What is the 'Range' on the Company Car Screen?

Background

From 6th April 2020, the legislation on company car calculations has changed, and for cars with an approved CO2 emissions figure of 1 to 50g/km (known as a ULEV or Ultra Low Emission Vehicle), the percentage BiK is additionally based on the 'range' that the vehicle can travel on the electric motor (sometimes known as the ‘zero emission mileage’ or electric range). For clarity, this is the distance the car can go on electric power before its batteries need recharging.

Please note that range is not necessary for fully electric cars (zero emissions).

This electric range, along with the year of registration, is used to look up the BiK rate for the calculation, but since the 2022-2023 tax year, these rates have been harmonised - the current rates look like this:

The range is entered into the appropriate area of the P11D Organiser when entering car details or importing vehicle  - it is this figure that the software uses for calculations. The range needs to be entered as a whole number (no decimals).

Finding the Electric Range of a car

The HMRC (GOV.UK) website states that you can get your zero emission mileage figure from:

• The vehicle’s certificate of conformity, if you own the car
• The leasing company or fleet provider, if you lease the car

HMRC have also posted the following in the Agent Update Issue 82:

"If you are leasing the vehicle, you should obtain this new data item in the same way you currently receive your Company Car Tax reporting data from the car leasing firm or fleet provider.

If, in extreme circumstances this information is not available, you can obtain the zero emission mileage figure via the car’s manufacturer.

If you own the vehicle, the zero emission mileage figure can be found on your vehicle’s Certificate of Conformity (CoC).

The zero emission mileage maybe displayed as ‘electric range’ on the CoC:

• for hybrid cars registered before 6 April 2020 (NEDC) the ‘electric range’ within section 49.2 on the CoC should be used
  
• for hybrid cars registered from 6 April 2020 (WLTP) the ‘electric range (EAER)’ within section 49.5.2 on the CoC should be used
  
• this may also be referred to as combined or equivalent AER (EAER) combined

If the zero emission mileage figure is displayed on the CoC in kilometres, you will need to convert the figure into miles and round up to the nearest mile before updating this field on the P11D.

Failure to obtain the data via the correct source could lead to incorrect company car benefit in kind being calculated."

Further Reading

You can read the HMRC's guidance from Booklet 480 here.