Should you finally go electric through salary sacrifice in 2026?

You’re looking at petrol prices and thinking, ‘How much higher can they get?’ 

You’ve heard that no new petrol or diesel cars will be sold in the UK after 2030. And your most annoying neighbour just got a shiny new EV that turned you British Racing Green with envy.

But you’ve heard mixed things about EVs. Are they really any good? If you set up a salary sacrifice scheme, will your employees be interested? Let’s take a look. 

Until recently, electric vehicles have caused a bit of ‘sticker shock’ on the upfront price. But the latest numbers don’t support that. 

Recent data shows that new electric vehicles are now, on average, cheaper to buy than petrol models – based on advertised prices on Autotrader after discounts. 

We’ve also found that the median monthly lease price for an electric car in the UK is now £369, compared with £409 for the median petrol car. This means drivers could save more than £1,600 over a typical lease just through lower monthly payments. 

Several good things are making EVs more affordable. 

• Salary sacrifice is a game-changer: A workplace EV salary sacrifice scheme helps you and your employees save up to 40% on a new EV. 
• The government’s Electric Car Grant helps, too: Call it His Majesty’s Secret Savings – it gets you up to £3,750 off the cost of a new EV. 
• Used prices are coming down: The big Octopus Electroverse x Autotrader survey showed that the average asking price for a used EV decreased by 41% from July 2022 to December 2025. 

Fuel drivers are 8.5x more likely to think EVs cost more to maintain and service than petrol and diesel cars. And they’re 7.5x more likely to believe EVs are more expensive to run day-to-day. 

In reality, the Cost of Driving Electric Report 2025 showed that 80% of people buying a battery EV will save money on the total cost of ownership compared to an equivalent petrol car – with an average saving of £5,850 over a typical term. This includes purchase price or lease costs, insurance, maintenance, charging/fuel, tax, and depreciation.

Here are some places you’ll notice the savings stacking up. 

Road tax

Petrol and diesel drivers pay full road tax every year – or Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) as the people with clipboards call it. Road tax for EVs is just £10 for the first year, then £16.25 per month. But if you’re on our EV salary sacrifice scheme, you don't need to pay it – we’ll handle it all for you. 

From April 2028, a mileage-based “eVED” charge of 3p per mile will also apply. But if you already have a car (or have ordered one) on our scheme, we’ll cover that for you, too. 

Benefit in Kind (BiK) 

If you’ve got your car through salary sacrifice, the Benefit-in-Kind rate is much lower for electric vehicles. It’s currently 4% and will rise gradually to 9% by 2029. In comparison, petrol and diesel cars can attract BiK rates of up to 37% (up to 39% by 2029).

Servicing

You’ll never have to fork out for a new exhaust system ever again. EVs are cheaper and simpler to maintain – working out around 29% cheaper to service over the first five years. And if you’re on our salary sacrifice scheme, service costs are included. 

This is where the real savings kick in. Plugging in at home costs as little as 2p per mile on Octopus Energy’s Intelligent Octopus Go - EV saver tariff.

On this tariff, a full home charge costs just £4.32 in a typical EV, compared with £34.89 for the same amount of miles in an equivalent petrol car. A driver doing 8,000 miles a year could charge at home for as little as £160 a year – compared with £1,280 for petrol.

What about charging on the go? There’s a bit of a myth that it’s difficult to find a charging point. Only 37% of fuel drivers believe it’s easy to find a public charging point, but over two thirds of EV drivers are satisfied that it is. 

Octopus Electroverse gives you access to 1,000,000+ chargers across Europe with clear pricing and exclusive discounts.

Employees on our EV salary sacrifice scheme get £400 towards a home charger installation. Don’t have space for it? We’ll top you up with £400 of Electroverse public charging instead.

Adding a workplace charger through Blink makes for a brilliant staff perk. The government’s Workplace Charging Scheme covers up to 75% of the cost of purchase and installation. That’s up to £500 per socket from 1st April 2026 and up to 40 sockets per organisation, and the scheme has been extended until 31st March 2027.

Yep. Modern EVs make light work of daily commutes and errands. And with a range of 200-300 miles on a single charge, weekend trips are easy, too. Just ask Gareth Powell, Associate Director at The Construction Consultants, who drove from Worcester to Madrid in his Kia EV6 and swapped Lea & Perrins for la vida loca.

It's true that higher-spec models come on the market all the time, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go electric now. Many manufacturers offer lengthy warranties – so even if, for example, better batteries become available, you’ll still have good cover for your existing one.

We think it’s better to choose one of the excellent cars that are available today than hold out for the next model.

If you do love to have the latest model, a salary sacrifice scheme helps you and your employees stay flexible. You choose the car you want and the length of the agreement – from two to four years. When it ends, you return the car and you’re free to choose another. 

False! Very cold weather makes any vehicle less efficient – and that’s true for petrol and diesel cars, too. Thanks to modern battery management systems and pre-conditioning, you’ll still get perfectly usable range and performance from your EV in winter. 

That’s one of a few common misconceptions. In the big Octopus Electroverse x Autotrader survey, only 50% of fuel drivers said they believed that EVs are reliable cars that rarely break down. When EV drivers were asked the same question, 87% agreed.

The ‘fire risk’ thing has been debunked, too. A study in Sweden showed that EVs are 20 times less likely to catch fire than petrol and diesel cars.

53% of fuel drivers believe EV batteries need replacing after just a few years. But only 6% of EV drivers have actually experienced this, and EV batteries typically last around 10 years. If you get your car on salary sacrifice, our maintenance scheme includes normal wear and tear on batteries. 

“The batteries have not lost their capacity at anything like the rate we expected. Our car is 6 years old with 50k miles on the clock, but the range has hardly changed from new.” – An EV driver in the big Octopus Electroverse x Autotrader survey.

We’ll just leave this here. 

85% of EV drivers are satisfied, with nearly half (48%) describing themselves as extremely satisfied. Compare that with fuel drivers. Only 70% are satisfied and only 30% are extremely satisfied. 

So, should you go electric in 2026?

For most people, it’s a no-brainer. Charging is cheaper and more accessible, servicing is simpler, depreciation is lower, and tax savings add up. 

Our EV salary sacrifice scheme is free to set up and a flexible, convenient way to get you and your employees on the road. 

Benefit‑in‑Kind (BiK) rates and other taxes and charges are the lowest they’re ever likely to be, and early adopters can take advantage before they rise.

There’s no need to wait. The cars, the tech and the savings are ready now.