NICHE FEATURE: THE GREEN PIECE
Revenue stream from electric T
he benefits of choosing electric over petrol and diesel cars for your business are much publicised. But did you know you could earn money from it too? For the business owner, choosing electric vehicles saves money for your staff, your business and enhances your commitment to sustainability. Yet there are further revenue-creating perks to electric vehicles that you may not be entirely aware of. “We are seeing a growing number of businesses installing a couple of extra charging ports as there are financial perks to loaning these extra stations to other electric vehicle owners – and the earnings are quite significant for the initial investment,” Matt McGarry, who fits charging ports in the region, tells me. Matt is the director at Fuses Electrical. He shared some ideas on how to make money with extra charging points. If your business is in retail, for example, having a charging point that is accessible for customers on your premises can encourage them to stay longer and hopefully spend more. For hotels or commercial parking providers, you can offer something to stand out from your competition and perhaps attract repeat custom by offering the chance to charge while they sleep. Then there’s the sustainability factor. In an age where customers are increasingly demanding more sustainable stances from suppliers,
Fuses Electrical having charging points at your premises that are accessible to customers and staff alike creates a strong sustainability appearance for your brand too. You can generate additional income by setting fees for charging sessions at your ports. This may include a fixed session start or connection fee and a variable kilowatt hour (kWh) rate. One practice is to charge by the amount of energy being used (ie 10p per kWh). Then, you can also set your mark-up (ie 35p per kWh). So, if a car pulls up and needs to charge 25 kWh, that could earn you £11.25. “Businesses are starting to really
see the increased financial gain of installing an extra port or two for this purpose. When you look at it as a way of making your initial investment of having electric vehicles work even harder, the initial costs of going electric start paying back quite quickly.” Initially, a financial investment to switching to electric is needed of course, but there are grants available and as demand increases plus further tax savings to be found, as well as additional revenue to be earnt, the investment is becoming far more profitable and affordable for the business owner. Find out more at fuseselectrical.com.
Saving on the commute
Travelling around nine miles in a petrol Volkswagen Golf costs around £1.30, while the cost in a diesel Golf is £1.21. The same journey in Volkswagen’s all-electric ID.3 will set you back just 34p. Assuming you commute in both directions every working day, that’s 18.64 miles every day for 232 days (52 working weeks of five days, less the UK statutory entitlement of 28 holiday days each year). On that basis, commuting in the petrol Golf costs £723.84 a year, the diesel Golf £756.32, and the electric ID.3 £255.
Saving on the carbon footprint
Once on the road, fully electric vehicles emit zero CO2. Plug-in vehicles attract lower charges from clean air zones being implemented around the UK and London’s ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ). If the UK’s cars went entirely electric its total carbon emissions would be cut by almost 12%; that doesn’t sound like a huge drop initially, but in the government’s commitment to bring all greenhouse gases to net-zero by 2050, it is certainly a steady start. NICHE | 59
