[mezzer2021]

Morning everyone, first post and not yet an EV owner but I think I have made the decision purely from a company car tax point of view. However, I would like to get opinions and advice from similar company car drivers.

So I have driven company cars for about twelve years now and currently driving a Passat Estate 2.0 TD. As a 20% taxpayer, this costs me approx £145 a month. I am very close to becoming a 40% and when this does, the monthly payments will be £300. Now having two kids and child benefit, and almost being a 'higher earner' as a result of my total package (salary plus BIK for the car), then affects child benefit. I think it's time I act to reduce my overall salary package.

The company has a few hybrids where the BIK is around 10 to 16% but I am in a position to have a charger (at my cost) installed in the garage where I park in order to get this BIK down to 1/2% as it currently is for EV's. The only thing that makes me a touch nervous is the electricity bill. My company car is due for replacement in November, so I have to make my choice in July.

My employer will pay me 4p a mile for my business miles, which I understand is a standard rate as per HMRC. I do approx 350 business miles a week, 5 days a week. The company offers the Nero or the equivalent Hyaundi brand which I don't think is quite as good as the Kia, so I'm settled on the Kia.

I have always been someone who likes to get lots of information to make an informed choice. What's your advice and tips for this decision and am I right in my assumptions.

Regards
Chris

 

[DragonQ]

Why would electricity bills scare you? It will be far less than your current diesel bill, even if you don't get a tariff tailored for EV owners. I got a salary sacrifice e-Niro 4 trim last September (ordered in March) and love it. After all the savings it costs me £360/mo including insurance, servicing, tyres, and breakdown cover. The only downside is not being able to drive it as much as I'd assumed due to lockdown. Probably could've knocked £20-30/mo off by choosing fewer miles!

 

[Woodulike]

The electricity cost is quite small compared to the BIC savings especially if you change to a 5p per kWh overnight electricity rate. Before lockdown we were running 2 bevs with a total milage of about 36k and our electricity bill increased by around £50 a month. If you work on 2.5-3 miles from each kWh of electric you can see it is less than the 4p that the company will pay you for your electric. If you have to rapid charge much it is a lot more expensive but if that's 350 miles a week business miles and you charge at home most night I guess you are rarely going to have to charge away from home with the e-Niro.

When you get that far check out Octopus Go and if you sign up use someones link to get the £50 referral credit. Depending on where you live the main rate is 13-15p with 5p for 4 hours overnight. 4 hours will add about 90-120 miles, depending on the time of year and how efficiently you drive. If you drive more than that most days there are other options and it will still be below the 4p you are being paid per mile.

Edit.
Just reread this and are you looking at a hybrid and paying for the fuel? If so that will get expensive.
If you are looking at the full BEV then that will work out, but with a hybrid I expect you would be running on petrol a lot of the time driving 350 miles a week.

 

[Woodulike]

Why would electricity bills scare you? It will be far less than your current diesel bill,

He has a company car so is unlikely to be paying for his fuel

 

[DragonQ]

He has a company car so is unlikely to be paying for his fuel

Ah I see what you mean. The 4p/mile will cover electricity costs but then he's presumably be getting that currently anyway. Worth doing the calculations for your particular use case, e.g. miles driven, cost of cars involved.

Also what about personal miles? If the company doesn't pay for those then you still would likely save with electricity vs diesel.

 

[Geoff_S]

I hope the OP has considered whether an EV will fit their driving profile?

 

[mezzer2021]

He has a company car so is unlikely to be paying for his fuel

That's correct, I only pay fuel for my personal which is usually a couple of hundred for a month and that's a rarity. I pay around £35 a month to the company to cover my personal miles each year. If I overpay I get the difference back, if I underpay then the difference comes out the last pay for the year, and I just up that monthly payment. So I will be about £35 extra a month (not counting the electricity cost for those personal miles). So let's say £25 an extra better off each month on top of the BIK difference.

I have also just recently checked some EV tariffs. I didn't even know these existed until I have started wading through youtube videos on the subject. Octopus for pure cost but their off-peak period isn't particularly long. Based on my rough weekly mileage do you guys and gals think I should only need a few hours each/every other night to keep the battery topped up and as such don't need a full 9 or so hours charging period as EDF offers at a higher cost?

 

[mezzer2021]

I hope the OP has considered whether an EV will fit their driving profile?

My driving profile ermmmmmm. Saving money is always my main goal as I'm due to be mortgage-free in 10 years by the age of 45 so that is my main aim in life.

I'm a reasonably steady driver, hard acceleration up to the speed limits for a little fun but happy to do 60 on the motorway, but I'm no boy racer, and I enjoy a steady drive with the cruise control on. A relaxing drive is my preference. If it maximizes miles and reduces charging time-frequency and duration I'm well versed in driving like Miss Daisy if the feeling takes me.

A quick thank you for the replies already received.

 

[DragonQ]

That's correct, I only pay fuel for my personal which is usually a couple of hundred for a month and that's a rarity. I pay around £35 a month to the company to cover my personal miles each year. If I overpay I get the difference back, if I underpay then the difference comes out the last pay for the year, and I just up that monthly payment. So I will be about £35 extra a month (not counting the electricity cost for those personal miles). So let's say £25 an extra better off each month on top of the BIK difference.

I have also just recently checked some EV tariffs. I didn't even know these existed until I have started wading through youtube videos on the subject. Octopus for pure cost but their off-peak period isn't particularly long. Based on my rough weekly mileage do you guys and gals think I should only need a few hours each/every other night to keep the battery topped up and as such don't need a full 9 or so hours charging period as EDF offers at a higher cost?

350 miles a week is around 70 miles per day. Even in a particularly cold winter that's not going to be more than 40% of the battery. With a 7.4 kW charger you'll be charging at 10-11% per hour, which means even in a worst case scenario you should be able to "fill up" the car in the 4 hour window that Octopus Go offers. This of course assumes you're evenly spreading your miles out over the week - if you're doing those 350 miles in 3 consecutive days then you might need to do a top-up outside of the cheap hours.

Also bear in mind that Octopus offers Go Faster too, which has a slightly higher off-peak rate but the off-peak rate lasts longer (4.5-6 hours I believe).

My driving profile ermmmmmm. Saving money is always my main goal as I'm due to be mortgage-free in 10 years by the age of 45 so that is my main aim in life.

I'm a reasonably steady driver, hard acceleration up to the speed limits for a little fun but happy to do 60 on the motorway, but I'm no boy racer, and I enjoy a steady drive with the cruise control on. A relaxing drive is my preference. If it maximizes miles and reduces charging time-frequency and duration I'm well versed in driving like Miss Daisy if the feeling takes me.

A quick thank you for the replies already received.

I think he meant more along the lines of "how many trips will you be doing that can't be done on a single charge".

 

[Johnny Read]

With the BEV, the company wins massively on lower NI contributions. There's also benefit to the company if done via a salary sacrifice scheme. Can anyone give an example how salary sacrifice works?

 

[mezzer2021]

With the BEV, the company wins massively on lower NI contributions. There's also benefit to the company if done via a salary sacrifice scheme. Can anyone give an example how salary sacrifice works?

My employer also does a salary sacrifice which brings my 'salary' and in turn brings me further away from for 40% tax threshold. Sadly with covid they were unable to administer the scheme and my salary went up, with the BIK of the vehicle suddenly I am in the 40% bracket. Now that life is returning a little bit more normal the salary sacrifice restarted in Jan and i am back as a 20% tax payer.

Ah I see, I work 5 days a week, so that mileage is spread over 5 days and changes very little. I manage construction sites and generally have always been within 50 miles of home. Obviously when covid reduces the weekend will be filled with more day trips with the kids but i presume this is still cheaper than diesel anyway even if i have to charge over a full night when off peak may not be for that entire night. Again, not a regular occurence. Plus depending on the site i may be able to use the granny charger if the car park is close enough to the cabins and discreet enough.

 

[mezzer2021]

Again close range day trips (due to their young ages), less miles than my commute.

 

[Woodulike]

Are you looking at the e-Niro or a PHEV?
Is this a company car or salary sacrifice?

 

[mezzer2021]

Employer is offering the 4+ e-Niro.

It's a company car.

 

[prawlin]

@DragonQ slight correction/clarification
Octopus GO is 4h 00:30 to 04:30 @ 5p per kWh
Octopus GO FASTER is 5h (maximum) with various time slots options available. All currently @ 5.5p per kWh. Earliest slot starts 20:30 (that’s the one I have and I love it). Once on either of these tariffs, price is held for a year, though you can switch tariffs or leave Octopus any time without penalty.

To OP, of course for either you would need a working SMETS2 smart meter installed. GO FASTER is a long running trial, special invitation only tariff. However, it seems so far that everyone who specifically requests it can get the invitation (after jumping through a few hoops perhaps). Peter

 

[Woodulike]

As an EV driver I would say go for it.

350 miles a week spread over 5 days is easy in the Niro. I had a first edition and couldn't get less than 175 miles from a full battery however I drove it even in the depths of winter on the motorway at 70-75. You can add 40% charge to the battery in 4 hrs and don't need to fully charge each night. I set the timer on my charger to only charge during the cheap hours and rarely need to charge outside those hours. Just plug in every night and it will keep the battery topped up to whatever % point you set.

The electric cost is about 1p a mile if you get a 5p overnight tariff. If your employer is paying 4p that will cover all your electric driving needs and your BIC will be tiny.

You'll be on free motoring, until the government starts taxing it but I think that's a little way off. Definitely cheap for now and the Niro 4+ is a high spec car.

 

[mezzer2021]

@DragonQ slight correction/clarification
Octopus GO is 4h 00:30 to 04:30 @ 5p per kWh
Octopus GO FASTER is 5h (maximum) with various time slots options available. All currently @ 5.5p per kWh. Earliest slot starts 20:30 (that’s the one I have and I love it). Once on either of these tariffs, price is held for a year, though you can switch tariffs or leave Octopus any time without penalty.

To OP, of course for either you would need a working SMETS2 smart meter installed. GO FASTER is a long running trial, special invitation only tariff. However, it seems so far that everyone who specifically requests it can get the invitation (after jumping through a few hoops perhaps). Peter

Thank you for your input, I've come across 'Smart Home Charge' installers and think the Ohm Intelligent Wall Charger would be suitable and communicates with the energy provider.
All this 5p per kWh goes over my head when trying to compare with pence per miles. As the company pays 4p per mile that's the clearest way for me to understand it (suffer from dyscalculia, so numbers not my strong suit).

 

[mezzer2021]

As an EV driver I would say go for it.

350 miles a week spread over 5 days is easy in the Niro. I had a first edition and couldn't get less than 175 miles from a full battery however I drove it even in the depths of winter on the motorway at 70-75. You can add 40% charge to the battery in 4 hrs and don't need to fully charge each night. I set the timer on my charger to only charge during the cheap hours and rarely need to charge outside those hours. Just plug in every night and it will keep the battery topped up to whatever % point you set.

The electric cost is about 1p a mile if you get a 5p overnight tariff. If your employer is paying 4p that will cover all your electric driving needs and your BIC will be tiny.

You'll be on free motoring, until the government starts taxing it but I think that's a little way off. Definitely cheap for now and the Niro 4+ is a high spec car.

yeah, I've factored in that the BIK rate will slowly creep up for EV's. However, the same will happen for diesel as well (and hybrids). The main difference is that the BIK for the EV's will reduce the gap to the 40% threshold significantly, whereas I am tip-toeing very close to the line at the moment despite the salary sacrifice. Factor in any pay rises and any further increases in BIK on the car I'm going to hit that 40% sooner rather than later.

 

[prawlin]

Thank you for your input, I've come across 'Smart Home Charge' installers and think the Ohm Intelligent Wall Charger would be suitable and communicates with the energy provider.
All this 5p per kWh goes over my head when trying to compare with pence per miles. As the company pays 4p per mile that's the clearest way for me to understand it (suffer from dyscalculia, so numbers not my strong suit).

Suffice to say your Eniro will achieve somewhere between 2.5 and 5 miles per 5p Unit (kWh).
So that’s at very worst 2p per mile and at best 1p per mile (assuming you only charge from home on Octopus GO of course) Peter

 

[mezzer2021]

I really, really appreciate everyone's comments and advice. Reminds me of the good ole days about 18 years ago helping each other with advice online with everything Citroen (in my case) related. Frenchcarforum.com if anyone ever used it