My wife is getting a new job, and a company car is part of the package. The main issue is that the car must be either BEV or PHEV. She will have access to a range of options via their fleet rental system, but details are still TBC, but at an estimate, it’ll be somewhere around £40,000 final price. There’s a number of options in the price range, so we’re looking at various models and have kicked some wheels in showrooms, mainly small SUVs, think Kia Niro/Fisker Ocean/Peugeot 2008 as representative models.
The big question is whether a BEV or PHEV is best suited for her. The company has 5 locations, situated (approx) 40 (base office), 50, 100, 190, 210 miles away from our home. Our expectationis that she will be spending 4 days a week in the base office, and driving to one of the other offices on a rotating basis on the other day, so 80 miles a day minumum and there will be 400 mile days at least twice a month, all on 70mph motorways. We are in the process of getting a driveway and charger installed, but currently do not have either (ETA 2/3 months.) There are public chargers available to us within a mile or so, and the office locations have chargers installed in 3 of the 5 locations (base office, 50 and 190 miles away, not in 100 or 210, so would rely on public charging en route.) The battery only range of PHEVs is too short for any of these commutes, so we’d still be using petrol regularly; but relying on public charging for a BEV on long distances is still a lottery in the UK and being late for a meeting because of charging is not a good look.
In terms of finances, we expect a BEV will be around £800-1000pa cheaper in taxes than a PHEV. The company will pay for any home charging, provide a payment card for public charging/petrol fillups, then bill her for personal use (don’t know what rate that will be yet).
What would your thinking be in this situation? What else should we be considering in making the final decision?
Try putting the routes in using ABRP (A Better Route Planner).
Occasional 400 mile days for most BEVs is no big deal, especially if you have chargers on both ends.
Even with a household plug for the first couple months, your car will slowly get closer to empty over a week, then charge back to full over the weekend.
With ABRP, you can plan out a whole week with slow charging at home, faster charging at work, and then see where and how often it needs you to stop for fast charging.
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We’ve currently got an old Honda Jazz that will be my car after I pass my test later this year, after I’ve been qualified for 12 months they will put me onto the insurance for the company car and we will probably get rid of the Jazz. We will probably get an old second hand BEV that I can use as a commuter if we need it.
It depends on the details of the car scheme. A BEV is great, assuming you can charge it cheaply at home, except for the two days where you have a 400 mile round trip. For those, motorway fast charging will get you there and back. I have had a company BEV for 3 years. Worked out ok with lease cost and tax benefits. But I have now decided to abandon the company car scheme and got a private car with a petrol engine. Never saw the point of a PHEV, lugging a heavy battery around while running a small petrol engine. Probably good if you mostly drive around town, but that’s not my use case. For private cars, BEVs are just too expensive, to buy, to insure and to repair. My reasons include:
I get a cash alternative if i don’t take a company car,
I can’t claim actual cost for motorway charging, which is very expensive. It works out more expensive per mile than a petrol car (for me, a small modern BEV may work out better) This is the main issue for me as I do long trips fairly regularly.
My car needs 2 hours to charge even on a motorway fast charger. Normal local public chargers don’t work for me, too slow. The car needs 12 hours on my 7kw home charger.
Thanks for the reply. As someone else mentioned, charging speed seems very important for this use case.
