According to a survey conducted by DriveElectric - one of the UK’s leading EV (Electric Vehicle) leasing companies - eight out of ten employees who currently opt out of a company car scheme would be keen to move back to company cars if they were electric.

The return to company cars rather than employees taking car allowances is being driven by a number of factors; one of the main ones being the change to Benefit in Kind (BIK) which will be reduced to zero on battery electric cars from April 2020. This means employees could save thousands of pounds each year by switching to a pure EV.

DriveElectric says there are a number of other factors, including EVs having lower whole-life costs, the growing number of proposed Clean Air Zones, and motorists preferring the driving experience of EVs.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the UK government has recently shaken things up further by announcing that it is planning to bring forward the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles - including plug-in hybrids - from 2040 to 2035, or even as early as 2032.

Mike Potter, Managing Director of DriveElectric said, “Our survey shows that eight out of ten business employees are ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to move back to company cars if they were electric. This suggests that, as long as incentives remain, the government’s target of all new car sales to be electric by 2035 - or 2032 - is  achievable, and in addition private buyers will benefit from an increased supply of 2-4-year-old used electric cars, spreading the benefit of this investment.”

Photo: The company car is back