This month at a glance
Welcome to March’s Industry Insights blog, your monthly summary of all the sector-specific updates which will help you optimise your fleet.
Read on for news of workplace charging grant extensions, HGV charging superhubs, and ULEZ findings one year after its expansion.
Manufacturer news
- The Audi A6 is becoming all electric. It will have a range of up to 463 miles when it arrives in the UK, with prices starting at £69,900.
- BMW is on the brink of introducing a whole new line-up of electric cars. The Neue Klasse models will arrive over the coming years, and the first model – the Neue Klasse X – will effectively be a replacement for the iX3. Read the full article
- BYD is expected to introduce its smallest electric car, the Seagull, to the UK this year. The vehicle will be the brand’s most affordable model, with a range of up to 250 miles and in China, it costs the equivalent of £8,000. Read the full article
Spring Forecast 2025
The Chancellor will give an update on her plans for the UK economy when she gives a statement alongside a fiscal forecast on 26 March.
Rachel Reeves has ruled out further tax rises, and has committed to one major economic event each year to “give families and businesses stability and certainty on tax and spending”.
Zenith’s consultancy team will be hosting a webinar following the Forecast, and you can register
Find out morePayrolling of benefits
In January 2024, the Government announced its plans to make payrolling of benefits compulsory. This includes benefit-in-kind (BiK) tax from April 2026.
Employers can register to payroll benefits and expenses for their employees so they can be taxed through the payroll from 6 April 2025. This can be done using the online payrolling benefits and expenses service any time until 5 April 2025.
Workplace charging grant
Employers will have access to funding to help pay towards the installation of workplace chargers for another year, after the Government announced it was extending its Workplace Charging Scheme to 31 March 2026.
Funding was set to conclude in March 2025, but the extension was confirmed by Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood MP.
Find out more
Electric HGV charging superhubs
A new national network of charging stations for electric HGVs will be built, with the first 15 opening before the end of 2027.
Motorway services operator, Moto, plans to install up to 300 charging bays for electric HGVs at 23 strategic locations by 2030. Work on Exeter and Tamworth locations are set to begin in April 2025.
The superhubs are expected to provide capacity for up to 5,000 electric trucks, significantly reducing emissions by more than 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
Car loans case rejected
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ attempt to intervene in a landmark case over controversial car loans has been blocked by the UK’s highest court.
The Supreme Court case, which is set for April, will hear an appeal by finance firms, after the Court of Appeal ruled that it was unlawful for lenders to pay a commission to a dealer without the consent of customers.
Should customers be compensated, the industry could be forced to pay out as much as £30bn.
Electric charger boost
Local authorities in the Midlands are set to roll out more than 16,000 electric vehicle chargers, thanks to funding from the Local EV Infrastructure fund.
The investment fund is designed to boost charging infrastructure in cities, towns and rural areas, particularly for those without access to driveways.
Find out more
Clean air for Londoners
Pollution in London has reduced after the controversial expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
The first-year findings have found:
- Levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across all of London is estimated to have decreased by 27%.
- Nitrogen oxide (Nox) emissions from cars and vans in outer London are estimated to be 13% and 16% lower respectively.
- Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) exhaust emissions from cars and vans in outer London are estimated to be 31% lower.
- There were nearly 100,000 fewer non-compliant vehicles detected in London on an average day in Sept 2024 compared to June 2023 – this is a 58% reduction.
Vehicle registration update
According to data by the SMMT, one in four new car registrations in February were pure electric.
BEV registrations were up 41.7% year on year, securing a 25.3% market share. However, it still falls short of the 28% ZEV mandate for 2025.
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