Home EV Charging Reimbursement – Managing a New Frontier for Employers

Electric vehicles (EVs) continue to gain ground throughout the country because of the immense savings businesses can make when switching. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, switching to a fully electric vehicle could save $2,200 per year. Expand this across your entire fleet, and it’s easy to see the advantages.

But managing the logistics of reimbursing employees for at-home charging represents a problem. How do you provide fair reimbursement without overspending?

The Problem With Flat Stipends

Monthly stipends for at-home charging may seem like the fairest and most convenient idea, but it has problems that could cost your business. Here are the flaws:

·  Allowances are taxed as income, meaning your employees lose a significant portion of the stipend.

·  Stipends aren’t linked to actual charging, so employees are likelier to take the money and run. 

In other words, you’re likelier to overspend without actually encouraging at-home charging. There are plenty of instances of employees taking these stipends as raises and relying on public or depot chargers anyway, thus defeating the purpose.

The Expense Calculation Challenge

Another issue is tracking electricity usage and verifying that it was used to charge that specific fleet vehicle. At public charging stations, this is simple because costs are transparent, but separating personal and work-related home charging is another issue entirely.

Dedicated smart chargers are an option, but they can be misused easily. There are no guarantees the vehicle connected is actually a fleet vehicle.

The Cost Per Kilowatt-Hour (kWh) Challenge

The next challenge faced by employers is calculating the actual charging costs. Tiered pricing plans are common, meaning that electricity costs aren’t uniform. Instead, they change based on usage levels, which could change from month to month.

Some fleet managers opt for regional averages, but this can lead to massive inaccuracies. Overpayments are bad enough, but underpayments expose companies to lawsuits. For example, Section 2802 of the California Labor Code makes accurate home reimbursement a legal requirement. An underpayment could result in a class-action lawsuit.

What’s the Solution for Employers?

None of these challenges are impossible to overcome. Plenty of companies manage these issues, but the solutions are extremely labor-intensive, requiring a mountain of Excel spreadsheets and valuable time.

It’s clear that there are openings for advanced telematics solutions that can both differentiate between vehicles and calculate accurate electricity rates. Moreover, these reimbursements must be processed quickly enough to keep employees happy. In other words, technology holds the key, but employers must settle on an integrated solution.

Conclusion

How do companies get the real-time information needed from their fleets when they’re being charged in the homes of employees? At Bluedot, we’ve created a solution that leverages the most advanced telematics solutions to ensure accuracy and reduce instances of misuse.

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Furthermore, Bluedot home charging reimbursement reduces reimbursement processing time while automating most of the manual work, saving you time. If you want happy employees and a happy balance sheet at the end of the month, choose Bluedot for home EV charging reimbursement.

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