EV Discussion thread

noitsnotme

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a lease of a Tesla Model Y RWD through my limited company.  Took the missus on a test drive this morning through the local Tesla garage and despite her initial fears she is happy to have one now.

I'm considering going with the Tesla wall charger for home.  At £475 plus whatever an electrician will charge to fit, it seems reasonable.  Any advice either way on this?  I don't currently have solar panels but will be considering it (plus battery) in the near future.

I've never leased before, let alone through my business.  Can anybody recommend somewhere to get a quote for company car insurance?

silvercar

Other than the logo matching the logo on your car, there is no benefit to having a Tesla charger than any other. It is decidedly poorer that some that will work well with solar.

CKhalvashi

noitsnotme said:

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a lease of a Tesla Model Y RWD through my limited company.  Took the missus on a test drive this morning through the local Tesla garage and despite her initial fears she is happy to have one now.

I'm considering going with the Tesla wall charger for home.  At £475 plus whatever an electrician will charge to fit, it seems reasonable.  Any advice either way on this?  I don't currently have solar panels but will be considering it (plus battery) in the near future.

I've never leased before, let alone through my business.  Can anybody recommend somewhere to get a quote for company car insurance?

If you can do it as a purchase without incurring debt it may be worthwhile for the First Year Allowance. I worked out (at the time) that it was better to put the Ioniq in my own name and claim mileage allowances. Anything more expensive will probably be better through the company. The most recent CT changes will likely tip the balance for the same car in the opposite direction.

Most brokers (as long as you're not in a specialist industry) should be able to do a company car quote, including the standard online ones that advertise on TV. Hopefully you're not in an industry like us where we are limited to a few insurers.

noitsnotme

CKhalvashi said:

noitsnotme said:

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a lease of a Tesla Model Y RWD through my limited company.  Took the missus on a test drive this morning through the local Tesla garage and despite her initial fears she is happy to have one now.

I'm considering going with the Tesla wall charger for home.  At £475 plus whatever an electrician will charge to fit, it seems reasonable.  Any advice either way on this?  I don't currently have solar panels but will be considering it (plus battery) in the near future.

I've never leased before, let alone through my business.  Can anybody recommend somewhere to get a quote for company car insurance?

If you can do it as a purchase without incurring debt it may be worthwhile for the First Year Allowance. I worked out (at the time) that it was better to put the Ioniq in my own name and claim mileage allowances. Anything more expensive will probably be better through the company. The most recent CT changes will likely tip the balance for the same car in the opposite direction.

Most brokers (as long as you're not in a specialist industry) should be able to do a company car quote, including the standard online ones that advertise on TV. Hopefully you're not in an industry like us where we are limited to a few insurers.

Thanks.  Cash flow might not allow a purchase outright at the moment without BCP/PCP or HP, although I could consider injecting some cash back in to the business.  We’re VAT registered so I’m pretty sure it works out cheaper to do the business lease and claim back half the VAT than lease it personally.  Of course that does mean no option to purchase it at the end of the term though.

We’re an online retail/wholesaler which I don’t think should limit us?

noitsnotme

silvercar said:

Other than the logo matching the logo on your car, there is no benefit to having a Tesla charger than any other. It is decidedly poorer that some that will work well with solar.

Thanks.  Can you suggest the alternative brands that are worth considering?

silvercar

noitsnotme said:

silvercar said:

Other than the logo matching the logo on your car, there is no benefit to having a Tesla charger than any other. It is decidedly poorer that some that will work well with solar.

Thanks.  Can you suggest the alternative brands that are worth considering?

Zappi and Ohme both work with solar panels ie they have a setting whereby you can plug in and only send the excess (what you are generating over and above what you are using) to the car. 
I don't have personal experience with either, it's just what I've read.

CKhalvashi

noitsnotme said:

CKhalvashi said:

noitsnotme said:

I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a lease of a Tesla Model Y RWD through my limited company.  Took the missus on a test drive this morning through the local Tesla garage and despite her initial fears she is happy to have one now.

I'm considering going with the Tesla wall charger for home.  At £475 plus whatever an electrician will charge to fit, it seems reasonable.  Any advice either way on this?  I don't currently have solar panels but will be considering it (plus battery) in the near future.

I've never leased before, let alone through my business.  Can anybody recommend somewhere to get a quote for company car insurance?

If you can do it as a purchase without incurring debt it may be worthwhile for the First Year Allowance. I worked out (at the time) that it was better to put the Ioniq in my own name and claim mileage allowances. Anything more expensive will probably be better through the company. The most recent CT changes will likely tip the balance for the same car in the opposite direction.

Most brokers (as long as you're not in a specialist industry) should be able to do a company car quote, including the standard online ones that advertise on TV. Hopefully you're not in an industry like us where we are limited to a few insurers.

Thanks.  Cash flow might not allow a purchase outright at the moment without BCP/PCP or HP, although I could consider injecting some cash back in to the business.  We’re VAT registered so I’m pretty sure it works out cheaper to do the business lease and claim back half the VAT than lease it personally.  Of course that does mean no option to purchase it at the end of the term though.

We’re an online retail/wholesaler which I don’t think should limit us?

It's your responsibility to do the numbers and see what it comes up with.

Quite a bit of my mileage is for business and my insurance is about £400/year, so the 45p/25p per mile works out better for me personally, but that may not be the case on the next car and equally may not be the same for you.

I was thinking more entertainment or similar as being problematic. We do make it clear that we are only a supplier to the industry for insurance purposes, but insurance on the vans is still quite expensive (running at around £2.5k/year/vehicle. Online retail shouldn't be a problem unless you're regularly carrying high value items or are going into the realms of hire and reward.

Exiled_Tyke

I'm surprised a personal lease can work out better than a business one.  The personal lease is paid for out of after tax income (and if income hasn't been taken out as dividends there would also be the NI costs to consider as well).  The business lease both allows for CT and VAT deductions but (a relatively small) amount of benefit in kind.  For me (not VAT registered currently) I worked out that an EV would be cheaper through my business.

CKhalvashi

Exiled_Tyke said:

I'm surprised a personal lease can work out better than a business one.  The personal lease is paid for out of after tax income (and if income hasn't been taken out as dividends there would also be the NI costs to consider as well).  The business lease both allows for CT and VAT deductions but (a relatively small) amount of benefit in kind.  For me (not VAT registered currently) I worked out that an EV would be cheaper through my business.

The Ioniq was purchased outright with a decent discount.

The car has cost me around 8p/mile all in, excluding depreciation. The reimbursement rate for business mileage covers around 65% of the miles the car has done. It comes down to a reasonably cheap car vs the 9p electricity rate on the same mileage.

If the car is worth more than about £12k (a quick search shows it probably is), I'm so far better off with personal ownership. The car should become 'cost neutral' at about 140k miles.

JKenH

VW seem to be in real trouble.

VW electric car sales “fall to zero” as Tesla and China EV makers win price war

Volkswagen’s domestic sales of electric cars in Germany are far behind the company’s plans, insiders told business daily Handelsblatt.

Executives at some VW plants said demand for particular battery-electric models had fallen “to zero,” while car dealers pointed to a general reluctance of European consumers to buy electric cars, blaming subsidy cuts, high inflation and comparatively high prices.

With reference to price cuts by US rival Tesla, company insiders told the newspaper “the development is fatal,” adding there was also a “clear fall in orders” for combustion models. 

https://thedriven.io/2023/07/12/vw-electric-car-sales-fall-to-zero-as-tesla-and-china-ev-makers-win-price-war/