Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of benefit-in-kind rates for electric vehicles on the annual uptake of electric vehicles.

HMRC publishes annual statistics which provide information about the company cars provided as benefits in kind to employees by employers, including the proportion of the company car stock which is electric. The most recent statistics were published in June 2024 for the tax year 2022-23, which showed that 220,000 company cars were fully electric, or 29% of the total company car stock, an increase from 50,000 in 2020-21.

The Government is committed to supporting the transition to electric vehicles, and generous company car tax rates for electric cars have been a key incentive for increasing their number on the road. Electric company cars also play a significant role in supporting the used EV markets. At the end of their lease company cars are sold into the used markets, which is where the majority of car sales take place in the UK. There were 314,000 zero emission cars registered for the first time in 2023, an increase of 18 per cent from 2022.