Fleet body the Association of Car Fleet Operators has repeated its call to HMRC to publish Advisory Fuel Rates for plug-in cars after it provided real-world mileage reimbursement figures to the Government body.

The figures were submitted to HMRC following a fleet industry summit on the topic, and includes data for fully electric, range-extending and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

ACFO said the absence of defined reimbursement rates at present puts off some companies wanting to add plug-in vehicles onto their choice lists, as calculating reimbursement rates manually and then getting them approved by HMRC would be a labour-intensive process.

Sample data – including how delegates calculated the figures – submitted to HMRC includes:

  • Advisory Fuel Rates for cars with a battery capacity up to 40kWh and above 40kWh – 4p and 5p a mile respectively
  • Advisory Fuel Rates for plug-in hybrid petrol cars linked to electric mileage range and current engine capacity-based Advisory Fuel Rates for petrol cars – reimbursement rates ranging from 5p to 19p a mile
  • Advisory Fuel Rates for plug-in hybrid diesel cars linked to electric mileage range and current engine capacity-based Advisory Fuel Rates for diesel cars – reimbursement rates ranging from 5p to 12p a mile.
  • Range-extended electric vehicles – calculated using above figures based on 90% electric mile range and 10% petrol/diesel mileage range using appropriate Advisory Fuel Rate figure.

“Advisory Fuel Rates for plug-in cars are essential. The rates we have provided to HMRC and the details as to how the figures were arrived at are as straightforward to apply as the current simple-to-use system for petrol, diesel and LPG cars (hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel models),” said John Pryor, ACFO chairman. “The figures we have calculated deliver a simple pence-per-mile mechanism that is cost-effective for employers so they are seeing a benefit from the more efficient technology, while employees are being fairly reimbursed for business mileage based on the capabilities of the plug-in vehicle technology.”