Why 2026 is the year to implement an EV charging benefit

Every year there is a reason to wait. But a few things are converging in 2026 that make it the year benefits, HR and finance teams should stop treating EV charging as an edge case and start treating it as a standard part of the benefits package.

EV salary sacrifice has already gone mainstream

Electric car salary sacrifice schemes are no longer a niche perk. Most large and mid-size employers either run one already or are actively evaluating one, driven by the tax efficiency for both employee and employer and by the ZEV mandate pushing manufacturers to make EVs more competitively priced. If your organisation has an EV scheme in place, or is about to launch one, charging is the obvious next question employees will ask.

The gap between lease savings and running cost savings is obvious to employees

Employees who join an EV salary sacrifice scheme already understand the tax saving mechanism, because it is exactly how they got their car. When they then have to pay full price for charging out of taxed income, the inconsistency is hard to miss. It is an easy question for an employee to raise with HR, and an easy one to be caught without an answer for.

Public charging costs are not falling in line with expectations

The public charging network has grown past 76,000 chargepoints, which is good news for coverage, but the cost per kWh at rapid and ultra-rapid chargers has stayed well above home electricity rates. Employees without off-street parking, roughly nine million households across the UK, are the ones most exposed to this, and they are also often the employees least able to influence their own charging costs without help.

Payroll and HR teams already have the infrastructure

Salary sacrifice as a payroll mechanism is well understood by now. Pension contributions, cycle to work and EV leasing already run through it in most organisations, so a charging deduction is not introducing a new concept to payroll, just an additional line using a process that already exists. That makes 2026 a lower-friction year to add it than it would have been when salary sacrifice itself was still unfamiliar.

What waiting costs you

Delaying an EV charging benefit has a real cost, even if it is not immediately visible:

• Employees keep paying full price for charging, which undermines the savings message of your EV scheme
• HR fields ad hoc queries with no consistent answer
• You lose the chance to present a complete, joined-up EV benefit to new joiners
• Competitors who move first look more attractive to EV-driving candidates

What implementing it actually involves

Because The Charge Scheme bolts on to any existing EV salary sacrifice or company car scheme, implementation in 2026 does not mean starting from scratch:

1. Confirm eligibility with your existing EV scheme provider or fleet policy
2. Sign the agreement and set up the payroll deduction line
3. Roll out employee access to the app and charge card, covering home, work and public charging via the Plugsurfing network
4. Let onboarding and support run day to day without ongoing HR admin

Full detail on setup is on the how it works page, with specifics for HR teams and finance and payroll.

Next steps

If 2026 is when your organisation wants to close the gap between EV lease savings and charging costs, book a demo or try the savings calculator to see the numbers for your workforce.