The same survey found that the average commute driven was just 7.6 miles, with most employees covering around 200 miles a week and only venturing further a total of 5 weeks a year.
Electric cars have progressed dramatically. For instance, 5 years ago the typical employee would have had to recharge their car every 2-3 days, and every 80 miles on a longer trip. Whereas today, there are a whole raft of electric cars covering 200 miles with ease, from the £30,000 Hyundai Kona to the £100,000 Tesla.
Chargers are fast, with many giving another 100 miles range in less than an hour. However, there may be times when drivers making a longer journey want the reassurance a diesel provides, or just want a bigger car for holidays. For these reasons, in order to widen the appeal of electric cars, Fleet Evolution have created a scheme called ‘Electric Flex’ which offers a bolt on to a customer’s salary sacrifice scheme. It allows the company’s customers to take an electric car with the added flexibility of a few days rental of a diesel built into their contract.
“We already offer free charge points at work and home with our scheme but we want to remove all obstacles to electric car take up” said Andrew Leech, Fleet Evolutions managing director. “Electric flex not only means employees can swap for a traditional car should the need arise, employees can also specify a larger car if they wish. Picture this: a customer needs a 7-seater for a 2-week holiday to Cornwall? No problem. The employee just gives us a few hours’ notice and they can swap their electric car for a hire car of their choosing for that period; when you return, just swap back! If life throws a last-minute party opportunity their way, they can take a car for the weekend with minimal notice, or even same day for overnight use! All this is bundled into their salary sacrifice. They just specify the amount of days and type of car needed, order, and we’ll handle the rest!”.
Mr Leech added that this latest enhancement brings electric cars within the reach of virtually all employees, especially with the reduced cost of acquisition that salary sacrifice brings.
Fleet Evolution is a dedicated advocate of operating EVs and last year was awarded Go Ultra-Low Company status, in recognition of how it has opened its own vehicle fleet to plug-in cars and its commitment to boost uptake of plug-in vehicles over the coming years.
To encourage EV take-up across the board, the company is now offering free workplace charge points for any company ordering three electric cars or more, a move which has allowed several firms such as Unipres to cut their employees CO2 emissions by up to 40 percent.
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