Category Archives: Buying/Leasing

Government urged to alter salary sacrifice rules for lowest paid

July 6, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, UncategorizedRepost

EV salary sacrifice and fleet management specialist, Fleet Evolution, is calling on the Government to amend the rules governing salary sacrifice and the lowest paid, as the current laws discriminate against the very people they are designed to protect.

Vauxhall Corsa-e (Image: Vauxhall.co.uk)

Under the existing rules, no employee can enter into a salary sacrifice scheme for assets of any kind, be they cars, bikes, pensions or healthcare, if by doing so the arrangement takes their take-home pay below the National Living Wage (NLW).

The NLW is the statutory minimum wage rate that must be paid to workers aged 23 and over. It currently stands at £9.50 per hour, a standard that came in from April this year and was up from £8.91 in the previous tax year.

The intention is to protect the lowest paid workers, ensure they have a minimum standard of living and prevent them from getting into financial hardship.

However, argues Fleet Evolution founder and managing director, Andrew Leech, the rules which were designed to protect the lowest paid are ironically hurting the very people they were intended to safeguard.

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2022 Renault Megane E-Tech Electric UK pricing announced

June 28, 2022Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

The all-electric Renault Megane E-Tech Electric will start from £35,995

Renault has confirmed that the new Megane E-Tech Electric is available to pre-order now, with three trim levels to choose from. It’s an all-new iteration of its long-running family hatchback, sporting crossover styling cues and a pure electric powertrain, and prices start from £35,995.

The new model starts with the Equilibre trim level, then Techno and also the range-topping Launch Edition.

Each trim level of the new Megane E-Tech Electric is powered by a 60kWh battery in the UK, although a cheaper 40kWh variant will be offered in Europe. As standard the Equilibre comes with 18-inch ‘Oston’ alloy wheels, LED headlights, ambient lighting, heated steering, heated front seats and a rear parking camera. Renault has also given the new electric Megane safety features in the form of driver drowsiness alert, lane keep assist and automatic emergency braking.

Inside the Megane there’s a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel and a 9-inch infotainment setup, which runs Android OS. Google services are integrated into the system, which also features Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

K-ZE All-electric Crossover (Image: Renault)

Techno trim starts from £38,495 and it adds extra safety features such as adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and a rear cross traffic alert. The styling is tweaked, too, with the addition of adaptive LED headlights that feature scrolling indicators and a distinctive running light signature. Larger 20-inch wheels also mark out the Techno.

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A full tank of petrol costs £100, but electric vehicle drivers pay just £37 to fully charge

June 24, 2022Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

Petrol car drivers are paying more than £100 to fill up their car, while recharging an EV costs just £37

Electric vehicle drivers are saving more than £60 in fuel costs every time they charge their car, according to analysis highlighting the growing financial benefits of moving away from petrol and diesel motoring.

Recharging an electric car has almost always been cheaper than re-fuelling a petrol or diesel motor, but as the price of fuel on the forecourt has soared in recent weeks the savings are now significant.

Analysis published by climate website Carbon Brief suggests that while the UK average cost of filling up a 55-litre petrol car is now almost £100, recharging an electric car to travel an equivalent distance costs just £37.

That delivers EV drivers a saving of £63 per “tank” of fuel, according to Carbon Brief’s policy editor Simon Evans, who conducted the analysis.

EVs are cheaper to refuel in part because they use energy much more efficiently than combustion engine cars, Dr Evans explained, using three to four times less energy to drive the same distance.

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Per mile cost of EVs ‘80% below petrol and diesel cars’ as fuel prices surge

June 20, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The average annual electricity cost of a popular small EV such as a Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe is around £250.

Soaring fuel prices mean the per mile cost of running an electric vehicle (EV) has sunk to around 80% below the bill for petrol and diesel models, according to new analysis.

Green motoring consultancy New AutoMotive calculated that the average annual electricity cost of a popular small EV such as a Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe is approximately £250.

For a petrol car with typical fuel efficiency of 38 miles per gallon, the annual fuel cost based on current pump prices is around £1,210.

New AutoMotive co-founder and head of policy Ben Nelmes said the spiralling cost of petrol and diesel is “making electric cars more attractive than ever”.

He told the PA news agency: “Commuters and those living in areas with poor public transport connections continue to take the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis for their reliance on petrol and diesel vehicles.

“Meanwhile, sales of new electric cars are booming and the second-hand market is growing rapidly too, helping electric cars to become more and more affordable.

“This is a promising trend, but ministers must explore ways of offering targeted support to encourage Britain’s most active drivers to make the switch to electric cars.

“This would reduce emissions faster, help those hardest hit by rising fuel prices, and reduce the UK’s reliance on imported fuel, including Russian diesel.”

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Traditional carmakers could boost profits by accelerating move to electric

June 9, 2022BMW, Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Uncategorized, VolkswagenRepost

Analysis suggests electric operations will become rapidly more profitable than petrol and diesel arms within five years

The world’s largest traditional carmakers could improve their profit margins and boost their value to investors by accelerating the transition to electric cars in the next decade, a new analysis has found.

The electric carmaking operations of Toyota, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Volvo, BMW and Mercedes-Benz will rapidly become more profitable than their traditional petrol and diesel counterparts within the next three to five years as carbon emissions regulations tighten, according to modelling by Profundo, a consultancy.

The world’s biggest carmakers are all seeking to increase electric car production rapidly in the next decade, as laws in major markets including the EU and UK seek to ban new internal combustion engines as part of the effort to curb carbon pollution from transport. Yet at the same time carmakers still intend to sell millions more vehicles with petrol and diesel engines, in part because they remain more profitable but also because making the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) can include major upfront costs.

Read more: TheGuardian

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Study breaks down electric cars against their petrol equivalents

May 4, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

The LV= Electric Car Cost Index, created in partnership with Euan McTurk of Plug Life Consulting, has explored the purchase price, tax, insurance, fuel, and maintenance costs for 13 pure electric cars against their petrol or diesel equivalents to establish the total cost of ownership. It found that the Nissan Leaf, MG5 Long Range Excite, and the Mini Electric Level 1 were three of the best value electric cars for drivers considering going green.

The same three electric cars turned out cheaper whether bought, leased, or financed via PCP agreement.

All 13 electric cars analysed were cheaper than their petrol or diesel equivalent models if bought upfront, saving drivers £3,862 over the average ownership period of seven years. Seven of the 13 were cheaper across a four-year lease term, while four were cheaper on a three-year PCP agreement.

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I test-drove the all-electric Hummer. Can it win over America’s EV skeptics?

April 27, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

A climate-friendly version of the macho, gas-guzzling pickup is aimed at obdurate devotees of US’s supersized car culture

It is the weight of an elephant, can move like a crab and in a previous life was reviled by environmentalists. The Hummer, that avatar of gas-guzzling machismo, has returned as an electric vehicle with an unlikely billing as an ally in the effort to avert the worsening climate crisis.

The reincarnation of the hulking pickup truck, test-driven by the Guardian in the searing heat of Arizona, has been lauded by manufacturer General Motors (GM) as proof that electric vehicles (EVs) can now reach even middle America’s most obdurate devotees of supersized car culture.

GM hopes to crush, under a brawny Hummer wheel, the notion that green cars must look like a Prius. “We want to turn EV skeptics into EV believers,” said Mikhael Farah, a GM spokesperson. This Hummer has even been endorsed as a climate boon by the White House – in November, Joe Biden screeched around GM’s Detroit plant in a Hummer EV. “This sucker is something else!” the president, a self-confessed “car guy”, exclaimed.

Read more: TheGuardian

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Electric cars prices will be ‘driven down’ by new govt plans, but environmentalists want more ambitious targets

April 26, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

Environmentalists say the target should be more ambitious still, while industry is calling for purchase incentives too.

Plans to ensure half of all new cars sold in the UK are fully electric by 2028 will drive down electric vehicle (EV) prices “further and faster,” experts have said.

Under Department for Transport (DfT) proposals, 22% of cars rolling off forecourts would have to be fully electric-powered from 2024, increasing to 52% of all cars by 2028. The targets for vans are 8% in 2024 and 34% in 2028.

OVO Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging (Image: T. Larkum/Fuel Included)

Electric car prices could be about to plummet – here’s why

Electric vehicle (EV) prices have fallen significantly in recent years thanks to cheaper batteries and a growing market, but plans to mandate all carmakers to meet targets should “have quite a positive impact on price,” experts predict.

“More manufacturers trying to sell more EVs, trying to get us to buy them is going to be a more competitive and therefore better market for the consumer,” said Richard Allan from New AutoMotive, a research group aiming to accelerate the switch to EVs.

Economies of scale, competition and penalties for carmakers who miss targets make EVs much more affordable, he said.

The mandate is designed to accelerate the shift away from petrol and diesel vehicles, sales of which will be banned from 2030.

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Britons buy more electric cars in March than in whole of 2019

April 15, 2022Buying/Leasing, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Tesla, UncategorizedRepost

Overall new car sales slump as petrol and diesel prices soar in Ukraine crisis

British drivers bought more electric cars in March alone than in the whole of 2019 even as the broader market slumped, according to figures that underline the accelerating pace of the UK’s transition away from internal combustion engines.

There were 39,315 new battery electric vehicle registrations during the month, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. In 2019 there were 37,850 electric sales.

Evidence of soaring demand for battery electric cars – which will become the most popular fuel type as soon as 2025 according to some analysts – has provided a bright spot for the car industry at a time when it has struggled for more than a year with computer chip supply bottlenecks.

Across electric and fossil fuel cars in total, the number of sales in the UK in March was the lowest for the month in 24 years.

March is an important month for the UK car industry, when buyers queue up for the latest number plates – a status symbol that can also help sustain secondhand values for a few months longer.

The slump in new car registrations, down 14% compared with March 2021, follows two months of year-on-year sales increases. The industry is concerned that it has missed a period of strong demand – buoyed up by household savings during pandemic lockdowns – and will be under pressure as household finances are squeezed by rising prices across the economy.

Read more: TheGuardian

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Petrol prices are driving us to electric cars, and surging utility bills are no deterrent

April 6, 2022Buying/Leasing, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

EV sales are rising way beyond forecasts, indicating that most of us are more than ready to make the switch

The net zero transition is really a big invest-to-save plan. Saving the planet is obviously the main goal, but there are purely financial savings too if you take the long view: we pay upfront in the next few decades for the infrastructure for lower carbon travel, heating and production, which saves us money over time because it’s cheaper to run.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are where the big savings come from. A year’s petrol or diesel typically costs well over £1,000, but if you can charge an electric car at your home overnight the annual fuel cost can be under £150.

Making the EV switch is a big job – we’ve got 32m cars to replace. But the turnover has recently gone up several gears, with EV sales outpacing all forecasts: they now account for one in five new car purchases.

Interesting new research digs into how sensitive are drivers pondering the switch to the savings that come from moving from petrol to electric vehicles. Using data from California, it shows the obvious: EV sales respond both to electricity prices (falling as they rise) and to petrol prices (rising as pump prices increase).

The interesting bit is that sales respond to petrol prices at around four to six times the rate of electricity prices. Why? Consumers are just less aware of electricity prices than petrol prices. I definitely am, having watched petrol pump prices rise by 40p a litre over the past year.

So if you want a (small) silver lining to today’s catastrophic energy price surge, it’s that bonkers pump prices should encourage more people to buy electric vehicles while nuts electricity prices won’t put them off much.

Read more: TheGuardian

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