Fleet operators’ association ACFO held an enlightening seminar last week addressing the multitude of issues surrounding electric vehicles and how to deploy them in fleets.
I’m not just praising the event because BusinessCar was asked to get involved by reporting on the experiences of living with our long-term Vauxhall Ampera, but the array of speakers and detail involved gave great insight for the 100-plus attendees at Mini’s Oxford plant.
What’s clear is that there’s still a huge appetite for information, and it would be nice if next month’s annual Budget statement by chancellor George Osborne provided some long-term clarity, ideally with some additional generosity, to allow businesses and drivers to plan for the full life of these vehicles, which can be as long as six years, as electric vehicles make more financial sense the longer they are run.
Unfortunately, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles’ Anna West confirmed during the
Q&A session that there are no plans to include the Government’s £5000 grant in the P11D price of plug-in models, something that becomes more pertinent a little over 12 months from now when all plug-in models will be subject to at least a 5% benefit-in-kind
banding.
As these vehicles are more expensive than traditional models, anything that negates
the tax impact would be welcome, but including the grant in the taxable value of the car seems to be a step too far at present. Which is a shame.
