‘Doubts about electric car among lease drivers due to higher addition’

For a long time, leasing an electric car was tax-efficient because of the lower addition compared to cars with a fuel engine. However, the government is increasingly reducing that benefit and although the difference will remain the same next year as this year, the value over which you pay less addition will drop by €5,000. This makes it less attractive, because for the part of the catalog value above €30,000 you also pay full pound for an electric car.

Last year, research by ALD Automotive already showed that lease drivers have more doubts about leasing an electric car and that doubt is growing. Of the more than 1,500 lease drivers surveyed, 15 percent still see the addition as an incentive to drive electrically, compared to 18 percent last year. Meanwhile, 21 percent of those surveyed say they do not want to lease an electric car because of the excessive lease costs and 20 percent because of the increased addition.

However, there are still motivations for others to lease an electric car. 30 percent say they see environmental considerations as a reason to go for it. 20 percent see it as the mobility of the future, although, remarkably enough, 57 percent of lease drivers say that the goal of only selling new electric cars in 2030 is currently unrealistic. 14 percent find the operating costs a motivation to go for an electric car. According to 63 percent of lease drivers, the government is not doing enough to encourage electric driving. 66 percent think so among private lease drivers, 52 percent among business drivers.

According to Jeroen Kruisweg, director of ALD Automotive, it is the government’s turn to keep lease car drivers enthusiastic about electric cars: “Lease car drivers are enthusiastic about electric cars and are well aware of why they are making or would like to make the switch and what the benefits are. The study also shows that lease drivers who already drive electric see few obstacles to not continue driving electric. It is the task of the government to keep control of the stimulus, it would be a shame if its growth stagnates due to the taxation surrounding EV.” According to Kruisweg, electric driving is becoming accessible to an ever smaller group of people: “If you add everything together – the high purchase prices of electric cars, resulting in higher lease costs and then also a higher addition – then it hits the wallet too much. In this way, electric driving becomes accessible to an ever smaller group and that is precisely what we do not want.”