Thanks, very helpful. In meantime I've done a bit of leg work. I spoke to accountant - he has done some Tesla calcs already for other clients, and I can best describe his reaction as a bean-counter's wet dream! That is only the case, of course, for a company which is "in funds", but as a tax-offset he was more enthusiastic than at any time in all the decades I've been working. I wonder what he would say if I ask if we might justify a spouse's car too on the basis that car availability for work is critical and Tesla is new tech therefore "probably" highly unreliable? :tongue:
Also found "Salary Sacrifice Scheme" on Tesla site. Will ask accountant about that, but doubt it will be useful to me (situation is owner-manager, so very low salary). However, as a perk for employees might very well be top notch. Particularly if we install chargers so employees can charge at work. Accountant not sure (without research) but presumed employee can claim 10p/12p (whatever it is) for business mileage on the basis of "buying their own fuel". Unclear what the impact of "some charging" being at work would be, but it might well be permissible. No idea about company claiming back the VAT either, but we're a small company so no huge corporate policy to have to shift on that point.
The Benefit in Kind is neutral for me, at least initially. Existing car is, say, 1/3rd price of a loaded Tesla, so 5% BIK on EV would be same-as current lower sticker-price, but higher BIK%, vehicle. Useful to know that it will increase though, thanks, hadn't spotted that.
I also found a page on Tesla site to calculate fuel saving (I find it very difficult to find anything on Tesla site, other than the main "Design and Buy one" stuff. Accessories for example? If I search the GB site for "Accessories" I get a page of results in Japanese!! Doesn't seem to be any list/shop at all, just "ask your dealer". The USA site has a SHOP link, so I used that and made an approximate conversion / wishlist.)
Anyway, fuel cost. I went with £1.20 / L, 45 MPG, 30K Miles = £3,637 p.a. compared with Electricity: 0.06P/unit (Economy-7) = £524 p.a. Saves £260 p.m. - so I can just add that to any increase in monthly finance costs for break-even. (With a charge at-work then perhaps 50%, or less, will be "at home"). Tesla website calculator said that it assumes 181 Wh/km.
I need to find out if I can bail out of existing finance on lying/cheating VW vehicle (can't even remember what the finance deal is, I might be at/close to half-term and the point at which I could just hand the car back ... likely to get a black mark on credit score, but not sure I care on that as it is easily explained). I am presuming, but haven't asked them yet, that VW themselves won't provide compensation now, and by the time they finish the lawyer battles it will be years/decades down the road, and I will have suffered either 2nd hand resale diminished value loss, or exaggerated depreciation (from bailing earlier than I normal do for high mileage work car), or both. I will probably take the view that the first loss is the best loss. For example: what if in two year's time VW bundle all the discredited parts of the company into one, hive off the rest separately, and let the former go bankrupt - in which case any compensation will be the best part of nothing.
Background: we have changed lifestyle to be as Eco as we can (i.e. with lifestyle changes but without major inconvenience). VW vehicles (2 of, plus a SEAT People Carrier, which comes to the same thing as VW and already has a recall notice) were our chosen Eco-route, and replaced previous high performance, low MPG, polluting cars such as Audi RS4. We have also replaced 2x oil boilers in the house with log burning, installed both Solar Thermal and Solar PV, reduced Electricity usage by more than 50% (before Solar PV) and water usage by 1/3rd, upgraded part of house insulation to Passive House standards, and so on. I'm sure we use more energy than we should, but we have made considerable strides. I'm appalled to discover that the car pollution I thought I was reducing was a lie, and I have a very simple approach to suppliers who shaft me like that: I never, ever, deal with them again. The Bank we were with got embroiled in scandals for Libor, PPI, Forex - you name it they got a $multi-billion fine slapped on them. Been with them for 3 generations, they seemed surprised when we left them for a bank with moral standards - and much better service as it turns out. If I could have my way we would not have customers, nor suppliers, who banked with the likes of Sharkleys (if a company is happy to use a proven lying, cheating, bank what does that say about THEIR ethics?). So as a matter of principle VW, and all derivative companies, is out (and, a bit like at the time of the bank fiasco, at this moment in time I'm stuck with "which (car) company can I trust?" The bank fiasco tells me that it is likely to be a cultural thing - the bank disclosed one dishonest behaviour after another. We've already had CO2 announcement from VW in the last few days, and my wife said (although I didn't catch it) an MPG one too? Likely other automotive companies have similar behaviour. So I'm a bit stuck on who to choose to replace our other two cars - daughter's car (also VW Blue Motion) and the people carrier (SEAT Alhambra)
We had specifically excluded Tesla (and all other EV suppliers) in the past because of range-anxiety. The VW debacle has caused me to look again, and I think the Superchargers just about make the difference on that point. Everyone on the forums seem quite happy with the whole range thing, which is reassuring, and we will certainly tolerate some lifestyle changes - we've done it before with the Log-based central heating which requires manually loading the boiler, not just setting a thermostat, so going-away-for-the-weekend is not like the old days, in that regard - so I suspect that a 20 minute stop at supercharger, once a month, will be "acceptable" given that it will replace a 5-minute Diesel fuelling stop once-a-week
Sorry, I've gone-off-on-one. Nil bastardo carborundum