Better Fleet: A practical playbook for fixing EV reimbursement

1. Start with where your drivers actually charge

Before changing anything, understand what’s really happening on the ground. Are most drivers charging at home? Are they relying on public networks? Are rapid chargers a regular part of the job?

If you don’t know that, any reimbursement policy is just guesswork.

2. Decide your approach early

Most fleets are choosing between three routes:

  • HMRC’s Advisory Electricity Rate
  • reimbursing actual cost
  • using a managed system that tracks charging and automates payment

The first is simple. The second is fairer. The third is where most fleets are heading because it balances both.

3. Use charge cards to simplify public charging

Charge cards are now doing for EVs what fuel cards have always done for petrol and diesel fleets.

They give drivers a straightforward way to charge, while giving the business one place to see spend, apply policy and manage reimbursement. That’s especially useful for public and rapid charging, where costs vary the most.

In most modern setups, this doesn’t sit in isolation. The charge card is usually part of a wider platform that also connects home and workplace charging, so fleets can manage everything through a single account and invoice rather than separate systems.

Tools to explore:

4. Fix home charging properly first

This is where most volume sits – and where the biggest gains are. In most cases, home charging is linked into the same platform as public charging, even though the driver experience is different.

Tools to explore:

  • Rightcharge + Humax – separates business and personal charging at source, with a single monthly invoice
  • Allstar Homecharge – pays energy suppliers directly based on actual usage
  • Paua Reimburse – tracks energy use even across multiple EVs in one household

Getting this right and it removes disputes, cuts admin and improves driver satisfaction immediately.

5. Use real examples to guide decisions

The AA used Rightcharge to automate home charging reimbursement and:

  • shifted 82% of charging to home
  • reduced public charging costs
  • saved up to £1,000 per driver per year

That’s what happens when reimbursement is tied to behaviour.

6. Turn reimbursement into a cost and adoption lever

Once the system is working, the benefits stack up:

  • fewer disputes and admin hours
  • tighter control of charging spend
  • faster EV adoption
  • better driver retention

And crucially, alignment between what the business says about sustainability and what drivers actually experience day-to-day.

7. Keep it under review

Tariffs change. Charging behaviour changes. HMRC rates change.

The fleets ahead of this are reviewing reimbursement regularly, not setting it once and leaving it.

Read more guidance in this series:

Why EV reimbursement is still unclear for fleets

What good EV reimbursement actually looks like

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