Thinking of swapping into an electric or hybrid car?
There are more benefits than you might think! To help you decide (or to even convince you!) we’ve written a quick blog with some of our favourite points;
Money, money, money
Must be funny…
What might seem to be like the most obvious benefit, has to be the numero uno reason as to why most swap into an electric or hybrid car.
For example, let’s take the Kia E-Niro or the BMW i3. Fully charged, these cars have a range of between 150-300 miles range. Considering most daily commuters, or journeys even, tend to hover around 40 miles in total – this is more than enough range for most. Additionally, most drivers tend to charge their car at home so every morning they’d have a full fresh battery to go!
However, if you find your average mileage is higher than most, we’d recommend opting for a plug-in Hybrid or a self-charging Hybrid instead. With these, you get the best option from both worlds as the electric motor will be useful for those small city runs, yet, more than suitable for going the distance. It’s also important to note that (most) hybrid vehicles will still work without the electric motor. So if you’re planning on doing a 400 or even 500-mile trip, you can do so without minimal disruption to your journey.
Benefit in Kind(ness)
If you are in a fortunate position to receive a company car, you will usually get taxed on the BIK (benefit in kind) value of the car as if you were being paid the value in cash. So, if the BIK value happens to be nill, then you essentially get taxed on £0.
BIK values are usually determined on how much emission a car omits and is worked out on a sliding scale. Therefore if you opt for an electric car with 0 emissions, you will receive a much kinder company car tax bill.
We’ve taken a snapshot of the current BiK table which you can see below;
| Vehicle CO2 emissions | BiK rate (Electric, Petrol, RDE2 Diesel) |
||||
| Electric Range | 2020-21 | 2021-21 | 2022-23 | ||
| 0g/km | 0% | 1% | 2% | ||
| 1-50 g/km | Over 130 miles | 2% | 2% | 2% | |
| 1-50 g/km | 70-129 miles | 5% | 5% | 5% | |
| 1-50 g/km | 40-69 miles | 8% | 8% | 8% | |
| 1-50 g/km | 30-39 miles | 12% | 12% | 12% | |
| 1-50 g/km | Under 30 miles | 14% | 14% | 14% | |
POWWAH
Performance and efficiency are not mutually exclusive.
Unlike their standard combustion engines, power is delivered almost instantaneously with electric vehicles. The Audi E-Tron being our most favourite example, this 2.5t goliath will sprint from 0-62 MPH in just 5.7 seconds. Beating the average hot hatch by 0.3 seconds…
Congestion What?
Vehicles that do not emit more than 75g/KM of CO2 and have a minimum 20-mile zero-emission range (or electric range) will qualify for a 100% cleaner vehicle-discount within the TFL’s congestion charge.
Rumble Grumble
Driving in stop/start traffic can be such a chore. Especially when the engine grumbles at lower speeds. With electric or hybrid vehicles, this is a thing of the past! You get the benefit of having a much quieter engine whenever you’re driving.
Now you’ve read a few of the many benefits of leasing a Hybrid or Electric car, take a look at all the great cars we have to offer for you to take the plunge with. There are so many to choose from to suit a range of lifestyles & budgets such as the Fiat 500, Volvo XC40 Recharge, Kia Sorento, Audi E- Tron & many more. Click here to view all our Hybrid & Electric offers.