EV salary sacrifice vs charging salary sacrifice: what's the difference?

EV salary sacrifice and charging salary sacrifice sound similar, and both use the same tax mechanism, but they cover two entirely different costs. Confusing the two is one of the most common mistakes employers make when reviewing their EV benefits, so it is worth setting out the difference clearly.

EV salary sacrifice: the car

EV salary sacrifice, sometimes called an EV car scheme, is an arrangement where an employee gives up part of their gross salary in exchange for the lease of an electric car. The sacrificed amount typically covers the lease payment, insurance, maintenance and often a breakdown package, all bundled into one monthly cost.

Because the car is a genuine zero or low emission vehicle, the Benefit in Kind rate is very low compared with a traditional company car, which is why this has become one of the most popular employee benefits of the last few years. It deals with the biggest cost of running an EV: the vehicle itself.

Charging salary sacrifice: the electricity

Charging salary sacrifice, which is what The Charge Scheme provides, is a separate arrangement covering the cost of electricity used to charge that car. It says nothing about the lease, the insurance or the maintenance. It simply takes the cost of charging, at home, at work and in public, and lets the employee pay for it out of gross pay instead of taxed take-home pay.

This matters because EV salary sacrifice schemes almost never include charging costs. The employee typically still pays for electricity personally, from taxed income, unless they separately claim business mileage.

Side by side

	EV salary sacrifice	Charging salary sacrifice
What it covers	Car lease, insurance, maintenance	Electricity used to charge the car
Typical saving	Benefit in Kind tax reduction on the car	20 to 50% saving on charging costs
Who provides it	Leasing or EV scheme providers	The Charge Scheme
Can it stand alone	Yes, but leaves charging unaddressed	Yes, bolts on to any car scheme already in place

Why most employers need both

An EV salary sacrifice scheme without a charging scheme delivers a genuinely strong tax saving on the car, but leaves the ongoing running cost, electricity, entirely outside the benefit. For an employee who does most of their charging in public because they lack off-street parking, roughly nine million UK households are in that position, the cost of electricity can rival or exceed a petrol car's fuel bill, undoing much of the saving the car scheme was meant to deliver.

Adding a charging scheme on top closes that gap without touching the car arrangement at all. The Charge Scheme is designed specifically to bolt on to any existing EV salary sacrifice or company car scheme, whichever leasing provider is used, so there is no need to renegotiate or replace anything already in place.

What this means for different teams

For HR teams, it means the EV benefit that employees actually feel the value of includes both the car and the cost of running it, not just the car. For finance and payroll teams, it means one additional, predictable payroll deduction line alongside the existing car sacrifice. For fleet and procurement teams, it means electrification targets are backed by a benefit that removes one of the most common employee complaints: unpredictable and expensive public charging costs.

Which comes first

There is no fixed order. Many employers introduce charging salary sacrifice for employees who already have an EV, whether through a company car scheme, an EV salary sacrifice scheme, or a personal purchase, and add it as a standalone benefit. Others introduce both at the same time as part of a wider electrification push. Either way, the two schemes are complementary rather than competing, and neither depends on the other being in place first.

Next steps

If you already offer EV salary sacrifice and want to see what adding charging would save your employees, try the savings calculator or book a call to talk through how the two fit together.