Number crunching
We do the maths and work out the best ways to buy
SINCE all six of these cars sit in the two per cent Benefit-in-Kind tax bracket, the annual liability fore ach comes down to their respective P11D prices.
And because the BYD is the least expensive car here, it has the lowest BiK costs, at £194.56 for 20 per cent taxpayers in the 2024/25 tax year. The Polestar 2 is close behind, at £195.58, but the only other car here that dips below the £200 mark is the Tesla, at £199.74. The VW weighs in at £205.98, the BMW is £208.80 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6 costs £215.94 a year. If you’re a 40 per cent taxpayer, simply double all of these figures.
While electric cars started out with zero BiK costs to incentivise their uptake with business users, they have now moved to the same incremental scale as combustion-engined models.
The current two-per cent rate remains unchanged from 2023/24, but from April next year (and the 2025/26 tax year), the rate increases to three per cent. Based on the current P11D prices of the cars tested here, that will add £100-£120 to the annual BiK bill for a 20 per cent taxpayer.
While the Tesla Model 3 is at the competitive end of the BiK table, it’s a different story if you buy privately. There’s only a modest deposit contribution on offer, and a monthly outlay of £853 on a 36-month PCP with an initial deposit of £5,000 and a 10,000-mile limit is £232 a month more than the cheapest of our six, the Hyundai. The margins of difference between these cars mean it’s not worth the extra outlay. The BYD is also more than £800 a month, ahead of the BMW, VW and Polestar.
Another area where the BYD and Tesla are pricey is for insurance. We were quoted £1,221 and £979 respectively for 12 months of cover, with the Hyundai, at £814. The Polestar 2, BMW and VW all came in below the £700 mark, at £648, £651 and £666 respectively.
The Polestar and Tesla come with complimentary servicing, while the Hyundai costs £277 for three years of maintenance, the VW is £372, and the BMW £540.