Why leasing is the intelligent way to drive an electric car

Are you ready for the change to driving an electric car?

Why? Because it looks as if drivers are beginning to make the shift to this cleaner form of transport.

If you look at the figures in Britain, more than 620,000 hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles are now on UK roads. That’s a 30% growth, says the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

It’s not just the UK, either. In Europe drivers are getting the taste for zero emission driving: fully electric car sales grew by more than 80% in the first three months of this year.

And demand is growing. More than 10,000 reservations were made across Europe for Volkswagen’s all-electric ID.3 model just 24 hours after it was revealed, while Tesla’s hotly-anticipated Model 3 saloon was the best-selling electric car in several European markets in early 2019.

There are many electric cars (EVs) on sale or due to go on sale over the next year or so, such as the Audi e-tron, Mercedes-Benz EQC SUV, Kia Soul EV, Honda e, MINI Cooper SE and Peugeot e-208 – so there’s a growing choice from which you can pick.

And that’s before the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), petrol-electric hybrids and mild petrol- and diesel-electric hybrids hit the road to provide drivers with an even broader range of driving possibilities.

But what about commuting?

Can an EV cope with trips to the office every day? The short answer is: yes!

Let’s look at the Nissan Leaf – which was Europe’s top-selling electric vehicle in 2018. Official figures say the standard model has a range of up to 168 miles.

Compare that to the average UK commute, which the 2011 census said was 9.3 miles (15km) – so if you have a 20-mile round trip, and you work Monday to Friday, a single charge gets you through the week.

With the rate of battery technology development, you can be sure that range will increase substantially over the next few years. Models such as the upgraded Nissan Leaf E+ can travel up to 239 miles on a single charge giving you two weeks of charge-free commuting.

But that’s not to say EVs are out of range for high-mileage drivers. Say your daily client travel is 120 miles a day, which you do five days a week, for 46 weeks a year: that’s 600 miles a week, or just short of 28,000 miles a year. That’s well within the capabilities of most EV models.

And you can recharge while you’re out and about, as more charging points pop up at service stations, shopping centres and offices.

Should I lease an EV?

Leasing an EV is an intelligent way to keep up to date with the latest technology in this market.

We do this with our phones – how many of us get the latest iPhone when it’s released? Or upgrade to a device with a better camera, more memory or larger screen?

It’s the same with car leasing: you rent a vehicle, but can swap it for the latest one as soon as your contract finishes.

All you pay for is the difference between the new and resale values of the car, plus interest on finance. Compare that to paying the full cost of a new car: compelling, isn’t it?

Once you’ve picked an agreement length, annual mileage and initial rental payment for your EV, you’re ready to drive your new electric car. And you can easily upgrade to a newer, more up-to-date model in as little as two years.

So make sure you can stay at the forefront of EV ownership and make the intelligent choice to lease.