A new employee-wide EV sacrifice scheme at Centrica has seen high take-up in its first fortnight as employees look for a cost-effective way to go electric.

The bundled deal includes a new leased electric car, a charge point installed by British Gas engineers as well as servicing, insurance and maintenance

Complementing the firm’s work to electrify its operational fleet, the all-electric lease scheme provides a tax-efficient route to zero-emission motoring for employees – more than 100 cars have been ordered since the scheme launched less than two weeks ago, including the Volkswagen ID.3 and Audi Q4 e-tron.

Deployed in partnership with LeasePlan, the scheme draws on the cost benefits of salary sacrifice, offering great savings to employees.

In addition to a new leased electric car, the bundled deal includes a charge point installed by British Gas engineers as well as servicing, insurance and maintenance.

It’s part of Centrica’s work to take a progressive approach to reducing its vehicle emissions, having committed to fully electrifying its 12,500-strong operational fleet by 2025. The company says it has more electric vans on the road than any other UK organisation, with nearly 700 Vauxhall Vivaro-e British Gas vans being driven by engineers and a total of 3,000 set to be delivered by the end of 2022.

Steve Winter, head of fleet at Centrica, said: “Centrica is committed to offering colleagues and customers sustainable choices for their homes and transport. We have the people, infrastructure and skills to lead the transition to net zero transportation and offering colleagues in the UK an electric car lease with a BG charge point installation is a big step towards supporting customers and colleagues to live more sustainably.”

Centrica operates 9,000 commercial vehicles, 1,500 company cars and has a grey fleet of approximately 2,000 employee-owned vehicles that are used occasionally for business purposes.

The business has also called for more action to ensure availability of electric vehicles as it warns that the current long lead times, exacerbated by the semiconductor shortage, are proving significantly problematic.

“Availability and lead times on electric vehicles is becoming a significant obstacle to our ambitions. We support policies such as the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate that can help not only ensure the supply of EVs in the UK but should bring greater parity between the cost of electric and internal combustion vehicles,” added Winter.