The top five environmental benefits of Octopus EV’s salary sacrifice scheme

Thinking about encouraging your team to go electric? You’re not alone. There are already around 1.4 million electric vehicles (EVs) on UK roads. And that number is rising rapidly, as more businesses and individuals commit to greener ways of working and travelling.

Now is the perfect time to get on board. With Octopus EV’s salary sacrifice scheme, offering EVs to your employees is a simple but powerful way to reduce your company’s environmental impact.

So, how exactly does choosing an EV through salary sacrifice benefit the environment? Let’s break it down.

Swapping to an electric car is one of the easiest ways for your employees to shrink their carbon footprint.

While petrol and diesel cars pump out greenhouse gases every time they hit the road, speeding up climate change, EVs have zero tailpipe emissions. That means cleaner air, lower carbon footprints and a big step towards your net zero goals. Just one EV can save 1.95 tons of greenhouse gases each year – the same as planting 975 trees!

Now, imagine that multiplied across your whole team. Take Huel, for example – they’ve reduced their carbon footprint by 261 tonnes of CO2 thanks to our salary sacrifice scheme

We make the switch even easier by installing free home chargers for employees who take part. And if they can’t have a charger at home, we’ll give them a £600 public network credit via Octopus Electroverse. That’s around 4,000 miles worth of free EV charge.

Even when you factor in battery production and electricity use, EVs still come out greener over their lifetime than petrol or diesel cars. And if your employees charge their cars using a green energy tariff, they’ll cut their emissions even more.

With Intelligent Octopus Go - EV Saver, your employees can charge your EV when energy is cheapest and greenest. That usually means overnight, when there’s less demand on the grid and more renewable energy available. By shifting charging to these off-peak hours, we’re helping to balance the grid and support investment in clean energy, like wind and solar.

Want to take things even further? Octopus Energy can help you power your home and car with solar panels, heat pumps and other green tech, making sustainable living that little bit easier.

Did you know that air pollution causes around 28,000 to 36,000 deaths per year? One of the main causes are petrol and diesel cars, which release harmful pollutants into the air, leading to respiratory diseases, heart conditions and other serious health issues.

EVs, on the other hand, produce zero tailpipe emissions, meaning they don’t add to local air pollution. By making electric cars more accessible through salary sacrifice, businesses are helping to improve air quality, create healthier cities and protect future generations from the effects of pollution.

And it’s not just about people. Air pollution also destroys plants and ecosystems, causing behavioural changes in animals, such as shifts in migration patterns, birds singing less often, and bees abandoning their hives. Cleaner air means a healthier, more sustainable world for everyone.

Ever noticed how quiet an EV is? No roaring engines or rumbling exhausts; just a smooth, almost silent ride.

That peaceful hum makes a big difference in busy towns and cities. Less traffic noise means calmer streets, less stress, and happier residents. It’s better for wildlife, too; animals are sensitive to noise, and EVs help create a more peaceful environment for them.

If your employees live or work in a noisy area, helping them switch to an EV is one small way to make life a little more relaxing.

You might have heard that EVs use batteries made with raw materials like lithium and cobalt – resources that come with their own environmental challenges. But the good news is, the industry is moving fast to make EV manufacturing more sustainable.

Many EV batteries now use recycled materials, and when they reach the end of their life in a car, they can be repurposed for energy storage. EVs also have fewer moving parts than petrol or diesel cars, meaning less wear and tear, fewer repairs, and a longer lifespan. That’s a win for your planet and your wallet.

What’s more, with servicing and maintenance included in Octopus EV’s salary sacrifice scheme, your car will be kept in peak condition, meaning a longer life and a more sustainable use of resources.

And when it’s time for a new model, the old EV can be resold, reused, or repurposed, helping to reduce waste and support the shift to a circular economy.

Choosing an electric car through salary sacrifice isn’t just about tax savings (although they’re nice, too). It’s about doing something great for the planet.

Table showing maximum rates of benefit in kind rates for each vehicle type.

Hybrid range based on 1-50g CO₂, non-ev based on 51g CO₂ and above.

By helping your team drive electric, you’re cutting carbon, cleaning up the air, reducing noise, and supporting renewable energy. It’s one of the most impactful changes you can make, and we’re making it easier than ever.

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