The National Health Service (NHS) has ordered 500 Nissan Leafs through its offshoot NHS Fleet Solutions. The electric cars will be made available to healthcare staff and other public sector employees as part of a leasing program via deferred compensation.
Early last year, the NHS added 700 all-electric Jaguar I-Paces, followed by 350 Nissan Leafs last summer. The vehicles can be leased over a three-year period via deferred compensation. By taking the benefit in kind instead of part of their salary, employees have to pay less tax and social security. The government does levy a benefit-in-kind tax on cars in such cases, but the current rate for electric vehicles is only 1%.
NHS Fleet Solutions is operated by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and has facilitated the ordering of more than 75,000 vehicles for the NHS and other public sector organisations in the last 15 years.
‘‘We are delighted to take delivery of this sizeable consignment of all-electric Leafs. It is a popular car – we receive lots of positive feedback about it – and it helps to support our environmental sustainability efforts in encouraging more use of electric vehicles,” said an NHS Fleet Solutions spokesperson.
The NHS has set a target of reducing its CO2 emissions by 80% by 2050. In the public sector, the NHS is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. According to earlier reports, it is responsible for as much as 5.4% of CO2 emissions nationwide.
‘‘We supply large volumes of cars and vans to all sorts of businesses and organisations across the UK but this agreement with NHS Fleet Solutions makes us feel particularly proud,” said Peter McDonald, Nissan fleet director.
‘‘We are delighted that hundreds of NHS staff and other key workers will be experiencing the thrill of electric motoring, many for the first time.
‘‘And we’d like to express our thanks to the team at NHS Fleet Solutions for their continued support for Nissan and their promotion of the myriad benefits of electric motoring.’’
