LEASE companies usually enable charge points to be added as an optional extra when the vehicle is ordered, either funded by the employer as part of the contract or paid for separately by the driver.

Home charging equipment isn’t classed as a Benefit-in-Kind, so there’s no tax liability if employers choose to cover those costs for company car drivers.

To make life easier, home charge points don’t require planning permission, provided they’re serving an off-street parking space or garage and the building isn’t listed, and electricians should be able to price up any required upgrades or extra wiring early on in that process.

Unfortunately, financial support has reduced. Drivers who have an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle assigned to them for at least six months can claim up to 75% of the cost of installing home charge points, to a maximum of £350 per unit – and that includes company cars, salary sacrifice schemes and rentals. However, funding is now focused on flats (apartments) and rental properties, which means homeowners in houses and bungalows are no longer eligible.

Drivers without off-street parking have fewer options. Home charge points can’t be installed within two metres of a public highway, so vehicles would have to be charged from a domestic three-pin or industrial CEE form socket, and the rules about trailing cables across pavements differ between councils. Government funding is available to authorities to install on-street residential charging, but it isn’t widespread yet.