Electric cars: could your employer help you save thousands?

People are waking up to the benefits of using salary sacrifice schemes to buy greener vehicles

If you have been thinking about switching to an electric car but are worried about the cost, talk to Bill Hopkinson. Until four months ago, the sales and marketing director was driving more than 30,000 miles a year in a diesel BMW and spending about 800 a month on lease payments, fuel, insurance and maintenance.

Fast-forward to today, and he is now behind the wheel of a new, fully electric Audi Q4 e-tron. His total monthly expenditure on the car, including the use of public charging points, has fallen to 611 - meaning he is on course to save more than 2,200 a year, while, at the same time, slashing his carbon footprint.