Electric company cars

[Richard 1234]

26 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

Am I the only one who doesn't understand this?

Tax years probably?

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, eggsarascal said:

Am I the only one who doesn't understand this?

Yes tax years.  Pure electric vehicles will have a benefit in kind tax charge of 0% 2020/21, 1% 2021/2022 and 2% 2022/2023.  Only zero for one year but then pretty close to zero.

 

It is worth bearing in mind also that an awful lot of the charging points are currently free.  This will not continue indefinitely of course, but for early adopters many are quite literally getting free fuel! 

[Baldbloke]

Believe the new upcoming battery technology will mean the current crop of EVs will be cheap buys. That’s unless the new tech can be retrofitted

New lithium-sulfur battery could charge your phone for five days, researchers say

APPLE.NEWS

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Australian researchers claim they have developed a battery that can keep a smartphone charged for five days or power an electric car for 1,000 kilometers (over 600 miles).

[Baldbloke]

Yes tax years.  Pure electric vehicles will have a benefit in kind tax charge of 0% 2020/21, 1% 2021/2022 and 2% 2022/2023.  Only zero for one year but then pretty close to zero.
 
It is worth bearing in mind also that an awful lot of the charging points are currently free.  This will not continue indefinitely of course, but for early adopters many are quite literally getting free fuel! 

Believe the public charging points in Scotland are still free to use at the moment.

[Stubby]

4 hours ago, eggsarascal said:

Am I the only one who doesn't understand this?

Nope .

[scbk]

It won't offer you much of a tax bonus, but for more local journeys have a look at electric bicycles.

With the speed possible, it might not be much slower than driving

[Baldbloke]

I was discussing this with my dad yesterday, particularly the issue of rows of terraced houses etc, and how people will plug in. We come up with the possible theory that they will introduce 'smart roads' in the future, much like the wireless phone chargers you sit your phones on to charge. You will simply park at the side of the road and your car will charge, and automatically bill your credit card.
 
 

Saw a report last week where what you’re saying is actually already possible

[Baldbloke]

We’ve done a bit of AirBnB over the last few years and I’m considering putting in an outside wall charger while the fitting subsidy is still available. Seems a shame not to do it with a wind turbine sending some of our generation back to the grid.

We had a two VW employees staying with us a year ago who were employed on their electric vehicle research. They were suggesting that the purchase of any early electric vehicle was presently a bargain. This because all early models are over engineered (because all manufacturers wanted to reassure their efforts are super reliable)and a better more up to date battery pack can be fitted when the original one wanks out. Electric motors are relatively simple and cheap to replace after 500,000 miles compared to a gas or diesel motor plus ancillaries

[Chalgravesteve]

One thing I can't work out, is why people might think that leasing a vehicle absolves them of any problems as opposed to buying it. Ultimately, the dealer/supplier gets paid the value of the vehicle up front. They arrange a third party finance lease and you pay the third party lease company the monthly/quarterly payment for the duration of the lease. At the end of the lease, unless you have specifically ensured that title to the asset passes to you, usually for a nominal sum, then you have no value/asset at the end of it and it is returned to the finance company. So, in order to calculate what you pay each month, the original cost of the asset is what its based on. 

 

The huge majority of vehicle lease options have an added parameter: the residual value of the asset at the end of the lease. So if a vehicle is £30,000 new and they consider that it will be worth £10,000 at 3 years old, with normal wear and tear and normal mileage then they finance £30,000 over three years, charge you for the £20,000 "depreciated value" and have the £10,000 balance repaid on sale at auction - but if you do more miles or damage the vehicle, then you will have penalties to pay.

 

If you think that if the car goes wrong in the lease period that you can hand it back and they will stop the payments you are entirely wrong. Its still your responsibility to insure/maintain/repair the vehicle unless you have a "contract hire" version, which includes servicing. Even with that option, all they are doing is including the cost of the service in the finance cost.

 

So whilst there may be good reasons from a business expense/cashflow/tax point of view as to why you might want to use a lease, when you sign a three year lease deal (or whatever period it is) you are signing to say that you will pay all of the payments for the whole period. 

 

[Squaredy]

3 hours ago, Chalgravesteve said:

One thing I can't work out, is why people might think that leasing a vehicle absolves them of any problems as opposed to buying it. Ultimately, the dealer/supplier gets paid the value of the vehicle up front. They arrange a third party finance lease and you pay the third party lease company the monthly/quarterly payment for the duration of the lease. At the end of the lease, unless you have specifically ensured that title to the asset passes to you, usually for a nominal sum, then you have no value/asset at the end of it and it is returned to the finance company. So, in order to calculate what you pay each month, the original cost of the asset is what its based on. 

 

The huge majority of vehicle lease options have an added parameter: the residual value of the asset at the end of the lease. So if a vehicle is £30,000 new and they consider that it will be worth £10,000 at 3 years old, with normal wear and tear and normal mileage then they finance £30,000 over three years, charge you for the £20,000 "depreciated value" and have the £10,000 balance repaid on sale at auction - but if you do more miles or damage the vehicle, then you will have penalties to pay.

 

If you think that if the car goes wrong in the lease period that you can hand it back and they will stop the payments you are entirely wrong. Its still your responsibility to insure/maintain/repair the vehicle unless you have a "contract hire" version, which includes servicing. Even with that option, all they are doing is including the cost of the service in the finance cost.

 

So whilst there may be good reasons from a business expense/cashflow/tax point of view as to why you might want to use a lease, when you sign a three year lease deal (or whatever period it is) you are signing to say that you will pay all of the payments for the whole period. 

 

As you say having predictable cash flow is important, but for me it is mainly about risk.  What would a full set of batteries cost for a modern electric vehicle?  Not a risk I am willing to take, so a full maintenance lease is the only option I would consider.   Have you heard about the Aixam lorries?  I feel for anyone who invested in one of them ten years ago.
 

 

It might be different in five or ten years time when they are common but imagine taking a full electric vehicle to a back street garage hoping for a budget repair!

Edited January 9, 2020 by Squaredy