Shaking up the daily commute with Huel

70 EVs delivered

131,000 trees saved

261 tonnes of CO2 saved

Employee engagement boosted

About Huel

Huel was set up to improve the health of people and the planet through complete and convenient nutrition. But its mission doesn’t stop at food. Its leadership team wanted to find more ways to improve its employees’ lives – and that meant tackling transport emissions too.

🥤 Industry: Food and nutrition

📍 Headquarters: Tring, Hertfordshire

👨‍💼 Employees: 250+ at headquarters

Finding smarter, greener ways for Hueligans to travel.

“We were thinking about how we could live our mission, we are all about improving the health of people and the planet,” says James McMaster, Huel’s CEO. “And culturally that permeates everything we do.”

“How do we find ways for our whole team to benefit from electric vehicles?”

With a fast-growing team - scaling from startup to over 250 people at head office in no time - they were searching for a benefit that was as impactful as it was easy to implement. Something that would make a real difference to the environment and to their team’s everyday wellbeing.

Around five years ago, that thinking led them to Octopus Electric Vehicles.

An easy, affordable lifestyle upgrade.

Our shared belief in sustainability and convenience made Octopus EV’s salary sacrifice scheme a natural fit. Just like Huel, we’re all about upgrading the way we live – making life easier and better for the planet. Huel gives people the nutrition they need to lead healthy, happy lives, and we help them make smarter, greener choices on the road.

How does it work? Huel employees sacrifice a slice of their gross salary in exchange for an electric vehicle. Because the payment comes out before tax, they save on income tax and National Insurance – often thousands of pounds a year.

And it’s not just the car: the package includes insurance, servicing, breakdown cover, road tax, tyres, and a free home charger or 4,000 free miles on the Octopus Electroverse's public charging network. It’s all rolled into one simple monthly payment, so drivers don’t have to think about a thing.

“It’s a really, really good deal,” confirms Stacy Schapira, Chief People Officer at Huel.

“The salary sacrifice scheme has been a game changer for me,” says Alice Goode, Talent Acquisition Manager at Huel. “I got everything included in my package, from a free charger fitted at home to a windscreen replacement – so I didn’t have to worry about anything,” she explains.

Huel’s people loved how easy it was to get started. “The team engages with the platform in a really straightforward way,” says Stacey “There was a team on hand to answer any questions, it was really slick, really straightforward.”

And the cost savings? "The financial gain is amazing.” says James “I remember having a cycle to work scheme bike ages ago, where you look at the tax benefits and it comes to tens of pounds or maybe hundreds of pounds. But when you’re talking about cars, we're talking about thousands of pounds."

Dan Jones, Senior Product Supply Manager, ran the numbers comparing a petrol car against an EV “Net net, including depreciation of even buying a secondhand car, with all of the fuel and electric cost difference, I think I was about 200 quid up a month,” he says, which was the final push for him to make the switch to electric.

Seb Clark, Head of Creative, couldn’t believe how the scheme's costs stacked up against alternative commuting. “It was cheaper to get a car through the scheme than it was to get a monthly train ticket,” he says.

And with nearly new EVs now available on the scheme, there are even more ways to save. These are top-quality electric cars that had previous lives as demo cars, company cars, or leases but we've spruced them up to high standards so you'll still get a top-notch EV at a great price. “Now you can get an EV at an even lower price point,” says James “It’s a game-changer and it's widened the accessibility of the scheme.”

Cheaper, greener commutes for everyone.

Five years into the scheme, and it’s been a huge success. 70 of Huel’s 250 employees, are now driving electric vehicles. So far, they’ve saved 261 tonnes of CO2 through the scheme — the equivalent of planting 131,000 trees or cancelling almost 5,000 flights from London to Paris per passenger.

Combined with Octopus Energy’s EV tariff, the UK’s most popular tariff for electric cars, home charging is made even more convenient. “I switched to Intelligent Octopus Go, which really makes it easy for combining your home energy usage and EV charging” says Seb.

Even on the go, getting charged up is effortless. “Public charging has been really easy,” says Alice. “I have the Electroverse app and card. The app can tell me exactly where to go and even plan out my journey for me. Fast chargers power up my car within 30 minutes.”

The scheme has had a positive cultural impact, too. “We do surveys every six months or so, and every time you see consistently that people are proud to have electric vehicles,” says James. “They're proud to work for a plant-based brand. They're proud that we're constantly moving things forward with different ideas.”

And would they recommend it to other businesses? “I'd say just go for it,” says Stacy. “The value it adds is massive. Our teams have absolutely loved it.”

Huel’s always been a brand that does things differently, and the success of this scheme shows it pays to be innovative. “We were quite early with getting involved with electric vehicles through a company scheme, and I’m really happy we took the plunge,” says James.

The best bit? Huel is inspiring others to do the same. “I feel even happier now that more and more brands are starting to see that the scheme exists,” says James. “I keep recommending it, because the more electric cars on the road, the better.”