Octopus Electric Vehicles has launched a second-hand leasing offering for electric cars – to help encourage more people to drive electric cars.
The ‘Nearly New’ salary sacrifice scheme (where employees have reduced cash pay in return for a noncash work benefit in the style of “cycle to work”) will see workers save 30% to 40% every month on leasing an electric car by paying through their gross salary.
It builds on the success of Octopus’ EV leasing scheme for new electric cars which it began in 2021, and aims to make the process of hiring an electric car more affordable.
The offering includes the use of an electric car, a charger and a discounted energy tariff, and all of the cars on offer are less than two years old and have been fully serviced.
Participants can get a Tesla Model 3 for around half the price of the same model on personal lease. They can also get popular vehicles like the Renault Zoe or Peugeot e-208 for £300 a month.
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The incentive from Octopus follows recent efforts from the UK to maintain its place in the electric vehicles market amid concern about its net zero trajectory, with the announcement about a fresh deal for a Jaguar Land Rover gigafactory to be based in Taunton.
According to the Local Government Association, it is anticipated that there will be between 8 million and 11 million hybrid or electric cars on the road by 2030.
“Used cars make up more than four out of five car sales in the UK, and so to reach net zero transport, we need to build a strong second hand market for electric cars. As with all tech, the early models are expensive but with a growing fleet of second hand cars, you can now run one of these high tech, green, fun cars for half the price of an old school gas guzzler,” said Octopus CEO Fiona Howarth.
“Leasing for EVs is an attractive option for people looking to go electric, allowing drivers to switch to the latest tech every few years and take advantage of low fuel costs. Very few of our drivers ever look back, going electric is even more affordable, opening it up to more drivers that may not have previously considered it.”
