The financial savings from running an electric company car compared to an ICE vehicle could help counteract cost-of-living pressures for employees, according to Arval.

Arval commercial directorJoel Lund said the take home salary boost from switching to an electric company car could help counteract cost-of-living pressures for employees

Recently appointed commercial director Joel Lund said a 20% taxpayer with access to an EV via a company car scheme typically saves between £1,000 and £2,000 per annum in Benefit-in-Kind. And he pointed out that such savings were becoming increasingly important while the cost of living was rising at pace – further driving interest in EVs.  

Lund explained: “Very low Benefit-in-Kind, and the resultant lower tax deduction, has been a key factor in electric car adoption from the moment that it became available, but it has become even more decisive in the last few months.   

“At a time when prices of ordinary goods and fuel are visibly rising by the month, a take home pay increase of this kind has genuine value.”  

And Lund stressed that EV drivers benefit from other savings, including on fuel – an electric vehicle can easily save hundreds of pounds every year for an average motorist.   

“What we are seeing is both individual drivers and entire fleets, which may have been slow when it came to electrification, suddenly find impetus, which very much fits in with our stated corporate strategy of supporting our customers’ transition to electrified vehicles as soon as possible,” he added. “And by employers enabling more employees to access electric cars through salary sacrifice, it’s also a more inclusive approach for all employees.”   

Arval’s EV supply strategy is also said to be working well and means the leasing specialist is currently registering percentages of electric cars and vans “far in advance” of the SMMT’s ‘true fleet’ figures.  

“In some categories, we’re almost 60% ahead of the SMMT’s reported overall fleet market in April when it comes to EV registrations, which very much illustrates that our supply strategy is working for customers who are keen to transition to electrification as soon as possible,” Lund continued.  

This has been strengthened by Arval’s advice to open up choice lists to include a broader range of manufacturers, making the most of the available supply, in particular for lower grades.  

“By relaxing choice lists, we are seeing some manufacturers make inroads into the fleet sector who have not necessarily been part of the core company car market in the past, but are now able to provide strong EV models with comparatively good supply,” he outlined.