The nuts and bolts of switching your staff to electric cars

East Lothian Housing Association (ELHA) is a non-profit managing 1,400 rental properties and low-cost homes across the county.

Finance and corporate services director Gary Alison was quoted £7000 by a consultant to calculate their carbon footprint. Gary attended the free Climate Springboard programme instead, aspiring to equip his team with the knowledge and tools to calculate it themselves and be self-sufficient.

After two workshops and half a day’s data gathering, Gary successfully calculated a compliant carbon footprint for ELHA. Using this information, they decided to focus on reducing emissions from a source they can control: cars.

“We can measure, without the need of consultant support, how much carbon we are reducing each year.” Gary Alison

ELHA have introduced an employee electric vehicle (EV) lease scheme, paid for through a salary sacrifice*.

They partnered with an East Lothian car company - Pike and Bambridge - so that employees felt “more connected” to the scheme, explains Gary. Positive conversations in the staff room and presentations at staff briefings encouraged more staff to take the plunge.

The benefits don’t just extend to employees. ELHA made savings by paying less national insurance tax, which they re-invested into incentivising the scheme: Essential car users driving EVs now have a mileage allowance three times higher than those driving diesel or petrol cars.

After 18 months, nearly a quarter of staff and 45% of essential car users – including Housing Officers, who visit tenants and properties across the county – now drive electric vehicles.

While their switch to electric feels like a tale of finances, it is also helping to shrink the housing association’s carbon footprint. The staff who switched from diesel and petrol cars to EVs have reduced their yearly CO2 emissions by 68%. **

Top tips from East Lothian Housing Association:

1. Put your energy into the things you can control. This is usually Scope 1 and 2 emissions, but could include Scope 3 such as business travel.
2. Listening and responding to feedback is key to making an EV scheme successful. We are planning to introduce early termination cover as some people have cited this as a barrier to signing up. 
3. Make it personal. Don't underestimate the power of face-to-face, informal conversations when it comes to getting people on board with lifestyle changes.

Learn more

• Salary sacrifice schemes: How can electric car drivers benefit?
• Pike and Bambridge EV salary sacrifice service

Sign up for Climate Springboard, a free business support programme by Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. It’s designed to equip SMEs in Scotland with the knowledge and tools to start out on their journey to net zero. 

It lasts just over a month and is completely free. At the end, attendees leave with a company carbon footprint, a template for a long-term net-zero strategy, and a tailored list of quick ways to lower emissions and costs.

* Salary sacrifice schemes allow employees to pay for an electric car from their salary before tax and national insurance is deducted. While your net take-home pay will be reduced while you pay off the lease, paying a lower rate of tax and national insurance makes the monthly cost of the vehicle much lower than buying directly from a supplier.  ** Calculated using 2022 UK government emissions factors and assuming the same business and commuting mileage previously performed in petrol vehicles