Fletcher adds, however, that it is vital that small fleets moving to electric vehicles train their drivers correctly and engage them with the process, quoting the example of one Kangoo-using firm which has seen its drivers start an unofficial competition to find who can get the best range from the vehicle.
Company car tax benefits of EVs
- Currently electric vehicles – such as the Zoe – are exempt from company car tax. Which is a huge financial advantage.
- However, from the 2015/16 tax year the company car tax band will be 5% rising to 7% the following year.
- Company car drivers need to watch the P11D value of the car as this is the full price of the car and not the car minus government grant.
- So while the Zoe has a benefit in kind value of £0 for 2014/15, this rises to £999 the following year – still a modest amount by any standards giving rise to a company car tax charge of just £200 for the year for a 20% tax payer (Renault Zoe Dynamique Intens).
- You should also read my blog – Watch the hidden company car tax rises on electric cars (and the tax drop in diesels)
Ralph Morton, Editor
“That shows how far these vehicles can go if they are in the correct environment,” Fletcher says. “It’s no good just handing them to people who aren’t engaged with the process – the vehicle will perform but it won’t be giving its best.”
While not in the core fleet car market, since launching last year the ZOE supermini has already found some business car success, notably with North Cornwall NHS Trust which has bought 15 cars for district nurses to use out on their daily rounds.
According to Fletcher one aspect that helped seal the NHS deal was the ZOE’s versatile charging choice.
“It’s the only electric vehicle that can take a three-phase charge as standard – the only other maker currently offering this is Smart as a £2000 or more option.
“If you run a fleet, putting in a three-phase 30amp charging post is a relatively small infrastructure cost. It will charge a car’s battery from 0 to 80 per cent in one hour whereas others take two to three hours.”
Fletcher adds that the ZOE can also be rapid charged in half an hour using an AC supply, whereas rivals use DC for charging, and that needs a transformer. AC to DC conversion charging posts are expensive but most commercial premises will have three-phase 30amp AC feeds already, again saving cost.
Renault believes that it now has the EV hardware in place, it just needs market awareness to catch up. Fletcher sees the Government’s recently launched ‘go ultra-low’ campaign as a positive step in this aim.
“We need to get more people to recognise that these are cars you can drive everyday, they are not just for some specialist tiny part of the market,” he says.
“The average mileage for a car in the ZOE segment is 8000 a year, so if you use it five days a week, you’d only charge it two or three times – far less often than you would a mobile phone.
“The perception of ‘this car won’t meet my needs, it’s going to stop me doing stuff’, is simply not right.”
He admits that it is difficult to predict what the business use ramp-up rate will be for electric cars; “but it’s an element we are keen to progress. You get the early adopters – we are trying to bring these vehicles into the mainstream.”
Click here for our review of the Renault ZOE.
