Increased demand for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles

Sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles significantly increased by 140% during 2020, with more than 175,000 vehicles registered. These figures confirm that one in ten cars registered in the UK were electric, with one EV registered every three minutes. 

The electric car market is growing quickly, with more than 245,000 pure-electric cars on UK roads at the end of April 2021, and over 515,000 plug-in models if including plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

As manufacturers embrace electric propulsion as the future of motoring, the development of battery capacity has gathered pace. Not only can the latest lithium-ion battery packs hold more energy without taking up more space, but they’re also faster to charge. As public charging points are becoming more common – and even starting to appear at petrol stations – how long a quick top-up takes is seen as a crucial selling point.

Benefits of driving an electric vehicle

Also important, is the government's decision to incentivise electric cars, and for the 2021/22 tax year, the Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) liability for company-car drivers is only one percent, rising to only two percent in the 2022/23 tax year. This will make the Nissan LEAF and other electric vehicles significantly cheaper to run than petrol and diesel equivalents, boosting their popularity among business drivers.

Furthermore, the government has introduced five new CCT bands for plug-in hybrid cars which emit 1-50g of CO2/km which will further benefit those electric vehicles that can drive furthest with zero tailpipe emissions. There has never been a better time to switch your fleet or business vehicles to electric.

Other benefits include free annual road tax, exemption from the London Congestion Charge, and free parking and charging in some locations around the UK.

With the recent introduction of Clean Air Zones (CAZ) by cities such as Bath and Birmingham (with many more cities to follow), electric vehicle drivers across the UK would benefit as they would be exempt from paying charges to enter zones where charges are imposed. For example, drivers of older, more polluting cars will have to pay £8 a day to drive through the centre of Birmingham from 14 June 2021. 

The scheme will be enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, and anyone driving into the zone and not paying the fee will face a £120 fine. Drivers of larger vans, lorries, coaches and buses must pay £50 a day.

Less Maintenance

Fully electric cars are designed to be as efficient as possible and there is normally 3 main components powering the vehicle; the on-board charger, inverter and motor. This means there is far less wear and tear on the vehicle and not as much stress on the motor, with fewer moving parts susceptible to damage. 

All this will contribute towards you rarely having to get your EV serviced and the running and repair costs are minimal.

David Bowman, a landowner in Hampshire, believes that one of the main benefits of leasing an electric vehicle is the low cost of maintenance. 

“My BMW iX3 is extremely easy to maintain, and parts such as brake pads last much longer on electric vehicles, because they tend to use regenerative braking." 

Mr Bowman also pointed out that with leasing an electric car, he benefited from taking out an optional maintenance package that helped cover the costs of services and parts.

Why it’s better to lease an electric or hybrid vehicle

For a modest deposit and an affordable and fixed monthly cost, you can drive a new or nearly-new electric car with cutting edge technology without having to purchase one outright. And when you consider that if you purchase an EV outright, the owner has to also rent the car batteries, so leasing the complete vehicle is a logical step.

Other benefits to leasing an electric or hybrid vehicle include:

• Lower fuel bills, particular with 100% pure-electric vehicles
• Reduced maintenance and servicing costs
• No risk of depreciation
• Drive a car with the latest safety and in-car technology
• Tax incentives, with Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) in 2021/22 tax year only 1%
• Affordable and fixed monthly payments

Whether you’re interested in a pure electric vehicle, a plug-in hybrid lease (PHEV) or a self-charging hybrid car, Fleet UK can help you find the right vehicle that meets your needs and requirements.

We have listed a few of the best electric and hybrid car deals we currently have this month. However, we can supply all leading makes and models including BMW, Nissan, Kia, Jaguar, Tesla, Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Polestar. 

Speak to one of our dedicated Account Managers on 02392 245572 who can help find the best personal or business leasing deals for you.

View all electric deals

BEST ELECTRIC CAR LEASE DEALS THIS MONTH

NISSAN LEAF

Did you know that the name of one of the world’s best selling electric cars is an acronym? This car is Nissan’s “Leading Environmentally-friendly Affordable Family vehicle”. It’s fair to say that if the full name was squeezed into an acronym, “LEFAFV”, it just wouldn’t have the same ring to it, so it’s known as “LEAF”. The Japanese car manufacturer is keen to convey that the car is more practical, convenient, good-value than most of its EV rivals and at one point they could claim it was the leading electric vehicle having sold over a quarter of a million of the model.

The second-generation Nissan Leaf has roughly double the driving range of the car the mode that launched in 2011, despite being faster. Within the Leaf’s bodywork is either a 40kWh or 62kWh battery pack, depending on which variant you go for. The smaller battery provides a range of up to 168 miles, while the larger one claims 239 miles, which goes almost as far as the ‘Standard Plus’ Tesla Model 3 which has a 50k battery pack.

Charging both the 40kWh and 62kWh models using rapid chargers will replenish 80% of battery capacity in less than an hour, making it possible to take long trips, so long as you don't mind taking a few breaks.

Nissan estimates that the Leaf’s running costs for the majority of drivers will be around 85% less than those of a petrol or diesel model, while maintenance is expected to be around 75% cheaper.

There are three trim levels to choose from when buying a standard Leaf: Acenta, N-Connecta, and Tekna. Each of these trims come with halogen headlights with LED daytime running lights and LED taillights, automatic air conditioning, cruise control, electric windows, a seven-inch TFT screen, NissanConnect nav with an eight-inch touchscreen, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility.

If you step up to the N-Connecta trim you get 17-inch alloy wheels, privacy glass, electric folding mirrors, part leather seats and parking sensors. A Heat Pack is also fitted, adding a heated steering wheel and heated seats. The top-end Tekna trim provides full LED headlights, leather and suede seats and a seven-speaker Bose audio system.

One of the Leaf’s key technological features is the e-Pedal that allows an experienced motorist to carry out up to 90% of their driving with just one pedal. The e-Pedal increases the electric motor’s energy recuperation to slow the car more aggressively. According to Nissan, the e-Pedal is so effective that you can drive the car rarely using the brake pedal.

There’s a lot of safety equipment as well with six airbags, intelligent emergency braking, lane departure warning, cross-traffic alert and a blind-spot warning. The top-of-the-range Teckna trim also boasts of having autonomous technology called ProPilot that works like a very advanced version of adaptive cruise control, not only matching your speed with traffic ahead, but also helping to keep you in the middle of the lane.

It can also slow the car to a stop and continue driving if you press the ProPilot button or touch the accelerator. This same technology can also park the car by itself. It’s a good bit of technology that you don’t always see for a vehicle in this price range and it can be fitted as an option for the lower trim models. When Euro NCAP tested the Leaf they awarded the full five-star safety rating.

Most Nissan models come with a standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty and the Leaf provides the same coverage. However, Nissan also supplies a dedicated EV warranty to cover electrical items such as the motor and battery for five years or 60,000 miles and on top of that, the battery is guaranteed to retain 75% of its charging capacity for eight years or 100,000 miles.

KIA SOUL

The Soul’s styling makes it stand out from the crowd and it’s certainly one of the more distinctive electric cars on the road. Now in its second generation, the Soul was Europe’s best-selling electric car in 2018.

The Kia Soul uses the same powertrain as the Kia e-Niro – one of our favourite electric cars. You get a powerful, 201bhp electric motor combined with a battery that’s 64kWh in capacity. What this excellent power supply and motor gives you is tremendous performance, as the Soul can accelerate from standstill to 60mph in just 7.6 seconds and travels up to a claimed 280 miles on a single charge.

These are very notable figures for an affordable electric car that can be leased from only £262 per month on a personal contract hire deal, or from £219 on a business contract hire deal (exc. VAT).

Plugging into a 100kW DC charger will see the Soul EV’s battery replenished from 0-80 per cent full in 54 minutes via the CCS port located under the car’s nose. Using a Type 2 cable, a 7.2kW home wallbox charger (which Kia can install for you for less than £300, thanks to its partnership with Pod Point) will complete a full top-up in nine hours and 35 minutes. On a typical electricity tariff, that should cost you less than £10.

The dashboard is dominated by the 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen that is wide enough to display two sets of information and its graphics are sharp and clear. Not only does the infotainment system come with live 3D sat-nav maps with the ability to also connect online for the latest traffic or parking updates, but you can also connect your smartphone using either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

The infotainment system also syncs with Kia’s new app that allows owners to check their Soul's battery charge on their smartphone, pre-charge it and manage its heating system remotely. You can listen to the standard DAB radio or your music with the 10-speaker Harman Kardon sound system that provides excellent audio.

Kia opted for a single, but a very highly-equipped trim level in the UK that includes an abundance of features to give you lots of bang for your buck. You might want to take a deep breath because the Soul gets LED lights, rear privacy glass, electric and heated wing mirrors, rain-sensing wipers, leather upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, adaptive smart cruise control, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, a reversing camera, rear parking sensors and wireless phone charging.

There’s also plenty of safety tech, including a head-up display, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, blindspot monitoring, forward collision-avoidance, rear-cross traffic alert, high beam assist, ISOFIX points in the back for families with little ones, and high beam assist.

Like all other Kia models, the Soul electric car is covered by a 7 year / 100,000-mile warranty.

VW ID.3

Although the VW ID.3 sounds like it could be a character from the Star Wars franchise, it’s actually an important car for Volkswagen – it was their first electric car with a bespoke electric platform. It’s part of the ID sub-brand that underlines its environmental credentials with a carbon-neutral production process at a factory that relies entirely on renewable sources of energy.

In total there are eight trim levels that are available for the ID.3, named City, Style, Life, Business, Family, Tech, Max and Tour.

The Pure Performance powertrain is available in City and Style trims and uses a 148bhp motor and 45kWh battery. The ID.3 City is capable of 217 miles after a full charge that takes just over seven hours from a typical 7.2kW home charging unit, while a 5% to 80% top -up takes around 30 minutes via a 100kW CCS device.

The Style has a maximum driving range of 215 miles and the variants that sit above Life, Business and Family models, all use the larger 58kWh battery and the 143bhp 'Pro' electric motor as standard, for an official driving range of between 258 and 263 miles.

The base model, the City trim comes with a decent amount of standard kit: a 10.0in infotainment screen has voice control and wireless app connectivity, rain-sensing wipers, LED headlights and tail-lights, electric door mirrors, heated front seats and steering wheel, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror and two USB-C ports in the rear. Even 10-colour ambient lighting is available.

If you opt for the only other Pure Performance trim, Style, it adds design-focused elements to the basic package that includes: 18in alloy wheels, LED matrix headlights, tinted windows and 30-colour ambient lighting. A variable boot floor, keyless entry and two-zone climate control are also included with this trim.

The Business model adds the Design Pack, which includes ambient lighting, LED rear lights, tinted windows and a light band between the headlights and the VW logo. It also has the Assistance Pack, adding illuminated door handles, keyless entry and a rear-view camera for easy parking.

The Family model provides all of the above as well as the Comfort Pack Plus, which also features climate control, a variable boot floor and an auto-dimming main mirror. It also has the Design Pack Plus which adds a panoramic sunroof.

The ID.3 is a fantastic showcase of Volkswagen’s latest safety technology. The substantial safety kit included with the ID.3 includes features such as lane-keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking, forward collision-warning and pedestrian protection, plus front and rear parking sensors. The active cruise control will also adjust the speed on the motorway to match the vehicle in front of you. In 2020, the ID.3 scored the maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating and was awarded 87% and 89% for adult and child occupant protection respectively.

The VW ID.3’s electric powertrain has the potential to be far more reliable than a traditional combustion-engine vehicle, after all, there are fewer moving parts to go wrong, but just in case you get VW’s three-year warranty supplied.

Kia e-Niro

The Kia e-Niro is a superlative family electric vehicle that is better to drive than most petrol cars while also being cheaper to run. The Niro won the 2019 Auto Express Driving Electric Car of the Year award and is considered by many to be one of the best electric cars on the road at present.

It’s a more affordable all-electric SUV compared to the likes of the Audi e-Tron or Mercedes-Benz EQC, yet it offers more range with up to 282 miles from a single charge. With 50kW fast-charging capability, the e-Niro can be topped up to 80 percent in only 75 minutes.

The e-Niro is offered in three different trim levels: 2, 3 and 4+. All trims are provided with an impressive and generous range of features including 17-inch wheels, roof rails, a rear spoiler, privacy glass and foglights, plus automatic wipers and headlights. Keyless entry and start are also included standard, as are adaptive cruise control and a rear-view camera.

If you upgrade to the 3 trim, it adds leather upholstery, wireless phone charging, heated front seats and the larger 10.25-inch infotainment screen. There's also a heated steering wheel, eight-way power adjustment on the driver's seat and aluminium scuff plates. The premium 4+ trim adds a sunroof, LED headlights, a JBL sound system, heated rear seats and ambient interior lighting.

The infotainment system includes European mapping, two USB inputs, DAB radio, wireless phone charging and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. Another neat future is the remote connection to the vehicle via Kia’s UVO app, which allows you to monitor the charge state, lock or unlock the doors, and even send your destinations and planned trips to the sat-nav ahead of time.

It should come as no surprise that the e-Niro was awarded Euro NCAP’s full five-star safety rating, after all, it’s fitted with seven airbags including a driver’s knee airbag, two ISOFIX points and plenty of other active safety kit such as: autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control (which maintains your distance from the car in front), forward collision avoidance, hill-start assistance and a system to warn if the car senses the driver is getting tired.

BEST HYBRID CAR LEASE DEALS THIS MONTH

VW GOLF GTE

The second-generation Golf GTE is positioned as an eco-friendly alternative to the Golf GTI. It has two basic modes. E-mode, in which the powertrain operates exclusively on the electric motor, and Hybrid, where it chooses the best power source – petrol, electric or a combination of both. The economy also benefits from a range of fuel-saving and energy-creating measures, including trailing-throttle engine shutdown and brake-energy recuperation.

The Golf GTE shares its underpinnings with the Cupra Leon eHybrid and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that both vehicles share the same power – 242bhp from the 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine and electric motor combined. The Golf GTE also matches the Cupra Leon eHybrid’s 0 to 62mph performance with a time of 6.7 seconds, which is faster than the Audi A3 TFSIe or Skoda’s Octavia iV. The GTE’s electric-only WLTP combined range is 40 miles, which is pretty much the same as Audi’s A3 TFSIe model or the Mercedes A250e.

Looking at the outside of the car you will notice how VW has aligned the GTE with its GTI-badged sibling. The GTE has the same sporty bodykit with a large lower grille and flared side skirts, although the rear bumper and exhaust setup is different, and its plug-in hybrid credentials are detailed with a change of colour in the traditional GTI pinstripe and badging from red to blue.

That blue theme is continued inside the Golf GTE, where you get blue tartan seats, blue details but what’s the same as the GTI is the understated look and classy feel of the cabin. You get an 8-inch infotainment system and a 10-inch digital driver’s display are both standard but you can pay extra to get a pair of 10-inch screens instead.

The GTE is fitted with plenty of standard equipment, with highlights including its own design of 17-inch alloys, automatic LED headlights, tri-zone climate control, keyless entry start with stop-go functionality, heated and foldable door mirrors and a huge variety of active safety and driver assistance systems. Ambient interior lighting also features, as does an illuminated grille. Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity are fitted as standard.

Volkswagen has taken huge steps forward with improvements in the safety department and that is shown with the full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. Like all Golfs across the range, the GTE is fitted with adaptive cruise control, driver fatigue detection and has handy road-sign recognition as standard.

In addition, the GTE comes with a host of other safety features such as 'Side Assist' blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, 'Emergency Assist' (which can automatically bring the car to a standstill if the driver is debilitated), plus 'Travel Assist' lane-keeping assistance. Other additional safety features include an auto-dimming driver's door mirror and automatic LED headlights.

HYUNDAI IONIQ HYBRID

The Ioniq is Hyundai's purpose-built hybrid hatchback and was the first model to be offered with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric engine options.

The Ioniq is mainly about efficiency, and Hyundai makes some bold claims regarding the model's potential economy and efficiency figures. The Korean car manufacturer states that all versions of the standard hybrid are capable of nudging over 60mpg, with emissions between 102g/km and 105g/km of CO2, depending on the chosen equipment level.

Hyundai claims you can get a pure-EV range of around 39 miles for the plug-in hybrid variant and they offer an official fuel economy figure of around 256mpg. With regular charging, this could be a very efficient commuter car for city and town driving - with it taking approximately two and a quarter hours for a full top-up using a home wallbox.

The Ioniq Hybrid is available in three trim levels: SE, Premium and Premium SE. The entry-level SE model comes equipped with 15-inch alloy wheels, DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity, cruise control, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera, along with a 10.25-inch touchscreen. 

If you step up to Premium trim level you get keyless entry and go, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, bi-xenon headlights and LED rear lights. There’s also satellite navigation, an upgraded stereo and wireless phone charging, and you can connect your smartphone using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.

The top-of-the-range Premium SE model is fitted with 17-inch alloys plus automatic wipers and headlights, and heated and ventilated leather front seats are also provided. You also get power adjustment with a memory setting for the driver’s seat.

The Ioniq comes with a built-in SIM card that allows the vehicle to stay online. This brings the driver many advantages, from receiving live traffic updates to the ability to connect to your car remotely via the BlueLink smartphone app and changing settings like the air-con.

All Ioniqs sold in the UK include the following safety features: automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, seven airbags, blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning and rear cross-traffic alert that makes reversing a lot safer. 

In 2016, the Ioniq received the maximum Euro NCAP score of five stars. Adult and child protection scored 91% and 80%, respectively, making it a very safe car.

Another huge benefit of the Ioniq is its five-year, unlimited mileage warranty as well as its 12-year anti-perforation warranty for the bodywork.

Credit is Subject to Status, Ts and Cs and Arrangement Fees apply. Excess mileage may apply. Price correct as of 15/06/2021.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, please call one of our account managers on 02392 245572.