An electric company car can be practical, eco-friendly, and cheap to run – but its battery cannot be charged for free. If you pay personally, you should be able to reclaim the cost from your employer to cover any business mileage.
Often, the most convenient way to charge an electric car is at home. You might do so via a standard socket or a faster, more convenient, dedicated charger that has to be fitted separately. Either way, you may personally pay for the electricity in such scenarios. It might simply be added to your household bill alongside electricity for the fridge, washing machine, and toaster.
Advisory Electric Fuel Rate
Your employer might reimburse the cost to charge based on a standard rate per mile. The Government’s Advisory Electric Fuel Rate is 5p per business mile as of June 2022. That’s equivalent to £50 per 1,000 miles. As the name suggest, it’s important to recognise the rate is ‘advisory’ and your employer can pay a different rate per business mile if preferred.
Naturally, you can only claim for business miles such as trips to see colleagues, clients, and suppliers. On this basis, keep track of how many business miles you cover in your car.
Rate reviewed quarterly
The Advisory Electric Fuel Rate is reviewed every March 1st, June 1st, September 1st, and December 1st to ensure it stays relevant. However, whether it covers the actual cost of charging your electric company vehicle depends on various factors. They include how much you pay for electricity per kilowatt hour and how efficient your car is. A fast, powerful, sports coupe is likely to use more electricity per mile than a typical city car, for example.
Shell Recharge Solutions
Shell Recharge Solutions provides an alternative way to be reimbursed by your employer. In summary, you get an online account that can be configured to suit. Simply set-up ‘automatic reimbursement’. This requires you to confirm how much your electricity costs per kilowatt hour, bank information, and other details. The system then automatically calculates how much money is owed, and reimburses you. Other companies provide similar services.