The whole EV package from Octopus

Since 2018, we've been on a mission to help more people get behind the wheel of an electric car and move away from polluting fuel-powered vehicles. We’re here to make the transition to state of the art electric cars and green technology easy and affordable. We're experts in electric cars, offering hassle-free leasing options through a salary sacrifice scheme that empowers businesses, and employees too.

Innovation is in our DNA as part of the Octopus Energy Group, and we're here to revolutionise the car leasing industry for the better. Striving for a greener, fairer future.

The Octopus Energy approach has always been to disrupt the status quo to create outstanding customer experiences that are known for the opposite. And now, we've successfully brought this approach into the world of leasing.

We are the largest pure electric fleet in the UK, and our digital-first approach means we offer a slick and hassle-free customer experience, fit for today’s employees, all backed up by our 4.7* star customer service from our dedicated EV experts.

The 5,000+ businesses who’ve joined our salary sacrifice scheme are now able to give their teams a brilliant employee benefit that not only helps them attract and keep the best talent, but also accelerates their progress towards environmental sustainability goals. And it doesn’t cost a penny to set up. Win-win!

As the employer you lease the car package on behalf of your employee. Your team member gets to drive a brand-new electric car using part of their gross salary - making savings on Income Tax and National Insurance.

They’ll also pay company car tax (Benefit in Kind), which is set by the government and is fixed at 2% until 2025. And the great news is that the government confirmed it will increase marginally by just 1% in each tax year until 2028.

It’s win, win. You get to supercharge your employee benefits package and your team is happy making huge savings.

It costs you zero to set up and is easy to run. No catch. Just great value. And yes, it’s open to businesses of all shapes and sizes.

We’re leading the way in helping other organisations hit their environmental sustainability goals, while keeping their team engaged and happy with a great employee benefit. We’re the fastest growing electric vehicle retailer in the UK and have a brand and pedigree that your employees already know and can trust.

Brand new electric car

Choose from the top EVs. We've even pre-ordered cars to get you on the road quickly.

The whole package

Everything to hit the road. Car, charger, energy, insurance, maintenance, breakdown.

4.7 star customer service

Our EV experts help you choose the right car for you. Impartial advice. Every time.

Free home charger

If you have off-street parking we throw in a free home charger with standard installation.

Free electric miles

4,000 free miles of charge. At home or on the public network with Electroverse.

No surprise bills

£500 end of lease damage waiver for hassle-free car exchange.

Electroverse is unique to Octopus. It allows drivers to access up to 90% of the UK public charging network through one charge card or app, simplifying their use of the public charge network. Giving you access to over 725,000 chargers globally. These chargers can be linked to your Octopus Energy tariff or a debit/credit card.

Charging your electric car used to mean a plethora of different cards and apps, with usage spread across different emails, texts and bills. But not anymore.

With Electroverse there's one card, one app with thousands of chargers, all in one place. And all with zero added costs or on-going fees.

As of 31st March 2024, there are 59,560 EV charging points accross the UK which is a 47% increase from the year before.

Plus if you’re an Octopus Energy home electricity customer, your bills can automatically be linked for the ultimate simplicity.

Electroverse for business allows you to manage your companys cars EV charging, like a fuel card but electric. Through the handy fleet manager platform your business can save on public charging at over 725,000 charging points and have it all billed to one place.

Woo new recruits - incentivise better performance and improve retention.

We’ll help you at every step from set-up to launch - to payroll and invoicing.

Your business also saves on National Insurance - which many opt to put back into the scheme.

Cut your corporate carbon footprint with zero-emission miles.

Get on board with Ultra Low Emission and Clean Air Zones now.

Generous terms for leavers and life events help minimise risk.

We understand that transitioning to an electric vehicle is a significant decision. That's why we have a team of EV experts ready to support you and your team every step of the way, from the beginning of their journey until the day they say goodbye to their car. We know that employees want to connect with real people who can guide them through understanding their new EV. Everything from the ins and outs of charging to the basic fundamentals of the tax savings from salary sacrifice. That's exactly what our team is here to do, making the process informative and enjoyable for all.

We’re obsessed with customer experience, whether that’s for your business or your individual employees. Which is why every single client has a dedicated account manager.

Our TrustPilot score of 4.7/5 speaks for itself and is the highest of all major UK leasing companies. It’s worth checking out our Trustpilot to get a sense of the customer experience your employees will have.

We specialise in pure electric cars, so we only offer battery electric vehicles. No hybrids, no petrol or diesel cars. Clean, driving only. Your team can choose from all of the electric car make and models available in the UK.

Check out the electric cars on offer.

As it currently stands 70% of the cars we lease are pre-ordered so we can get your team on the road as quickly as possible. We order the most popular EVs so there’s plenty of choice. We are forecasting to maintain and grow the volume of pre-ordered cars.

These cars are pre-configured so they’re less customisable, but your team will be able to get into a new set of wheels a lot quicker. Lead times on pre-ordered cars can be as quick as a few weeks and your team will usually be able to get the best prices.

To find out which pre-ordered models are available just ask our EV Specialists.

There are global supply issues with new cars, so if you’re looking for something specific it’s worth checking out what options are available a few months before you’d like your car.

Our nearly new cars have been demo cars, company cars, or former leases in a previous life. We’ve refreshed them to high standards, so you can get behind the wheel of an awesome EV for a great price. All our nearly new EVs are under 18 months old and have less than 15,000 miles on them. They are also even better for the planet then a new EV as reusing is always better than buying brand new. Plus, you still get the same great package which includes everything you need to hit the road.

We do everything online as default, to make it super easy for your team to order their cars and for your business to approve them. If your team needs a hand, they can call our EV specialists at any point.

Your employees can visit the quote tool, choose their car, customise their agreement and have all paperwork sent to them straight away to sign and order their car all online. Fast and simple. Plus, we’re the first to be offering this smooth and transparent ordering process.

We will support your employees throughout their quoting, ordering, delivery and in-life journey including the collection of the vehicle at the end of the lease. Please see below the vehicle order to delivery journey and the in life customer journey.

The scheme launches and employees visit the Octopus portal to search for cars they like and get a sample code. Your company will have a unique invite code needed for access

Employee contacts Octopus to get formal quote documents. Then the employee signs the Driver Agreement & Driver’s Handbook. Octopus sends a driver Agreement to you to countersign digitally.

Octopus then sends you the Contract Schedule to sign digitally. You’ll need to check details in the Schedule and sign off that as a business you’re happy to include the employee and car on the scheme.

We’ll then place the order and share an estimated delivery date with the employee.

Vehicle is delivered in line with the manufacturer's lead time and we notify you when this happens

With our roots firmly embedded into the wider Octopus Energy Group, we are in a unique position as a company to provide a whole package solution, encompassing the following:

• Brand new Electric Vehicle lease (2, 3, and 4 year leases available)
• Fully comprehensive insurance (main driver & two named drivers inclusive of business cover and GAP)
• Servicing, maintenance and repair
• Tyre coverage (including punctures)
• Breakdown and Recovery
• Early return protection cover for employees
• £500 End of lease damage waiver
• Accident management

The finance agreement underpinning the salary sacrifice scheme is Business Contract Hire. In all instances when an employee chooses a car through the scheme a lease is created between Octopus EV and the employer. So you (the employer) are accountable for the lease.

If your team member returns the car before the end of the agreement, your business would need to pay early return charges. In the section below we go into more detail about this along with covering of other ancillary services included in the proposition.

Octopus also offers the flexibility to reallocate the car internally should another employee wish to continue the lease. We call this a novation and it is a great way to keep the EV in your company and avoid any potential fees before the 6 month mark. A car can be novated at any point after delivery.

We offer instant protection for impactful life events, and those that can impact affordability such as sickness or loss of license for medical reasons. Where the lease agreement has been active for 6 months, and in the following scenarios, an employee can return the car early with no early termination charge:

• Dismissal
• Resignation & Redundancy (including voluntary)

If an employee takes unpaid parental leave, they can opt to keep the car free of charge up to 12 months from the start of their leave instead of returning it. This is the same for long term sickness up to 3 months.

We also offer the flexibility to reallocate the car internally should another employee wish to continue the lease.

Per the Academy Trust Handbook, our EV salary sacrifice scheme requires ESFA approval, as the liability of the lease falls on the Trust. As seen in your Master Hire Agreement.

The ESFA considers approval for schemes that have minimal financial risk. To ensure the introduction of a salary sacrifice scheme is likely to be approved make sure you have:

• Adequate resources to implement the scheme and comply with HMRC requirements
• Consider testing the scheme with a small amount of employees for the first year
• Setting staff eligibility to ensure commitment to the scheme
• Staggering new joiners to the scheme to reduce the level of potential liabilities. For example, you could have 5 employees every 3 months sign up for the scheme.

Read more on the government website here.

You can use our guide to notify HMRC online about the employee’s benefit following delivery.

Once a year you’ll need to report online all cars on the scheme to HMRC using our guides to do this

You can use these reports to adjust payroll and for any HMRC reporting.

We’ll send the first invoice at the end of the month following the vehicle delivery and the 1st of the month thereafter. Payment by Direct Debit comes 7 days after issue.

We’ll send salary sacrifice reports on the 2nd of the month.

Any queries or issues with the car are dealt with between the employee and Octopus.

We’ll invoice you for additional charges and notify the driver of these. You’ll need to deduct the charges from the employee’s net pay.

As the financial instrument is business contract hire, late payment chargers will only apply to your business in the unlikely event that there is default on payment. Details of these chargers are available in the Master Hire Agreement.

We make it as easy as possible for you and your team to make the most of EV salary sacrifice scheme. It’s our job to make sure you’re armed with all the information you need, and your team is clued up and excited about EV salary sacrifice.

We’ll send your team an email giving them an intro to EV salary sacrifice, and answering some initial questions. We’ll work with you on the timings for this, to make sure you’re ready and raring to go when your team wants to know more about the scheme.

Our dedicated onboarding team will talk you through what we need from you to make this happen in your launch call, including how you can safely and securely share your team’s email addresses. There’s also the option for you to send a version of the launch email, which we can give you a template for.

We run weekly webinars open to anyone from any organisation that’s part of the scheme.

We cover everything your team needs to know about EV salary sacrifice, including how the tax savings work, what’s included in the package, and how to order an EV. One of our EV Experts also joins the webinar to answer any questions your team has about specific cars, charging, or anything EV related. Your team can join at any time, no matter whether you’ve just launched the scheme or they want a refresher.

We may be able to offer your team bespoke events, including ‘lunch and learn’ sessions at your offices and dedicated drive days, depending on your location and availability.

We’ll send you and your team periodic emails highlighting the best deals we have and which cars are available with speedier delivery. We’ll also keep you posted with key milestones including the positive impact you and your team have had on the environment.

After a team member has ordered their car, we’ll keep them updated with all the important details including their delivery timings, how to get their home charger or free public charging miles, and more.

You can invite new team members or batch upload your team’s email addresses to the scheme directly from your HR dashboard, we’ll send them an email explaining how it works.

Offering your team EV salary sacrifice is a great way to show them, and your customers, how sustainably-focused your business is.

When you join, we’ll share with you a set of assets you can share on your social media channels promoting that you’ve joined the EV salary sacrifice scheme. This is a great way to attract talent as well as show your team and customers that you care about sustainability. We can also support you with any PR activity, for example entering business awards in combination with Octopus EV.

We’re obsessed with customer service which is why we offer you the very best.

• Email response - 2 hour response time (business hours)
• Contact driver once signed - within 1 working day
• Sending out Vehicle Hire Schedule for employer to sign off order - within 1 working day
• Submit order once schedule is signed - within 2 working days
• Dealer partner conducting spec check - within 3 working days
• Confirming order to build - within 1 working day
• Contact between order confirmed and delivery date - every 2 weeks
• Complaint acknowledgement - within 1 working day

The HR Dashboard is a centralised platform where you can view all the important information of your cars on the scheme. This is an easy use tool where you can:

• Approve and track orders
• Access monthly salary sacrifice reports
• See all your invoices
• Invite new team members to the scheme
• Use a helpful resources page with links to payroll guides and the online quote tool.
• HR Dashboard

Here’s a high level process for implementing your EV salary sacrifice scheme. We’ll work with you to create a more detailed and personal plan, taking into consideration the integration of systems and benefits platforms.

We can launch schemes in as little as 2-4 weeks but sometimes it can take a little longer if the plan is more complex. Our digital-first approach means we can go as fast as you can.

• Credit application
• Complete & sign Octopus MHA & DD mandate
• Approval of scheme docs
• Octopus system set up - up to 10 working days from submission of MHA
• Key contact introductions - payroll/approvals/invoicing/escalations
• Launch webinar

UK Customer Experience Awards

Best B2B Customer Experience 2023

Global Business Tech Awards

Transport Tech Company of the Year 2023 & 2024

Electric Vehicle Innovation and Excellence Awards

EV Scale-Up of the year 2023

Global Good Awards

Environmental Behaviour Change 2022

Business Car Awards

Editors Choice 2021

Driving Electric Awards

Best EV Innovation 2020