CARLEASE UK has launched an innovative electric vehicle leasing website which includes information on real world ranges, vehicle charging speeds, charging times, running costs, battery types as well as how and where to charge.
Carlease has been operating for more than 20 years and supplies contract hire solutions for personal, business and salary sacrifice customers. It has direct relationships with LeasePlan, Lex, Alphabet, Hitachi and Santander.
The business is a medium broker with an industry reputation for quality and has won awards for its approach to customer service and for dedication to the Green leasing sector. Around five years ago it diversified the brand into CarLease, VanLease and eCarLease UK (now e-car lease), to allow for a clear brand separation, as it saw the increasing demand for electric solutions.
Director Rob King said: “eCarLease – which recently changed to e-car lease – operates for pure electric vehicles only. In the past two to three years, almost all of our efforts have been invested into the EV sector – liaising with Greater Manchester steering groups, Go Electric roadshows, working with
the EVA, finance company forums and tactical sales teams, charge point installation companies and salary sacrifice providers.
“In 2019 we set up a charge point hub at our premises, together with an onsite Café, as part of our shift into the next generation of automotive procurement. While we purchased a number of key EV domains earlier into the process, we decided to use – https://www.electriccarlease.co.uk/ – as the primary route moving forwards.
“Our previous website was simply an information hub to educate customers and provide an analysis of what to expect from an electric vehicle (and the corresponding lifestyle.)” The new website, which launched October 2021, is the next generation of electric car leasing websites. We truly believe we have innovated a clear, compliant and intuitive process for EV customers.
Electric Car Guides
“The electric car guides (https://www.electriccarlease.co.uk/guides) have been key to our growth, as these illustrate real examples of customer’s cars and provide in-depth education on the niche Q and A’s which we have recognised over the last 5 years”
“2020 was, for us, the move from ‘education’ to ‘purchasing’ and a considerable proportion of our vehicles were pure EV. While the Tesla Model 3 was crucial to this transition, we supplied an array of makes and models from various manufacturers.”
The move to volume brought about the decision to concentrate more on EV’s and push towards being a leading electric car leasing provider.
King added: “There are recognisable opportunities for personal/business/fleet/salary sacrifice customers. Add to that electric forecourts and EV-experience centres and you quickly lead to the conclusion that this new sector needs serious thought, organisation and funding.
“Clearly as an SME we are not able to do all of this but there are a number of like-minded dealership groups, investors, insurance companies and energy companies who are clearly receptive.
“Moving forwards, our aim is to increase our electric car leasing presence and partner with those companies who share our ambition in becoming one of the UK’s foremost EV suppliers.
lythium Limited
The new website, which is built by a new initiative – lythium Limited – is aiming to bring about more automation for pricing, information and ultimately introduce customers to an upcoming “lythium Journey”. All of the digital aspects have been created by one of the UK’s leading web development, design and digital marketing company – morphsites.
King said: “This is not just about a headline month rental, we are incorporating tools which help personal, business and salary sacrifice customers assess product suitability – cost per mile, charging times, seasonal ranges, company car tax calculation, charge point locations and energy tariffs for example”.
“We need to retain customers on our websites by allowing them to find all of the relevant queries which pertain to EV’s. This isn’t just about enhancing rankings; we are conscious if you cannot provide a solution to the customer they will leave and find it elsewhere. This is a problem facing other leasing brokers, finance companies and dealer groups”.
“Additionally, the complicated sales process for an EV has been putting pressure on those who have to transact them! We need to support sales teams to spend more time with customers and build valuable and trusting relationships”.
lythium – https://www.lythium.co.uk/ – in which King is also a director, develops bespoke car/van leasing solutions. lythium was created after King and morphsites® directors Pete Fairburn and David Hurst, recognised the requirement for a cost-effective back office solution to cure the nuances of the industry for stock, price, service and quality.
It provides leasing brokers with a business management solution from: customer enquiry – sales process – customer/dealer order – ongoing management – renewal. The system has been built around sound FCA compliance, sales and administration reporting, API integration into all available finance companies and pricing aggregation/comparison companies.
King said that where lythium “diverted” was effectively at the point his e-car lease website was being developed. “We identified that we needed to service two key markets – 1) electric vehicle procurement; and 2) a leasing broker’s customer/business management. We separated resources so that these two projects can be run independently but with the view they will ultimately merge into a complete solution.
The electric resource is now operating and will be used by e-car lease initially, with further versions to be added so that other elements relating to whole of life, company car tax, salary sacrifice tools can be added.
Further versions will aim to include motor insurance, energy tariffs and charge point comparisons. The lythium package is to assist all automotive companies involved in the sale, PCP, leasing of electric vehicles whether they be a broker, finance company or other entity.
The cost for purchasing/utilising the lythium package are available on enquiry. King added: In the background we are developing the “back” of the website which will integrate CRM’s, customer management tools, dealership tools and other plug-ins for the personal, business, fleet and salary sacrifice industry.
“Companies using our sales tools will be offered the opportunity to benefit from this system and we will further develop it around their needs and investment. Automation and self-serve are key to this system, along with the appropriate facilities for reviewing key metrics and statistics.”
