Which home charging reimbursement solution gives the best return?

The purchase price is a one-off, but the real cost of a solution runs over several years. You need to add management, consumption tracking and the reimbursement method. A smart charger costs around £800 to £1,500 installed at home (more at a workplace), a smart cable with metering around £800 to £1,700, and software is paid as a yearly subscription with no hardware. The right benchmark is the total cost per year.

Both. For a company car, the employer can reimburse the actual cost of the electricity used to charge it at home, private use included, with no tax and no NIC (no car fuel benefit applies to electricity, s.239(2) ITEPA 2003). Or it can pay the HMRC Advisory Electricity Rate per business mile: 7p at home, 15p in public since 1 September 2026. The actual-cost route needs evidence that separates the car's charging from the rest of the household's consumption.

A smart charger installed at an employee's home generally costs around £800 to £1,500 by an OZEV-approved installer, and £1,500 to £3,000 or more per point at a workplace, depending on power and groundwork. A smart cable with metering costs around £800 to £1,700. These amounts are benchmarks, to be confirmed by a quote. Businesses can check the Workplace Charging Scheme on gov.uk.

The reimbursement is calculated on the kWh actually charged into the vehicle, valued at the employee's own tariff (Octopus Go, Economy 7, a standard tariff…). For a company car, all of it can be reimbursed tax- and NIC-free, private miles included, as long as you can show what was charged. The measurement can come from a charger, a smart cable or software. The alternative is the Advisory Electricity Rate, which needs business miles and where the car was charged.

In practice, the employer. For a company car, including one on salary sacrifice, the employer can reimburse 100 % of the electricity used to charge it at home, private use included, with no tax and no NIC. What has to be separated is the car's charging from the household's consumption, not business from private use. Salary sacrifice schemes do not include electricity: it is reimbursed separately.

No, it is not mandatory. A 3-pin plug, a dedicated socket or an existing charger may be enough: for reimbursement, what matters is measuring the kWh linked to the vehicle. If the employer installs a charger at the employee's home, check HMRC's guidance on its tax treatment before rolling out.

The electricity is not the issue: there is no car fuel benefit for electric company cars, so reimbursing home charging does not create one. The charger itself is a separate question: check HMRC's current guidance on company car expenses and benefits before rolling out, and keep the hardware separate from the reimbursement of the electricity. Company car tax on an electric car stays low: 4 % in 2026/27, then 5, 7 and 9 % up to 2029/30.