An electric car mileage allowance, for a driver using their own electric car on business, is the ordinary approved mileage allowance: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p a mile after that, paid tax free by the employer up to that amount, with mileage allowance relief on any shortfall. There is no separate lower allowance for an electric car, and there is no separate higher one. What is different for electric cars is the company car position, where a company electric car's business miles are reimbursed at HMRC's advisory electricity rates rather than at a fuel rate. This page covers both, and the worksheet on this site works them.
Why the allowance is the same
The approved mileage allowance is HMRC's figure for the whole cost of a business mile in the employee's own car, and most of that cost is not fuel: depreciation, insurance, servicing, tyres and road tax. An electric car's lower energy cost per mile is real, and it is the driver's to keep, because the allowance is not a fuel reimbursement. The two-tier structure, 55p then 25p, applies exactly as for any other car.
Claiming it
Keep the log of business journeys, claim monthly from the employer at its rate, and at the year end compare what was paid with the approved amount for the miles. A shortfall is mileage allowance relief, claimed from HMRC through self assessment or a relief claim, worth the shortfall times the driver's marginal rate. Home charging costs are not claimed separately; they are inside the allowance.
A company electric car is different
Where the employer provides the electric car, the driver has no mileage allowance. Business miles are reimbursed for electricity only, at the advisory electricity rate for home or public charging, or a blend of the two. A company electric car driver paid the approved rate is receiving taxable pay for the difference. The electric company car mileage rates worksheet on this site works the company car figure and the own-car figure side by side.
Salary sacrifice cars
An electric car taken through a salary sacrifice scheme is a company car: the employer provides it and the driver gives up salary for it. Its business miles use the electricity rate, not the approved allowance, and the car itself is a benefit in kind at the low percentage for a zero-emission car, worked on the company car tax calculator on this site.
Questions people ask about electric car mileage allowance
Is there a lower mileage rate for electric cars?
No, not for your own car. The approved rate is the same for every private car. Only a company electric car uses the lower electricity rate, and that is a reimbursement for the employer's electricity, not an allowance.
Can my employer pay less than the approved rate because my car is electric?
It can pay any rate; the approved rate is the ceiling for tax-free payment. If it pays less, you claim relief on the shortfall as any other driver would.
Does home charging count as a business expense?
For your own car, no, it is inside the mileage allowance. For a company car, the employer can pay the home charging rate per business mile, or reimburse the cost of charging the company car.