Q&A: How much can I claim per mile for charging my electric company car?
Business owners with electric company cars often ask us how much they can claim for the cost of charging their vehicles at home, or when out and about using public chargers.
HMRC publish advisory fuel rates on their website quarterly, with the rates used to work out the amount you can reimburse yourself for any business journeys in a company car.
These rates are published on the 1st March, 1st June, 1st September and 1st December each year, to ensure that the approved mileage rates are aligned with the current cost of fuel/electricity.
For company Directors/owners with electric or hybrid company cars (see this month’s Tax Tip article for more information on the merits of getting one) that pay for the fuel or charging themselves, these rates can be used in order to be reimbursed for any business journeys covered in the car.
From 1 September 2026, the following rates apply:
Petrol
| Engine size | Petrol — rate per mile | LPG — rate per mile |
| 1400cc or less | 14 pence | 11 pence |
| 1401cc to 2000cc | 17 pence | 13 pence |
| Over 2000cc | 27 pence | 20 pence |
Diesel
| Engine size | Diesel — rate per mile |
| 1600cc or less | 15 pence |
| 1601cc to 2000cc | 16 pence |
| Over 2000cc | 22 pence |
Electric
| Charging location | Electric — rate per mile |
| Home charger | 7 pence |
| Public charger | 15 pence |
For electric cars a new public charger rate was introduced last year, which can be used for business journeys covered in your electric company car, where you had to use a public charger. It’s great to see that HMRC are acknowledging the fact that using a public charger is significantly more expensive than charging at home.
For anyone that regularly uses public chargers for business journeys we’d encourage you to keep receipts as evidence, to support reclaiming your business mileage for those trips at the higher 15p per mile rate.
This is also a useful recap that business mileage in an electric or hybrid company car can be reimbursed to you, in the same way as claiming 55p per mile for using your own car for business journeys.
We had an interesting question from a client recently that stumped half of our team. A client bought an electric car through his limited company, for use by his wife for purely personal journeys. We prepare a P11D for him, and he pays tax on the company car benefit in kind each year, but had continued to use his own personally owned car for business journeys. Could he claim 55p per mile for those journeys like he used to? Or did having an electric company car prevent him from doing so? He was pleased to learn that he could of course continue to claim 55p per mile for business journeys travelled in his own car. Having an electric company car doesn’t mean he has to use that vehicle for business journeys. He is paying tax on the benefit in kind of the electric company car being made available to him (and his family) for private use, and that calculation is based on the list price of the car, regardless of how much it is used for business. So there is nothing to stop him continuing to use his own car for business journeys, and claiming back 55p per mile from his company to cover the cost of the fuel and running costs of that vehicle. Another happy client!
If you have any questions on how to use the advisory fuel rates in your business, then please contact your Client Manager.
- HMRC advisory fuel rates are published every quarter, most recently on 1st September 2026
- Use these rates to claim for business mileage in a company car if you pay for the fuel or charging
- The main electric car rate is 7p per mile; if you use a public charger the rate is 15p per mile
- If you use your own vehicle for business journeys, you can claim 55p per mile
- This applies even if you also have an electric company car, if you have the use of both vehicles
For more information, please contact me.
Related Posts
How to reduce company car tax
Company car tax is based on the car’s list price when new, and its Co2 emissions, and with annual increases, the tax/NIC on a company car benefit can soon mount up.
100% first year allowance for new electric cars extended to March 2027
The Budget documents confirm that the current 100% capital allowance that applies to the purchase of new electric vehicles and charge points will be extended for a further year until 31 March 2027.
What is the optimum level for directors salaries for 2024/25?
Every tax year the National Insurance and tax thresholds change, and clients ask us what level of salary they should pay themselves from their companies?
VAT cut for hospitality & leisure sectors extended
The current much needed VAT cut to 5% for the hospitality and leisure sectors was due to end on 31 March 2021, but the Chancellor announced earlier today that it will be extended until 30 September 2021, after which it will be increased to 12.5% until 31 March 2022.
Business rates relief for retail, hospitality & leisure extended
The current business rates holiday for certain sectors including retail, hospitality and leisure has been extended to 30 June 2021, as expected, with a 2/3rds discount then applied for 9 months up until 31 March 2022, to allow businesses in these sectors time to recover.
Permanent rates reduction for hospitality, retail and leisure
Two new, lower, multipliers will be introduced for these sectors from April 2026, in a bid to permanently reduce business rates for affected businesses.