Help me pick my first electric company car
I’ve not had a company car for years, but now I’m tempted to get one and take the electric car plunge because of their extremely low bene t-in-kind (BIK) tax rate. I’d also be able to charge it up for free because my employer is installing charging points in our of ce car park.
My only expense would be getting a home charger, but I’m hoping the £350 low-emission vehicle grant will cover most of that.
However, I don’t know which model to go for. Our company car list includes the Audi Q4 e-tron 40 S line, Mercedes-benz EQA 250 AMG Line, Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor and Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.
There’s a Tesla dealership with super-fast chargers near my home, which is swaying me towards that brand, but I’ve not even driven an electric car yet, so I’d like your expert advice.
I’m in the higher tax band and average around 7000 miles a year, mostly doing shorter journeys but with occasional 100 to 150-mile motorway stints. We are a family of four, but our children are senior school age, so we don’t need a massive boot. I would like a reasonably practical car that has lots of technology.
The current high demand for second-hand cars means I’ve been offered a good deal on my petrol Audi A4 Avant, which is two years old. My A4 is the Black Edition, so I’m used to fairly hard suspension. I like the high-quality Audi interior too, so I’m drawn to the Q4 e-tron.
Ray Houghton
large electric car in the 2021 What Car? Awards because it offers the best combination of range, performance, price and technology. It also has the advantage of Tesla’s fast, well-maintained charging network.
The entry-level Standard Range Plus will do around 239 miles between charges, so it can cope with your commutes and occasional longer drives. It’s well priced at £40,990. The Polestar 2 is £1910 pricier and will cost slightly more in BIK tax. At £164 per month for a 40% taxpayer, the Model 3 is the most affordable large electric car. The Polestar 2 will cost £171.
The Tesla has a comfier ride than the Polestar around town and at motorway speeds. One of the other big draws of the Model 3 is how much tech it comes with as standard. It has Autopilot self-steering and an adaptive cruise control system that works really well on motorways, automatically keeping you a set distance from the car in front and in the centre of your lane.
The Model 3 and Polestar 2 both have room in the back for two six-footers, but neither has the large boot of the Audi Q4 e-tron, so if you want SUV practicality, that’s our preferred choice. The EQA has a small boot and a shorter range than the Q4 e-tron, which managed 266 miles in our real-world test.
Your budget stretches to a wide range of cars, but we’d recommend buying new rather than used. There are lots of manufacturer-backed finance incentives currently available on new models, including zero percent interest and deposit contributions on PCP (personal contract purchase) deals.
With your annual mileage of around 15,000 miles, you could opt for a diesel, but it will be pricier to buy and costlier to fill up with fuel, so it will take quite a few years to claw back your extra initial outlay.
We think you’d be better off considering a hybrid such as the Honda Jazz – our favourite small hatchback. It combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine with two electric motors to deliver stronger performance than most of its rivals, including our previous favourite, the Volkswagen Polo 1.0 TSI 95, along with impressive fuel economy. In fact, the Jazz is one of the most efficient small cars you can buy, achieving 56.0mpg in our real-world True MPG test. It’s also one of the most comfortable cars in its class, with a smooth ride at motorway speeds.
‘The Model 3 bene ts from Tesla’s fast and well-maintained car charging network’