Are electric cars cheap enough to lease?

Are electric cars cheap enough to lease? 

There is a definite move to electric vehicles; quite interestingly the last 6 months of COVID seem to have acted as a further catalyst for electrification. Probably one of the main barriers to moving to electric vehicles over the last few years has been cost.

The leasing industry is renowned for offering great monthly rentals for new cars. Many customers use pricing portals like LeaseLoco, AutoLease Compare and Moneyshake to find out which is the best lease deal for them, but are electric cars cheap enough to lease?

The ability to “get a good deal” is prevalent in this industry and customers have the ability to quickly and accurately calculate if the price being offered truly offers value. There are now a swathe of finance companies, dealerships and manufacturers who are heavily invested in this industry, and who continually make it a more cost-effective and seamless process for customers.

What factors make up a cheap electric car lease?

The initial issue with electric cars is that they were somewhat more expensive than a petrol or diesel equivalent. Nothing is more obvious than when you have a deal on a petrol/diesel/electric Vauxhall Corsa.

Without a doubt, the petrol will be the cheapest and the electric the most expensive in terms of a monthly cost. However, as economies of scale and discount levels are increasing on the EV-side, we are seeing more pricing parity between the combustion and non-combustion alternatives.

Where we also try to educate customers is that the price per month you pay for the car is not the only thing to consider. We encourage a customer to look at the whole of life costs which are associated with running a vehicle and not just a monthly rental or payment.

This means considering the servicing/maintenance costs, fuel and, for business users, the taxation elements. For a company car user you have to consider that operating a car is not “free” and there will be a tax implication on you and the company for running this type of arrangement (or in a salary sacrifice arrangement too). From April 2020, there has been a significant change for company car users in that a purely electric car attracts 0% BiK.

If you have an EV as a company car user (or through a salary sacrifice scheme), then you will pay no tax. Moving forwards this only increases nominally to the extent that it will still be much cheaper operating an EV than a traditional petrol or diesel option.

Add to this clean air zones and congestion zones across the UK’s major towns and cities and you can see where the future is moving towards. To help make a practical decision, consider the full facts as opposed to just the cheapest finance cost.

Is there adequate choice of electric vehicles?

But are there enough EV options now? The team at e-car lease have put together some useful blogs and articles that showcase the volume of cars which are can now be purchased or leased.

As you will see from the different vehicles on our reviews, the choice available to a customer is now far better than the situation 1-2 years ago. Without a doubt car manufacturers have recognised how important EVs are to the modern automotive market and are now placing more time and investment into creating options for customers.

The only slight issue is that many of the early cars have been within the luxury car segment - the Audi e-Tron, Mercedes EQC and Jaguar I-Pace are not perhaps what we would classify as affordable for the average customer. However, Citroen/Peugeot/Hyundai/Kia are a good indication of what is to arrive in our market, with their cost-effective and smaller options now presenting opportunities for the average consumer to enjoy an EV.

For our e-car lease team, it has been the personal contract hire market which has seen a significant increase in demand more recently. It is no longer just company car uses looking to enjoy the fabulous Tesla Model 3 or the new Model Y!

HYUNDAI  KONA ELECTRIC HATCHBACK 150kW Premium SE 64kWh 5dr Auto [10.5kW Charger]

In terms of the car shown, the HYUNDAI  KONA ELECTRIC HATCHBACK 150kW Premium SE 64kWh 5dr Auto [10.5kW Charger] (Pure Electric Vehicle), this is based on the following configuration:

• Pulse Red Metallic/Pearlescent Paint
• Leather - Black
• 17" alloy wheels

As standard the car includes automatic wipers, privacy glass, solar glass, hill start assist, VSC, Bluetooth, blind spot monitoring.

Cruise control, forward collision warning, front parking sensor, lane follow assist, lane keep assist, parking system with rear camera, rear parking sensor, 10.25” touch screen with satellite navigation, head up display, smartphone integration.

Wireless charging plate, auto dimming rear view mirror, Krell premium audio, body coloured externals, full LED headlights, LED daytime running lights, 60/40 split folding seats, heated steering wheel, driver’s adjustable lumbar support and electric seat.

This is the top of the line vehicle, so you cannot add any further configuration.

On the technical side, company car and business users can note the P11d at £41,425.99 and CO2 at 0g/km. The 64 kWh battery delivers a combined range of 278 miles, 204ps and 0-62 times of 7.9 seconds. On the charging times, expect a 7.2kW AC charge point to take circa 10/11 hours to fully charge the car and a rapid charge point at 77kW DC will take circa 44 months to give you 10-80% charge.

For advice or guidance on personal/business electric leasing, just get in touch with our team.

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