Guide: the OZEV workplace charging scheme

What is the Workplace Charging Scheme and am I eligible?

You may have noticed the growing spotlight on electric vehicles since the Government set its sights on eliminating the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030. This triggered the exponential rise of pure electric car and van registrations by 50% to 137,498 in July 2022* compared to 92,420 by the same time in 2021.

In essence, that means the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV, formerly OLEV) are keen to see businesses, charities and public sector organisations encouraging their people to drive electric. So, if your fleet or company car policy is moving towards electrification, or you’re promoting the uptake of electric cars through your salary sacrifice scheme – you’re most likely to be eligible for the Workplace Charging Scheme.

There are some stipulations, like:

• your car parking can’t just be for visitor use – staff and drivers must regularly use it

• you must gain permission if you don’t own or manage the land your potential charge points will be installed on

• the car parking area must not be attached to a domestic property

• you can’t have already claimed under the EV Homecharge Scheme or Domestic Recharging Scheme

• you need to be installing new chargers and not claiming for existing ones

• each individual socket must have a power supply of 3kW that will not be affected by other vehicles being charged at the same time

• you can only install one socket for each accessible parking space.

Making the OZEV (formerly OLEV) Workplace grant work for your business

The first thing you need to declare to OZEV in your application is that you:

• have a need for charging stations at work, for example, you have a fleet of cars or vans that are brought to the workplace as part of their journey, or you

• are encouraging your people to drive electric cars – either by raising awareness with a view to your staff buying or leasing their own vehicle or by launching a company car or EV salary sacrifice scheme.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the benefit in kind tax on electric cars is set at 1% for 2021/22, rising to just 2% in 2022-24. That means company and salary sacrifice car drivers can take advantage of huge savings over buying or leasing an electric car privately. In addition, BIK on petrol and diesel cars can be up to an eye-watering 37%.

Because the scheme is designed to help you raise awareness of the benefits of driving electric with your employees, your business does not need to own or lease any electric vehicles. You could simply provide charging for your people’s privately owned or leased vehicles and be committed to promoting the benefits of going electric.

Subsidised vs paid charging for your people

Subsidising your workplace charging is a great way to show your staff you value them. They won’t be subject to any tax because they are topping up with electricity rather than petrol or diesel.

YouGov research shows that adults between 18 and 60 years of age are 53-69% more likely to buy sustainable products – with 18-30s being the most invested. Showing your support of electric vehicle driving and the environment is likely to be attractive to potential new staff.

Choosing an energy provider that offers 100% renewable electricity will give you and your people the added peace of mind that your chargers are being powered by sustainable means. Some businesses prefer to go one step further and create their own energy through solar panels or small on-site wind farms.

You could offer your staff free charging while setting tariffs for visiting clients, customers and suppliers to offset your costs. Or you could lower these tariffs for your staff if you’d prefer for them to pay too.

Each eligible business can apply for a total of up to £14,000 for their charging sockets
in stages.

At bp pulse, we provide free workplace charging as part of our employee electric car salary sacrifice scheme. Our Head of HR, shares her thoughts:

“We feel it’s important to lead by example. Our scheme was launched in 2020 in an effort to make electric cars more attractive and viable to our people. In addition to a twenty per cent taxpayer saving up to ten thousand pounds over three years by driving a Volkswagen ID3 over a Golf, for example – our EV salary sacrifice scheme includes free of charge use of charging points at our offices.

With the government offering a grant of up to seventy-five per cent of the costs of a charger (capped at three hundred and fifty pounds per socket), businesses are in a position to consider passing on these savings to their drivers and/or other staff.

If, like us, you have more than one business location, the sockets can be spread across these and you don’t have to apply for them all at once. You can reapply until the maximum forty sockets and fourteen thousand pounds in funding has been reached.”

OZEV will only approve Workplace Charging Scheme authorised installers

To be eligible for your workplace EV charging grant, the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles states you must have your charging stations fitted by an authorised installer.

The benefit to you is that these are charging experts who are often able to advise you from start to finish – they’ll even help you complete your application.

Before you approach an OZEV authorised installer, you’ll need to establish any permissions needed for off-street parking facilities that you don’t own or manage. If you’re responsible for part of a car park and other businesses own and use the rest, this is OK.

OZEV states you’ll need to work with your installer to understand your infrastructure requirements at your depot or office(s) before making your application. Your installer will:

carry out a survey of your parking facilities to establish your electrical capacity

advise you on the charger models that will service the vehicle types and volume of usage your drivers and/or people need.

Once you get your approval, you’ll receive a voucher that is valid for 180 days. Your installer will fit your chargers and it will be up to them to retrieve the grant money.

We’re here to support you with a free site survey and your Workplace Charging Scheme application

At bp pulse, in addition to being on OZEV’s list of authorised installers, our expert team is here to support your business, charity or public sector organisation with your application – every step of the way. Why not get in touch with our experienced team for a no-obligation discussion about the Workplace Charging Scheme?