EV salary sacrifice calculator — what an electric car actually costs
Zero-emission cars carry just a 3% benefit-in-kind rate in 2025/26 — the calculator below shows what that means for your actual take-home, using your real quote.
An EV through salary sacrifice costs far less than its headline price: you save income tax and NI on the sacrificed salary, and the benefit-in-kind charge is only 3% of the car's P11D value in 2025/26 (rising gently to 5% by 2027/28 — still a fraction of petrol's 25–37%). A £400/month EV typically costs a basic-rate taxpayer around £300/month of take-home, and a higher-rate taxpayer less still.
- Personal allowance
- 3% BiK for zero-emission (2025/26)
- Applies in
- England, Scotland & Wales supported
- Calculation
- Sacrifice cuts tax + NI; tiny EV BiK added back
The amount deducted from gross salary each month
List price incl. options — on the scheme quote
Parsed as: 1257L (£12,570 allowance, England & NI)
The BiK ladder: why now is the cheap era
Company-car tax is a percentage of the car’s P11D value, set by emissions. Zero-emission cars sit on a published ladder: 2% in 2024/25, 3% in 2025/26, then 4% and 5% in the following two years. Petrol and diesel cars sit at 25–37%. That order-of-magnitude gap is government policy, and it’s the entire reason EV salary sacrifice works.
Higher-rate taxpayers benefit most — each sacrificed pound saves them 42p while the BiK charge on a £35,000 EV runs about £35 a month at their rate. But the arithmetic clears easily at basic rate too, especially once bundled insurance and servicing are counted. The honest caveats are the same as any sacrifice scheme: a lower contractual salary (mortgages, maternity pay), the NMW floor, and early-exit terms if you change jobs — see the FAQ.