✔ You can currently save £14,000 on charging stations for your company
✔ The benefit-in-kind tax cut could save you thousands per car if you go electric
✔ 65% of workers are more likely to join a company with eco-friendly policies
EVs are cheaper than ever, and electric car charging points costs are also going down.
Plus, right now businesses can use the government’s Workplace Charging Scheme to cover 75% of the costs, up to £14,000, and get chargepoints at an even lower price.
Fill in this form to be put in touch with a chargepoint installer, and see how much it would cost you.
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The growing popularity of businesses using electric cars
The government cut the benefit-in-kind tax rate on electric cars from 16% to 0% for the 2020/21 tax year.
This move, together with a powerful shift in public opinion, led to an explosion in electric vehicles’ popularity during 2020 – especially in the corporate sector.
While privately owned electric vehicle ownership increased by 33%, company ownership rose by a massive 78%, according to government data.
Unfortunately, this 0% rate expired in April 2021, but you’ll still pay very little until at least 2023.
The rate will be 1% throughout the 2021/22 tax year, and 2% for the 2022/23 tax year.
That means that an e-Golf, for example, would cost a company £55 in benefit-in-kind tax for the 2021/22 year, then £110 for the next year.
In contrast, the Volkswagen Golf 1.0 TSI Life – a petrol-powered model – would set you back £6,859 in benefit-in-kind tax for the first year alone.
Despite the growing popularity of electric vehicles, only 55% of people would have an EV if it were free, according to our National Home Energy Survey.
Which businesses are going electric?
Companies are sitting up and taking notice of these potential savings.
Corporate giants including GlaxoSmithKline, HP, IKEA, Natwest, Tesco, and Heathrow Airport are turning their fleets electric and installing charging points as part of the EV100 pledge.
Global property behemoth Goodman Group is spending £5.4 million to turn its fleet electric, Wimbledon now uses electric cars to transport players during the tournament, and British companies BT, Aviva, and OVO have all pledged to go electric too.
Excitingly, car leasing businesses Tusker, Zenith, and Lex Autolease have also promised to create an entirely electric fleet by 2030. Between them, they own 397,500 vehicles.
Why should your business install its own charging points?
Installing your own charging points has multiple benefits: it’ll improve your brand, attract more customers, clients, and employees to your company, help the environment, and cut your costs – potentially by tens of thousands of pounds.
Let’s go into all those plus points in more detail.
You’ll save money
Using other companies’ charging stations costs more than getting electricity directly from the National Grid, because those businesses need to make a profit.
Rather than handing that extra money to other companies, you may as well cut out the middleman and get your energy directly from its cheaper source to cut back on your business’s energy bills.
It costs three times less to run an electric car than the average petrol car – but only if you take advantage of all the potential savings.
This is the best time to install charging points
The Workplace Charging Scheme allows businesses to save as much as £14,000 on up to 40 charging points.
In early 2021, the government announced that another £50 million would be pumped into the scheme, which is set to last until the end of 2022, at least.
Don’t wait to seize this opportunity, though – not with this government, which cancelled the 1.5-year-long Green Homes Grant after just six months.
Going green benefits everyone
Leading by example on the environment is morally worthwhile, and will also benefit your business financially.
Implementing sustainable practices and squeezing the most out of your resources will inevitably increase efficiency – plus it’ll be appreciated by your workforce and the public at large, leading to happier, more engaged employees, and more loyal customers.
The data is clear on these points: 65% of people in the UK told Unily they were more likely to join a company with strong environmental policies, while 81% told Essity that sustainability and the environment was even more important to them now, due to COVID-19.
Clients will also be more willing to travel to your office if they can charge up for the return journey – plus it’ll show them that you’re principled and thoughtful about your company’s impact.
Either you can resist progress, or – for a relatively small investment – you can be a future-facing business with the same goals as an increasing percentage of the population.
And of course, reducing your carbon footprint helps fight climate change, which benefits the entire planet.
The cost of installing electric car charging points for your business
Getting electric car charging points installed at your business will usually cost between £700 and £1,000 per charger – and if you apply for a government grant, that can reduce the price by £350 per charging point.
The Workplace Charging Scheme can cover as much as 75% of the costs, up to £14,000. Fill in this form to see how much it would cost you.
You can pay an even lower price for chargers, but this will likely mean getting slow, 3-4kW machines that can’t charge a car overnight, let alone over the course of a meeting.
These charging points may also need to be replaced as employees, clients, and customers purchase new electric cars that don’t use slow chargers – meaning you’ll have to pay more in the long run.
Buying chargers that are capable of reaching 7kW or higher is the best way to efficiently charge cars while also future-proofing your business.
Are there government grants available?
As we’ve mentioned above, the Workplace Charging Scheme can cover up to 75% of the costs, saving you as much as £14,000.
This scheme lowers the cost of purchasing and installing an electric car charging point by £350, and you’re able to use this discount on a maximum of 40 chargers across all your sites.
All you need to do is fill in the application form created by the government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles, then get the charging points installed within six months of receiving your voucher.
To qualify for the scheme, your organisation must be:
- Located in England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland
- A registered charity or business, or in the public sector
- A public authority, or a group that’s received less than €200,000 (£180,800) of public support in the past three fiscal years
- Able to explain either your need for charging point/s, or your plan to encourage or order your staff to start driving electric vehicles
- Able to access dedicated off-street parking
- The owner of the property, or able to get permission from the owner/s for the installation of charging point/s
Free electric car charging points for businesses
There’s no such thing as a free electric car charging point – but there is a way to save even more money.
Zero Carbon World is on a charitable mission to spread its ZeroNet charging network across the nation, and currently has chargers in hundreds of locations all over the UK.
The charity will give you a charging station for free, meaning that all you’ll have to pay is the installation cost, which is pretty great.
After all, saving £14,000 on charging points is fantastic – but only paying for their installation is even better.
This is what you have to do to qualify for a free charging point:
- Be a business where drivers can spend at least three hours, e.g. a hotel, pub, restaurant, or golf course
- Have a secure car park with at least one space you can turn into a priority spot for electric cars
- Use one of Zero Carbon World’s local installation partners
- The charging point can’t be reserved for employees
- Display Zero Carbon World’s parking sign
- Within 28 days of receiving the charging point pack, get it installed
- Allow Zero Carbon World to use any wording or image when promoting the charging point’s location
Next steps
Electric car charging stations can save you money, make your business look better to people inside and outside the company, and ensure you’re perfectly positioned for the near future.
And with the Workplace Charging Scheme in place, this is a profitable time to futureproof your business.
If you’d like to get up to £350 off the cost of each charger’s purchase and installation, fill in this form to see how much charging points would cost you.
