 rubbish. Go use the calculator on their website. You can work it out in seconds.

[@dr-k1667]

With the way prices for petrol are in the EU and UK... this has arrived just in time! I hope this goes viral!

[@willpemberton6823]

All fine until electricity rockets in price, which will happen buddy

[@computerbob06]

Went on the website to get a quote. It wanted a business email for me, I haven't got one, so I put my personal one in instead. It also didn't recognise my company, so I had to fill it in manually. When I got my quotes through, it found 66 cars available - no info on when they would be available, one was for an MG5 but MG has stopped taking orders. There was an Id3 for £300 per month, although under this figure was written (from your take home pay) just like any other lease scheme surely, it should be getting taken from my gross pay! I get paid weekly - don't ask why, but there was no option to see the per week cost! It also gave me quotes without knowing which tax bracket I am in! My company actually uses a different salary sacrifice provider, the ID3 used to start at £55/week c.£230/month, then went up to £260/month but there are now no cars available. There are no cars available at all at the moment and they are all quite expensive, whether cash price or leased!

[@sleekitwan]

This is brilliant for 40% tax payers. No further comment on that score. But, thanks for bringing the news of it, it really is a great scheme and everybody induced to get an EV means everyone else, regardless of what their opinion of EVs is, breathes better air. So if I were a 40% tax payer, this would look pretty good, and as efficient and uncomplicated as it gets. It’s still good even a bit lower down the tax scale, so well done for getting this together. Take care all.

[@michaelrch]

I think you save tax and NI so even for a basic rate earner, it's worth about 33%.

[@sleekitwan]

@@michaelrch Yes, it’s changed since I was a lad. It used to be there was no effect on your salary getting a company car (1980’s) then they went through some targeting of these perks, then that put people off a bit, and around the time everyone realised you could write off some cars pretty heavily including depreciation on a ‘personal’ basis with the taxman (company rules allowing), some quite large companies (BT looking at you) had the urge to implement a rule that stopped employees doing this. It had been quite a difference, in cases I heard of as much as £500 a month. There surely must be trade-offs the taxman has with big corporates, and perhaps BT offered up the ‘loss’ to thousands of employees of subsidiary firms of excellent tax perks, write-offs, in exchange for a better deal for the corporate monster somewhere else. It had to make a difference to BT somehow, or they would not have bothered implementing the change, is what I mean. Overnight, working for a subsidiary of BT was rendered a really bad idea, if you relied on the car-for-work/personal tax-write-off to make up your money…in fact, this makes me think now maybe they wanted people to just leave, so they could employ new people on cheaper and new contracts rather than launch a wholesale redundancy program.

[@MG_Steve]

This is fine in theory, but you have to pick from a small list of suppliers and the deals aren't great. Some of them even make you take out maintenance, even though you don't really need it on an EV. So it my case, it was cheaper for me to get an ID3 through Vanarama than it was to get it through this scheme. It would be much better if you could use any deal you could find yourself, rather than having to use a company that provides this scheme. tbh, unless you're well into the higher rate tax band, its a waste of time, you'll find a much better deal through the market.

[@uproid]

I don't see why you can't use any deal you can find yourself, as long as your employer agrees to work with you to implement the salary sacrifice.

[@robertrichards2493]

Agree. The lease companies just jack the price up to have most of the tax benefit themselves. Yet again government has just provided a way for sharks to skim profit for doing very little. Why don't they just make it simple and allow anyone to make electric car lease/purchase costs tax deductible through self-assessment?

[@ISuperTed]

Not on my scheme - they offer the whole market virtually and it’s way cheaper than any market deal. I have an e208 on order and it’s over £100 a month cheaper than any deal I could find out there and it includes maintenance. Does depend who your employer is.

[@holdupmaster]

Thats not been my experience with them, got a good deal on a tesla - no forced maintenance - and when you work with them they even give you the option to work with a local dealership and how to get their pricing packaged as a business contract hire so that it can be delivered via salary sacrifice.

[@MG_Steve]

@@holdupmaster They may have changed their working practice then as it wasn't the case when I looked. It also depends how far into the upper tax band you are as to whether its worth it. If you're not or only just into it, its not worth it, its that simple. You can get better offers elsewhere via a normal lease. Tesla may be the only exception as you simply can't get much of a discount on them anyway, so in that case it probably works out better via the Scheme. In my case, it didn't. The other issue is you need an employer who's prepared to support the scheme, mine weren't, they don't do company cars fullstop, EV or ICE.

[@kennethstealey1311]

This is all lovely, but is there a salary sacrifice scheme that allows the employees to purchase the vehicles and own them?

[@SelfConfessedLegend]

At the end of my lease with Tusker, I get the option to buy.

[@MrDuncl]

Working next door to a Cazoo customer centre the good news is that in three years time the majority of these EVs will end up for sale somewhere like that.

[@KeithWilliams73]

I mentioned this scheme to my employer (a large multinational). I was surprised to learn that they had already looked at, and discounted, it. Even IF it were a good deal for the employee, they had reservations about the risks to the employer! The scheme requires the employer to underwrite each lease. If an employee leaves the organisation and wants to return the car the employer is liable for the early return fee (which could be deducted from final salary if that were enough to cover it and/or try and recover the money from the employee). There is a risk around long-term absences - this scheme is a ‘benefit’ and as such the employer has an obligation to provide the benefit even when the employee is absent and not receiving pay (like long-term sickness/maternity etc). There was the further consideration that employees would likely want home charging points and who would be responsible for those both cost and ongoing electrical certification. The business leadership were not comfortable with these risks.

[@MrDuncl]

"The scheme requires the employer to underwrite each lease." For a couple of years one of our company pool cars was a BMW 420 coupe. Why ? Some director ordered it then promptly left leaving the company with a two year lease. A shame he didn't choose something interesting like a Tesla Model S. p.s. We have also had a scheme at work like this for about a year. The first thing I did was check it out on Trustpilot and it was getting 1 star with people complaining about delayed deliveries and other problems.

[@ISuperTed]

We have a scheme in my company and I have an e208 on order. It does help that our company owns the largest car leasing business in the UK and have been running schemes like this for years so it’s a very smooth process. As an employee I’m liable for the full lease payments of the car if I leave and this is shown up front so you do have to be committed to the company to take it up. There are delivery delays for everyone - this isn’t the employers fault it’s how the market is and they do their best.

[@MrDuncl]

@@ISuperTed In more normal times I wonder how much your company pays for the cars. I once bought a 11 month old Vauxhall with 9000 miles on the clock for half RRP. The garage had four identical ones. I'm sure the original owner, Avis didn't pay anything like RRP buying them by the dozen.

[@ISuperTed]

@@MrDuncl Yes I’m sure they do get big discounts (in normal times) - certainly for ICE vehicles. Not sure they get much discount on EV’s due to the huge demand vs supply but that’s short-term. It’s definitely cheaper for me to lease an EV than an ICE car though due to the 2% BIK.

[@russvhill2]

Thom's financial examples showed in tiny print that the figures quoted were for people paying 40% tax. Those of us with lower salaries would not benefit as much, assuming we were earning enough anyway, this is especially the case if you live in, for instance, the cheaper parts of Lancashire where insurance rates can be double that of "posh places".

[@ISuperTed]

That’s true - it does benefit higher rate tax payers more. Where you live though affects insurance whether you are on a company scheme or private - I know colleagues on my scheme that are quoted a lot more as they live in London for the same car I got Quotes for )I live in a rural area) but it’s the same for privately owned vehicles.

[@Dreador.]

I guess it comes down to market share if a larger percentage of cars leased through employer, are for mostly employees on the higher rate then they a quoting to their potential market.

[@Leo_65430]

Salary sacrifice of this magnitude, over multiple years, can have serious implications for your pension. Not saying it’s bad for everyone, but you must understand the impact before signing up. For NHS workers, for instance, it’s a poor choice as your pension (2015 scheme) is determined by your lifetime average annual salary, which this could meaningfully reduce.

[@alexanderjamesninnim]

Considering also that all of the figures quoted are for people in the 40% tax bracket (so £50k plus per year) you'd have to be at least top of band 8A to have any benefit from it.

[@MrDuncl]

My Pension is Salary sacrifice. By adding an AVC I have always stayed out of the higher tax band. IMHO if you can afford to pay 40% tax you must have money to burn.

[@Leo_65430]

@@MrDuncl interesting idea and I guess in theory would protect your pension. Does your employer match your additional contributions?

[@MrDuncl]

@@Leo_65430 Up to about 10% although it is a bit more complicated than that. The scheme has been running for decades. I recall making a big AVC payment in 2001 to avoid paying 40% tax.

[@hamshackleton]

Great for pen-pushing office workers on big salaries, but what about help for the retired pensioners?

[@ISuperTed]

I’ve been on company schemes since 2004 (stopped 2016 due to high BIK) and now back on one with an EV. For me it was all about getting a new fully maintained car every 4 years (new scheme is every 3 years). And now makes sense again due to 2% BIK. It’s not for everyone though and would be far better if there was just blanket tax relief for EV’s.

[@holdupmaster]

ask a family member to lease one for you and reimburse them.

[@mark-se6ef]

no free meals in this world

[@Brian-om2hh]

Quite a few energy supply companies EDF, Octopus Energy etc, are also now offering EV vehicle leasing..... As are Gridserve.

[@duckman5642]

The simple problem is all this plastic stuff using the electricity is made from oil.

[@davyhoogy]

It's so frustrating when companies don't want to entertain these schemes. I prefer to lease and am a 40% tax payer, hundreds of people in our company would use this scheme yet they arent interested.

[@robertrichards2493]

Blame the government for making it ridiculously complicated and necessary to involve your employer. They should just allow you to make the lease costs tax deductible on your self assessment return. Simples.

[@theta2170]

@@robertrichards2493 yup. We should be able to salary sac without the employer knowing or caring.

[@ISuperTed]

Self-assessment deductions would be far fairer than the current scheme. I am using my employers scheme for my EV but do realise I’m in a privileged position and not everyone can do this. A blanket tax deduction for EV ownership whether by leasing or purchase would greatly enhance the take-up. No way the government will do it though - it’s too expensive in their eyes.

[@tyronenelson9124]

@@ISuperTed But now it sounds as if you are thinking about yourself, which is typical of people in society now days, not everybody is in your as you say, privileged position, and on top of that, they don't know whether and when they could loose their job and not keep up with payments of a house and car, and this is why I own my car.

[@tyronenelson9124]

So if everybody ends up with an ev, at some point where exactly is the road tax going to come from??

[@BMWHP2]

Would be great to speed up Tax benefits. We are waiting to buy an EV since 2017, but in the €20.000 price range is nothing that has a decent 200mls range. And after 5 years waiting, there still isnt. And EV's even get more expansive every year since 2020. For the masses, manufators have to start buillding the smaller 2 door cars, with less luxury gimmicks. Nowadays most people are only 2 or single most of their lives, and on average there is 1.1 person in a car anyway. So why keep building this endless stream of boring SUV's? . . . . coarse every neighbor has one, and people dont want to stand out?

[@Dudleymiddleton]

Glad to see I am not the only one fed up with endless SUV's! Hate the bloody things, they are ghastly.

[@gingermattb]

1) Because the boring SUVs are more profitab;e to the manufacturers in this phase, and 2) because the costs of small electric cars are disproportionately high compared to a larger one so they don't end up as cheap as people "think" they should be anyway. I agree that is what we need, btu it's not an easy circle to square.

[@BinaryArcher]

They build to what they think will sell best. Nothing else. Even purist companies like lotus are now making SUVs. For some reason the masses prefer SUVs.

[@MG_Steve]

I'd keep an eye on the MG4, that would appear to match your brief..

[@alltechinbox]

I went to my large employer after they released a grand net zero roll out. They were totally uninterested in salary sacrifice & copied the reply email saying that to myself & all local management. Clowns

[@michaelrch]

That is a shame. My company has bought the EVs to give to staff because they are 100% tax deductible apparently.

[@davyhoogy]

Same. Promoting how carbon neutral they are yet make everyone travel to working diesels and by bus

[@tyronenelson9124]

@@davyhoogy But this is what nobody seems to understand, an ev is NOT at all carbon neutral, because where do you think the electricity comes from, a power station!

[@TheWinstn60]

Its interesting that a car leasing company can lease a car from another car leasing company and still make a profit?

[@rugbygirlsdadg]

But there aren't any to buy.... My Skoda Enyaq is now "in transit" after being ordered in October....

[@Brian-om2hh]

At the moment it's a waiting game. VW have sold *all* their 2022 EV production, and even now into 2023. Kia have similar issues, having sold the next *three years* worth of production of their EV6 model in some markets. It's gone mad. The only hope, if you want one right now, is a cancelled order. But I expect there are even lists of potential buyers waiting to snap those up.....

[@lordstevewilson1331]

So basically anyone on 0 hour contract is out.

[@GrahamWathey]

You have to be very careful with salary sacrifice. If you are in your last 10 years or so of work, it reduces your pension. Be careful.

[@ISuperTed]

True but my employer gives back some of the savings into my pension and I’m topping it up with extra AVC’s. Does mean the scheme isn’t quite as beneficial but overall it’s allowed me to get an EV where I definitely wouldn’t have done privately.

[@rp9674]

Or Social Security

[@alifaisal]

May have missed it but as an employee would you need to put down a large deposit should you sign up for a lease?

[@ISuperTed]

No - I am on a 3 year scheme and it’s just 36 monthly payments. You never own the car though you just lease it but mine includes everything - insurance, maintenance, breakdown cover, even tyres. Benefits 40% tax payers more than basic rate payers.

[@alifaisal]

@@ISuperTed thanks Ian. I’m in the 20% tax bracket so I suppose only when I’ve seen the actual figures would it make sense. I’ve been reading some other comments also & it seems to good to be true. Plus it seems the website won’t reveal anything until I’ve provided all my personal details which seems odd.

[@gurveeraujla5846]

Hmmmm, so this a scheme to enable the people who earn a reasonable amount to save money on cars. Subsidised by the government? It smells like a help those with, and forget about the rest. As the scheme doesn't seem to work unless you earn more then 28k a year.

[@BenGoodsonModular]

This just reinforces to me how complicated buying can be.

[@MrDuncl]

Buying my last two cars hasn't been complicated. Paid with Switch (and each car was over £10000). Now I just need to find an E-Niro at a price within my Switch limit :-)

[@philippacane6176]

Great idea but went on the website but couldn’t get it to work!

[@tonymajor4079]

You need to be aware that the price quoted is an average. The first year is substantially more expensive than the following years.

[@jtlondon81]

Question please if you could answer asap Say company corporation tax bill is say 10k based on 50k profit at 19% I buy a 50k tesla 2023 so therefore my profit is zero there no ct tax due 3 years later i sell the tesla for 35k Do I then owe hrmc 19% on the 15k deprecation or 19% on the full sales price? Thanks Josh

[@sewwilson4185]

Exactly what the cycle to work scheme does.

[@uproid]

Does anyone know if it is ok, from the HMRC point of view, to do a salary sacrifice scheme on an EV that the employer has purchased, rather than leased?

[@uproid]

Just had a read of some of the HMRC Salary Sacrifice stuff. Heavy going! But to maybe answer my own question, as far as I can see, the salary sacrifice and the benefits to you as an employee of the business providing you with an EV via salary sacrifice have nothing to do with whether the business has bought or leased the car - it could be done either way depending on how the numbers crunch. So for those owning their own small business and taking salary via PAYE, that option might be something to consider.

[@robholland6460]

What impact does it have on your company pension contributions though?

[@MrDuncl]

Depends on the Pension scheme. My pension is already salary sacrifice so presumably nothing.

[@paulmoy9736]

This scheme is only any good if you are working and not much use if you are retired.

[@MrRobTheLEGEND]

That part is obvious, it's a salaried scheme

[@davyhoogy]

I mean yeah, salary sacrifice does kind of require you to have a salary to sacrifice in the first place lol

[@matthewrhodes1307]

Really frustrates me that salary sacrifice schemes never factor the loss in pension benefits as a result of the lower salary. Add that onto the numbers and it isn’t as “cheap” as it may first appear.

[@robru]

Does this have an impact on your pension?

[@Richard-io9xe]

The issue with salary sacrifice is that higher rate taxpayers receive twice the benefit of that received by standard rate taxpayers because it is a saving of tax at the margin. On a measure of "fairness", that is pretty obscene. In my experience, the concept is just abused by the lease companies because they inflate the gross price, knowing that the tax saving will still make it look like a saving to the employee. Like any incentive provided by the govt, someone will be along soon to abuse it and rinse the govt of money.

[@Andy-zi1wj]

Are there any savings for people who aren't in 40% tax bracket? If not it's only helping the high payed

[@sailingoctopus1]

That's the nature of the government we voted in

[@ISuperTed]

It’s the nature of any scheme that has tax benefits and would be exactly the same for any government. It could be limited to basic rate tax relief but then there would be less take up. Subsidising all EV’s (like they did with the EV grant’s) probably works better but that’s just been withdrawn!

[@ISuperTed]

This is nothing new - my employers have had company schemes for years. I was on my scheme from 2004 to 2016 and basically gave up my ‘car allowance’ (i.e. extra salary) to have a fully maintained car instead. It was good value until the government put the benefit-in-kind up so much it wasn’t worth it (23% BIK when I left the scheme). Now though it is worth it again as the BIK is only 2% on EV’s so I can get a car for £300 a month that would have been over £450 a month previously. I’m sure it won’t be long before the government start increasing BIK but for the next few years I’ll take advantage of it until hopefully EV’s become lower priced and make sense to buy privately again. The biggest problem is the delivery times - 20 weeks for my e208 on order.

[@Pottery4Life]

I wish this were available in the States. (although "scheme" carries a negative connotation over here)

[@carlarrowsmith]

I wished we paid for EVs what you guys pay in the states. Generally they're cheaper and then you get federal grants from most brands. Car I'm looking at £42,000 here, in the US about £25000 after discounts

[@vernepavreal7296]

Anything that gets more electric cars sold is a great idea Also remember that ultimately’s vehicles will be available secondhand so others may be able to purchase them if they don’t meet the criteria to join such a scheme Cheers

[@tyronenelson9124]

It's not a scheme, its a con, I wish that everybody would wake up.

[@Rambo9700]

@@tyronenelson9124in what way?

[@judebrown4103]

My wife is a tax specialist so I'll await her verdict on this.... Feel sure if it was of any use to us we'd be signed up by now. Anything that gets people in an ev sooner is fine by me. I hope she listens and decides to sign up right away.

[@ericpisch2732]

I believe the downside is they work out your pension contributions after the reduction of the cost of the car so you end up with a smaller pension

[@davyhoogy]

Keep us updated ha

[@robholland6460]

@@ericpisch2732 That is my understanding too

[@ISuperTed]

It has got me to order an EV due to the 2% BIK. I was on my company scheme for years but stopped in 2016 as it was becoming more expensive to have a company car than a private one (BIK was 23% then on almost any petrol/diesel/hybrid family car). I understand my pension contributions will go down slightly but my company give back some of their savings into my pension so it’s a small impact. You do have to work it out though to see if it’s worth it or not but for me having a petrol car over 3 years privately will be way more than a company EV/lost pension.

[@owenashcroft8167]

The bik is 2%, so if you're saving more than 2% tax on your salary sacrifice it's saving you money, whether that offsets the higher costs (in my case a BMW i4 drops from around £800 -> £620 a month effectively as the rest I've saved in tax which I'd have never seen anyway, so I'd see a £130 increase in cost over my current ICE car, but even with current electricity costs vs petrol costs + road tax vs bik the two even out fairly nicely

[@ghost70]

Great idea and just been on the site. At least you have a good selection of cars that i may actually fit in . Just a shame that once you put in the insurances , maint, extras etc the cost if few hundred £ over a monthly mortage payment, which i just cant justify and i dont think many could in these times. The only car that was suitably priced per month was the E Up which i like but just too small a car with not enough range coming in an £390 a month for 3 yrs. wish Hionda would make a full EV Jazz on the lasy outgoing model chassis as would like nice and have potential for good size battery , range and capacity inside

[@robertrichards2493]

£390 a month for an eUp is horrifically expensive.

[@ghost70]

@@robertrichards2493 i did not think it was that bad considering you dont have to worry about anything like insurance maint etc as all covered under the plan.

[@robertrichards2493]

@@ghost70 maintenance for a brand new EV will be zero. Insurance for an eUp something like £200 a year. It's an absolute rip off. Ask VW what it would be on a PCP, which is essentially a lease with an option to purchase.

[@ghost70]

@@robertrichards2493 Insurance would be more than that. my 10yr old jazz when bought new and owned ever since has always been over £350 fully comp and was more expensive when new ( £23k) . anyways not an oppton as too small a car and not enough range

[@robertrichards2493]

@@ghost70 that's because your Jazz is 10 years old. New cars have more safety kit so you are less likely to be involved in an accident or be injured. My Kia Niro EV (more expensive that the eUp) is costing £250 to insure, and that includes a lot of business mileage. There's a *lot* of profit in that £390!

[@sylvainjamais904]

This is not strictly speaking new, but it looks like this outfit is planning to do things a bit differently which might address the reasons that made my company decide not to offer this the last time we looked into it. I will investigate. Thanks for sharing

[@nobotshere8364]

The infrastructure is not in place for the volumes of EV cars being pushed. It's a great idea, however the UK needs to have more charging terminals before racing ahead.

[@whitlockbr]

The raw materials needed to increase battery production are just not there on the scale of groundbreaking EV adoption. Tax benefits do not matter if the materials to make the cars aren't available.

[@oleww50]

What about the self employed?

[@80y3r9]

So it costs you 20k to rent a model y for 4 years, it'll probably lose less than half that in value, Tesla will probably put their prices up again and it'll end up losing 5k, leases are terrible as you don't get anything (other than robbed)

[@ISuperTed]

My 3 year payments for the EV on my scheme are about £12K on a car than is listed at £35K to buy. That includes all insurance, maintenance, tyres, breakdown cover and GAP insurance etc. so you can deduct £500 to £1,000 a year from that as costs saved. I’m basically paying less than 1/3 of the cost of the car over 3 years. I did compare this to leasing/PCP over 3 years privately and taking into account a deposit, payments, residuals and running costs and it is substantially cheaper. Doesn’t work for everyone but for me it does.

[@iansimons7466]

Really gutted 👎🏻went to the website put my details in. I work full time shifts for local government so not on poverty wages. And got a quote for a Nissan Leaf only to be told I don’t earn enough. What I mean is I couldn’t proceed forward from that point. So I altered my pay to £50k a year and hey presto it give me a quote. Obviously 20k+ wages need not apply. 🙁

[@ronanoreilly2228]

Looks like a long AD

[@robsmith1a]

I don't see how giving people tax breaks to buy EVs will help more people own them when the issue at present is a lack of supply and not a demand issue. It's just as daft as giving tax breaks to buy houses when they are in short supply, all that happens is that prices go up (as they are for EVs every month).

[@tyronenelson9124]

Nobody is thinking about how are we are going to be able to charge these ev's in the case of a blackout, and the fact that there is a new law coming in on when we are allowed to charge the ev.

[@paulbennett4548]

A fascinating concept but alas much to complicated for our Canadian government................:o(

[@JJ-zg1hh]

Great way to get a new car!

[@JJ-zg1hh]

@@mikadavies660 I love the e-up. Great little car. Blasting around in a Tesla Model 3 is great for a while but more than double what you're paying. Small and efficient EVs are what we need in reality.

[@JJ-zg1hh]

@@mikadavies660 couldn't agree more with that approach in these strange inflationary times. When I think of the money I've wasted on new car finance over the years it makes me shudder.

[@davidfitzpatrick1242]

Another advertorial from Fully Charged - they are doing this a lot, presumably chasing the advertising revenue. It calls into question the objectivity of all their content. Other companies do exactly the same - my company runs a salary sacrifice scheme through Arval, and I think Octopus have started something as well

[@dalefullerton4553]

A leasing broker offering sal sac, nothing new here, its all good until the employer receives invoices from 50 different leasing companies (the funder) and they don't want the admin. This is why companies prefer a small number of leasing suppliers. Good schemes for cash takers or people who aren't entitled to a company car in their role.

[@ISuperTed]

My employer owns the biggest car leasing company in the country so they have been offering this scheme since it was started by the government. There’s been a huge take up in our company for EV’s and the only issue really is supply - some cars are on 18 month timescales now!

[@michaeledwards8079]

I'm an OAP so there is no salary sacrifice so as I cannot afford 30K for an electric car must stick with a cheap ICE car, there are millions of us on low pay in this situation

[@thumper1747]

Smart cookie

[@n1ch0las51]

I did this ten years ago before these guys existed. It was a no brainer with the savings in fuel cost almost a free car until the government changed the rules back then. BTW It was a Nissan Leaf

[@Smidge204]

As an American the word "scheme" is basically a synonym for scam or fraud. I understand that's not the connotation here but there's this uncanny valley effect that made this conversation a little unsettling!

[@paulleggett9735]

So many holes in this..

[@garethjones2125]

This relies on the low benefit in kind tax currently offered to EV’s. With the current growth in the market the government is very likely to change this in the future potentially wiping out any savings. Just like the grant has been removed on vehicles and the cost of installing home chargers.

[@MrDuncl]

I hate it whenever they start talking about "Benefit in Kind" in car reviews. Some of us have to buy and maintain our own cars.

[@ISuperTed]

Absolutely correct - which is why I have one on order and will take advantage of it while I can. Fully expect within 5 years the BIK will steadily increase.

[@RichardFooter]

Does an EUC count? If so, I'm also getting an EV!

[@holdupmaster]

bet you could get one of those through the cycle to work scheme :)

[@thornbottle]

good luck, ordered my new EV november, still waiting with a date of september.... so they wont get new ones right now when its nearly a year wait

[@chrisball6177]

Leasing companies tend to preorder batches of cars they know will be popular. So potentially for example, their customers get access to cars that were preordered last September even though they didn't get an allocated customer for it until April. With the current lead times this is sadly, another perk to leasing at the moment rather than buying yourself. Equally if the lease company customer, insisted on obscure combination of options, it would just join the line at the end.

[@ISuperTed]

I ordered an EV in October 21 (large VW group one) and eventually they said delivery will be March 2023 (after changing the date 4 times). I cancelled it and ordered a smaller EV which is confirmed as 18 weeks delivery so just waiting now. It does depend on make/model a lot - VW group ones seem particularly bad.

[@PaulBailey3]

"Scheme" has a bad connotation in the States. lol

[@nickyfoulkes8476]

When we have the UK public charging infrastructure & a new electric cars are more affordable for everybody including those of us who are self employed. We have 2 rapid chargers in our council for 238,000 residents. I will stay with self charging hybrid until 2035. When electric cars have driving range equal to fossil fuel & charging time is equal to hydrogen filling time.

[@mrmawson2438]

👍

[@andyburns6496]

Great if you are working. However I’m a pensioner on a fixed income, I’d love to get an electric car but there are no schemes to help me. I have to pay full retail price. So I’ll be getting a petrol car next.

[@becool365]

My biggest problem is that this is a lease. I don't like paying money for items I innevitably don't own. This is in a sum affordable car rental.

[@davyhoogy]

Most people PCP their eyeballs up anyway and never can afford the balloon payment at the end, so essentially it's the same with different technical ownership titles. Both have positives

[@simonshorty2]

@@davyhoogy True but at least with PCP you get a "chance" to own it at the end, maybe re finance the balloon payment, and you will almost certainly be in some positive equity as an incentive to take out another deal. Lease you walk away with no money and no car plus muddy your pension contributions just to drive around in a car you couldnt afford to buy

[@ISuperTed]

For almost everyone a 4 year HP deal is better than a 3 year PCP - you pay way less interest and after 3 years are likely to have more residual. This scheme though is only good whilst BIK is low (2% currently) - one this increases which it inevitably will is becomes less attractive.

[@simonshorty2]

@@ISuperTed Yes you are right, HP is better but only if you can afford the higher monthly payments (obv you keep the asset at the end of agreement hence the higher costs). Everything is subjective based on peoples situations/finances ultimately and people are free to do what suits them best. Desirability of buying a car Id say goes 1. Cash 2. Bank Loan 3. HP 4.PCP 5. Lease 6. No Car I think we can all agree that cars are going up and up into the higher realms of unaffordability whereby you likely have to finance in some shape or form to have a new or modern second hand vehicle. I feel this video is misleading. By them providing a "quick fix" answer to getting people driving EVs with this company, they open up a can of worms of more questions like is it actually good value for money? Can people afford it in the long run? Are people comfortable with potentially being left with no vehicle at end of it even tho they may have part ex'd theirs for the deal? This vid needs to be more impartial and researched better

[@guy2726]

So. As a pensioner, how am I motivated to buy an EV? Prices are ridiculously expensive and not like to come down for what - 5 years?? And no-one is talking about the need to reinforce the 230V cables (some 500,000 km buried under UK roads and pavements). Alas, somewhere between 80 and 90% of residential networks are built to offer 1 to 1.5 kW (London, South East and East Anglia are 1.5kW per home sustained capable). That load will be exceeded in Winter at about 20% EV replacement of cars. New 11,000 to 230V transformers and cables please. By the way, HP are worse. Cost likely to be greater than HS2, plus may take over a decade to dig up all those roads and pavements. The 2012 estimate was £62 bn. Fully Charged ever going to touch that one? FYI this is my professional area; these issues known and warned about since 2012. Gov. kicks can down road; well it won't effect this Parliament... so far, so good. Keep those fingers crossed...

[@pipstein612]

With the figures you quote for sustained loads, could you explain how local distribution copes with peak loads occurring in the morning and evening. 1.5kW/property seems very low ( at least to me ) when many properties may have electric showers/cookers often operating at the same time.

[@judebrown4103]

I don't get this myth that everyone will be charging their cars at the exact same time. It's not as though everyone in a neighbourhood is going to have a depleted battery at half past five every evening. Most people might only need to charge once a week... and then not on the same day at the same time! I'm sorry mate but whatever your professional involvement this is FUD right here!

[@SimonEllwood]

@@pipstein612 I can explain, thanks for the question. People with EVs have an EV tarrif and thus do not charge during periods of high demand.

[@ericpisch2732]

Go back to the daily mail

[@Brian-om2hh]

@@judebrown4103 Only a complete fool would charge an EV at 5.30pm if they had an EV charging tariff. But the EV doubters don't understand this. And charging once a week is bob on for most people. The average UK daily commute is 20.8 miles. Many do even less.....

[@Lonewolf_rider]

Another own nothing and be happy 😊

[@evilutionltd]

But leasing is renting and renting is a mug's game. If there was a hire purchase option at the end, I'd think about it.

[@davyhoogy]

Not really. Every car depreciates, if you can get a good lease deal you'll only really pay for depreciation plus a bit extra for your convenience. My EV costs me 300 a month, I save 130 on diesel alone, 40 on tax, so my 'rental' costs me 130quid for a brand new car.

[@ISuperTed]

My EV on this scheme will cost me £12K over 3 years and that’s everything apart from electric (which is free at work anyway). The car is £35K to buy. There’s no okay I could get an HP deal that is this cheap for an EV. Whilst the BIK is 2% it makes sense - not so much when this increases (which it will eventually).

[@hilcro1]

Yeah with the new "living wage" rise it means you have to be earning over 25,000 to actually be allowed by your employer to access it because they can't let you fall below the living wage .....so you end up having to buy a car out of your salary which means you don't get the tax breaks.... the same with people wanting to a ail of childcare vouchers only allowed to sacrifice to your living wage limit