Switching staff into an electric car provided under salary sacrifice can help them address the cost-of living crisis while also cutting CO2. 

Fleet Evolution founder and managing director Andrew Leech said deploying an EV salary sacrifice scheme can help employees manage their living costs at a time of unprecedented rises

Salary sacrifice and fleet management specialist Fleet Evolution argues that for businesses and staff who want to keep mobility costs under control at a time of rapidly spiralling costs, a salary sacrifice car scheme can provide even relatively low paid staff with a far more cost- and tax-efficient vehicle. 

And while there is a misconception that salary sacrifice car schemes are aimed at more highly paid employees who are paying tax at 40%, the firm says that the staff who really benefit are at the lower end of the pay scale, paying tax at 20%. 

It points to figures from the Government car cost calculator website that show the total annual running cost for a five-year-old Vauxhall Astra 1.4T 16v 150bp SRi 5d, cited as an average family sized car, is £8,070 a year or around £675 a month. That includes depreciation, fuel, SMR and insurance over a typical 10,000 miles and probably not including business use, but commuting and private use. 

Fleet Evolution data show that a comparable electric car under a company-provided salary sacrifice scheme, such as a VW ID.3 Life Pro, would halve this cost. A typical 20% taxpayer would see a lease rental cost of £322 per month to travel the same 10,000 miles, including all servicing, maintenance and repair, road fund licence and insurance costs. Recharging at home would only typically add around £50 a month.  

Andrew Leech, MD and founder of Fleet Evolution, said that for staff in lower pay brackets, this saves a significant proportion of their monthly take-home salary at a time when living costs are comiang under unprecedented pressure. 

“For employers, from an ethical viewpoint, going down an EV salary sacrifice route shows them in a positive light in trying to help their employees manage their living costs at a time of price rises across the board and in just about every area of society,” he added. 

At the same time, the business will also be making a major contribution to reducing their company’s carbon footprint. 

Tamworth-based Fleet Evolution, which is in the midst of a record year in terms of EV orders, can provide carbon output reporting for clients to show the impact of switching to EVs away from ICE models and the level of CO2 emissions they will be cutting by making such a move. 

“This shows not only the environmental impact of running EVs instead of ICE models, but the annual savings in CO2 emissions that fit in with any CSR policy,” added Andrew Leech.