YOUR Co-op Energy, part of The Midcounties Co-operative, has launched a new electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme in partnership with Octopus Electric Vehicles to help businesses drive the change towards reducing their carbon footprint and making electric vehicles more accessible and affordable for employees.
With tax savings of up to 40%, this salary sacrifice scheme not only protects the environment but helps offset the government’s National Insurance increase due in April 2022.
The scheme, called Electric Dreams, is the first to be offered by a co-operative in the UK. Businesses are able to lease an EV for their employees, who then sacrifice a portion of their salary for the vehicle, with no upfront costs. The deduction covers the monthly cost of a brand new electric car, as well as insurance, servicing, maintenance, repairs, MOT, tax, tyres and road assistance, over an agreed term and mileage.
It’s a complete package which benefits the planet and puts more in your pocket! Because the deduction is taken from the gross salary before tax and national insurance, it can result in savings of up to 40% in your monthly vehicle costs.
The companies said that driving an electric car can save an average of 1.5 million grams of CO2 each year – the equivalent of four return flights from London to Barcelona (www.myclimate.org). Leasing electric vehicles is an effective way for businesses and their employees to play their part in tackling the climate emergency.
As today electric vehicles are often more expensive to purchase outright than their petrol or diesel counterparts, the savings made through the Electric Dreams scheme enables heightened accessibility and helps businesses and their colleagues on their journey towards low-carbon lifestyles.
Choosing an EV is only part of the journey to improving climate change. How you power it matters too. Your Co-op Energy’s Community Power tariff – the only renewable energy tariff in the UK powered entirely by electricity from local community generation projects – is the way to do this. This will ensure that each vehicle delivered via the scheme can be powered by the most-sustainable energy sources available in the UK, with any profits generated reinvested back into community benefit initiatives or new renewable energy generation.
Lizzie Hieron, Chief Operating Officer, Your Co-op Business Solutions, said: “We know that increasing the number of electric vehicles on our roads can have a huge impact in reducing emissions and helping to tackle climate change, but for many people the upfront costs of purchasing or leasing a car themselves are too high.
“That’s why we’ve introduced our electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme, in partnership with Octopus Electric Vehicles, which will open up the opportunity for eco-conscious businesses to allow their employees to lease an EV in a far more affordable way.”
Natalia Peralta Silverstone, Head of Propositions at Octopus Electric Vehicles, says: “Our salary sacrifice scheme for electric vehicles is a zero set-up cost tool to help businesses fight climate change whilst offering an excellent benefit to their employees. If just 10% of the UK’s employees switched to electric, we could decimate the CO2 emissions of cars, while collectively saving almost £4bn per year”
