Outlander phev as a company car in the uk

[Keviniomize]

Hi

My outlander phev is due next month . I've got it because of the vast savings in company car tax as the co2 emissions are so low and leasing costs are very competitive .

However there seems to be no way to claim back the electric you fill it up with over night. What does eveeyone do in these circumstances ? Just use petrol to get you everywhere and stuff the fuel economy ? What economy do you get with just running it like a normal car ? Do you loose performance of the battery is dead all the while ?

Thanks

 

[Eggtastico]

Your company could pay you the advisory fuel rate of 16p per mile.
You pay for all the fuel (both electric & petrol) & your employee pays you 16p per business mile.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cars/advisory_fuel_current.htm

However, it depends if your employee is happy to do this for you.

This has been asked before, so maybe use the search function for a more in depth answer.

 

[Keviniomize]

Thanks yes I had wondered that but a business mile isn't including personal or computing to work. So it would have to be worth my while and I guess I can only work out once I've got it, to opt out of personal mileage and just claim the business miles. Otherwise Not plugging it in seems to be stupid because I'll be generating slot more than 44 co2's If I just use fuel alone!!!


Has anyone worked out what it costs in the uk to charge over night every night for a year? Maybe I should just ask for a yearly bonus which pays for the energy but obviously saves the company in petrol in an effort to save over the long run ?

I suppose someone would say if you are saving £2000 per year in tax you should just pay for it yourself anyway ?

 

[Eggtastico]

Thanks yes I had wondered that but a business mile isn't including personal or computing to work. So it would have to be worth my while and I guess I can only work out once I've got it, to opt out of personal mileage and just claim the business miles. Otherwise Not plugging it in seems to be stupid because I'll be generating slot more than 44 co2's If I just use fuel alone!!!


Has anyone worked out what it costs in the uk to charge over night every night for a year? Maybe I should just ask for a yearly bonus which pays for the energy but obviously saves the company in petrol in an effort to save over the long run ?

I suppose someone would say if you are saving £2000 per year in tax you should just pay for it yourself anyway ?

but you would pay tax on that bonus.
My rough calcs was about £10 a week.


Maybe a good agreement with your boss is to opt out of personal mileage expense, in return of you paying to charge the vehicle each night.
HMRC may not like it though.

 

[maby]

The HMRC guidance notes on taking a hybrid as a company car do cover this - someone posted a link to them on these forums a few weeks ago. There is no BIK penalty on getting the electricity for charging paid by your employer. The problem is between you and your employer - they need to trust you in your claims because unlike petrol, you will not have a receipt just for the electricity used to charge.

When we discussed owning a PHEV as a company car with our accountant, she recommended not receiving personal mileage - she reckoned it was not worth the trouble. On the other hand, it is our company, so the distinction may not be as clear cut as it is for you.

 

[Keviniomize]

Thanks i'll have a search for it.

I guess the calculation of it's worth it or not goes down to actual business miles you do and how far you live from the office and how many driving holidays to italy you take a year!!!

currently i do approx 15000 miles per year . split that over 365 days and times if by 260 working days. (roughly speaking) then i'll be doing 41 business miles per day. take away 20 miles for commuting to and fro.. then thats 21 business miles per day I can claim 16p per mile , therefore 10 miles of electric (roughly) and 11 miles of fuel.

I know it's not exactly that but somedays i don't do business miles and other days i do 80-100 .. so i guess working on averages it's probably not far out.

I guestimated at about 15p per mile at 40mpg and 3p per mile for electric based on rough understandings of what i've read.

Therefore each day i would spend £1.50 on fuel and 90p on Electric... (aka £2.40) and over 365 days thats 876£

if i claim back 16p x 21 miles per day and times that by 260 days then i'll take home ...£873 (roughly break even?)

Ofcourse i won't have to pay any BIK on taking personal milage... (approx 300£ per year saving)

The only thing then would be the problem of documenting and claiming all of the above.. And then what happens if the job changes and i'm on the road less. or what happens if i drive longer distances, thus not being able to take advantage of the electric ... 16p per mile only just covers the cost of fuel. (which is what i guess it should cover!)

My Theory is that by spending approx £1 per day and charging the company £360 for some electric to cover costs.. they would be better off because 15000 miles @ 15p (cost of fuel and 40mpg) is £2200 compared with £876 + £360. There would be plenty left in that pot to give me more than £300 in bonus after all i've just saved them a grand!

I guess i'll have to see what happens when i get the car! 10th October - getting like a child at christmas!

 

[Hypermiler]

A battery charge from "empty" to full takes around 10 kWh according to my car's MMCS - so costs around £1.20 on my tariff, perhaps a bit more if there are some losses en route down the cable (someone has posted that the car is fairly accurate when checked using an energy monitor).
Cheers
H

 

[Keviniomize]

Who do you use for electricity ? I have seen ecotricity have a ev owners rate of 12.89p per unit . Which I guess makes that about 1.20 to fill up or 4p per mile on ev alone.

 

[Ozukus]

Maybe to make it simpler and not worry about recovering electric costs, why not ask your employer to install a business charge point and as you get that electric for free that sort of balances it out and you get a daily 60 odd mile range instead of 30.

 

[DrSlackBladder]

I had BG install the 16A charge point at my home, ChargeMaster sent me a username and password to access the online ChargeVision electricity useage readouts, I print off the month's kWh used, multiply by my BG electricity unit cost in pence/kWh, and submit it to my employer as personal expenses for reimbursement.

 

[maddogsetc]

Keviniomize, here you go, see 5.4:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/315604/factsheet-tax-implications.pdf

Not sure it quite answers your question though, as the reference is to charging for free at work. However, if the principle is established that 'Electricity is not a fuel' then I cannot see why your employer could not reimburse you for the cost of charging as a normal business expense, rather than specifically as a fuel benefit. So as others have said, you can get your chargepoint installed for minimal cost to you and use the logging software to quantify the cost of charging the car.

I'm not sure if it would be wise to get your employer to reimburse you for the actual cost of installing the charge point as a) that might give rise to the question of whether it's a domestic unit and therefore qualifies for the OLEV subsidy; and b) you would then fall foul of para 5.5 which suggests that your employer might need to report it as a benefit.

HTH

 

[Eggtastico]

Since you commute to & from work as non business mileage why not agree with your boss to charge the car at work as well as home?
If your charging at home only, you are losing most of the electric mileage just on the commute, which you can't claim for anyway.
20 miles commute is not leaving much electric left for business travel anyway...

At least charging at work means you get a 'free' commute home to offset them last few electric miles you used for business travel.