WITH the Budget due tomorrow (19 March 2014) plenty of business motoring issues hang on what Chancellor Osborne announces.

Among them are electric vehicle (EV) subsidies as the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) analyses how further Government finance may be spent supporting the uptake of low emission vehicles.

Jon Burdekin, from mobility provider Alphabet, reckons there’s an upswing in business buying sentiment about EVs.

“Recent figures from the SMMT showed an increase of more than 530% in the volume of pure electric car registrations in the first two months of 2014, compared with the same period in 2013.

“With a focus on encouraging green behaviour and a strong emphasis on reducing air pollution, the continuation of grants to encourage further electric vehicle take up, along with investment in the charging infrastructure is needed to encourage more drivers and company car managers to explore EVs with confidence.”

Alphabet already provides a strong support structure around electric vehicles with its AlphaElectric product – see New AlphaElectric consultancy service takes the guess-work out of switching to electric cars  – and cars such as the new BMW i3, and the Audi A3 e-tron due later this year, and the Tesla Model S have greatly enhanced the appeal of electric cars to SMEs in particular.

But are they right for you?

A survey of 534 company car drivers by vehicle management company Leasedrive Group found that a quarter would consider an EV as their next company car.

Those that decided against an EV cited ‘range anxiety’ as the main issue, while lack of knowledge and concerns about charging infrastructure were also significant.

“It certainly comes as no surprise that the biggest reason for not considering an electric vehicle as a next company car is range.