Divide for EV adoption has widened, finds BVRLA

According to the latest Leasing Outlook report from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), there is a growing divide between company-provided cars and private motorists when it comes to EV demand.
 
Across all fuel types, business contract hire (BCH) is up 7.5 per cent year on year, while personal contract hire has dropped by 11.3 per cent.

Largely sitting between the traditional company-provided car and a private registration, salary sacrifice is up 63 per cent year on year, with the overwhelming majority of those registrations involving electric cars.

While BCH and salary sacrifice have resulted in BVRLA’s leasing fleet grow for the fifth consecutive quarter, private demand for EVs in the used market needs to keep pace to avoid residual values spiralling.
 
Toby Poston, BVRLA director of Corporate Affairs, said: “The current trajectory of the transition to EVs is increasingly one of the haves and the have-nots. Phase-out targets and sales mandates are beginning to force the industry’s hand but will not succeed in isolation."

He added: "Where incentives have been present, registrations have followed. The sectors currently benefitting from such support cannot bear the weight of the full transition alone. As the divergence between corporate and new and used private demand grows, the financial risk associated with bearing that risk becomes unsustainable.”
 
One way in which the leasing sector is adapting to a volatile market for second-hand electric vehicles is through used car leasing. Demand is up 7.7 per cent in the last quarter alone as more drivers are drawn to accessing a used EV via lease, where they are not personally taking the risk on the residual value.