Spot a plug-in hybrid car like the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV on the road and the chances are it’s got a company car driver behind the wheel.
Only one in four cars featuring an engine and a plug socket has been bought by a private motorist, new figures reveal, with fleets making up the bulk of sales.
In fact 72 percent of plug-in cars were registered to a business during the first six months of 2016, equating to more than 15,000 units.
This represents a 45 percent increase compared with last year, suggesting businesses and user-choosers are warming to the idea of onboard battery propulsion.
That’s good news if you want to take advantage of the low benefit-in-kind bills brought about by the addition of an electric motor, typically reducing CO2 emissions to 50g/km or less.
With more businesses adding alternatively fuelled cars to their fleets, your chances of getting in one have never been better.
That said, you’re still a way off seeing a car park full of plug-in hybrids on charge, as they accounted for just 1.7 percent of the 887,168 cars registered to fleets this year.
Pure electric cars do even worse, with just 0.5 percent of the fleet market, totalling about 4,000 units.
Figures quoted from sister title www.fleetnews.co.uk.
