Charging Company Cars at Home: How Does It Work?

Giving employees electric company cars and making sure they can charge them both at work and at home is a win-win-win. It cuts down on the company's CO2 emissions, boosts employee retention, and even improves its image in the eyes of customers. Another important reason to take such a step is that not all employees regularly come to the office but they do need a car for business travel. In addition, it’s not always easy for the company to realise the charging infrastructure in its territory. Now you see why it's no wonder that more employers are offering home wallboxes to their employees and covering the charging costs.

Keep in mind, however, that while many companies do help out by paying some or all of the wallbox expenses, they aren't required to do it. 

When employees need to charge their electric cars at public stations, they usually get a charging card from the employer. Nevertheless, home charging can offer them much more convenience and is often cheaper for the company. 

A recently published report showed that in Germany, a battery electric vehicle owner without access to private home or workplace charging pays up to 65% more to refuel their vehicle than those with private charging in a house. So as an employer, you will feel the effect of the decision to provide your employees with wallboxes quite soon.

Let's have a look at the main benefits:

1. Saving a pretty penny from the company budget. Home charging, especially with a smart wallbox, is often cheaper than using public charging stations, reducing overall expenses.

2. Less hassle with public charging, better work-life balance. Charging at home saves a lot of time, as employees can start each day with a fully charged car.

3. Happy employees. Providing home charging options can improve employee satisfaction and retention, particularly among those who value sustainability.

4. Universal option. Home charging is also suitable for those employees who don’t come to the office every day from Monday to Friday but do travel a lot for business reasons. 

5. Can’t install a charging fleet at your company site? No problem. If not having the possibility to install chargers at your company site stops you from buying electric cars, home charging for your employees is the solution.  

6. Prolonged battery life. Consistent charging routines at home with AC power instead of frequent HPC public charging can be gentler on the company car’s battery, potentially extending its lifespan.

If your employer provides you with a charging station free of charge or helps cover the cost at least partially, it gets taxed at a flat rate of 25% (Section 40 Paragraph 2 Sentence 1 No. 6 EStG). In this case, you become the official owner of the charging station. You only get a full tax break if the charging station stays the property of your employer. 

Legal information: Free or discounted charging of electric or hybrid car batteries at the employer's premises is tax-free under Section 3 No. 46 EStG, as long as the service is provided in addition to the wages already owed.

Since the cost of the wallbox is a one-time expense, the regulations are clear. But what about the ongoing electricity costs? Who pays for all the energy used to charge the company car?

In Germany, there are two main options:

1. Monthly flat rate
2. Tracking exact electricity use

This is the easiest way to go if the employer doesn’t want to invest time in choosing a wallbox. Taking advantage of the monthly flat rate is possible with most home charging stations. 

How does the wallbox company car billing work? 

Documentation of electricity purchases is unnecessary. How much your employer can pay you monthly for home charging depends on whether free or discounted charging at work is available. 

Here's a quick rundown.

If you can also charge at the company site (free or discounted), your monthly flat rate is:

• Electric car: €30 per month
• Plug-In-Hybrid car: €15 per month

What if you have neither a charging possibility at the company nor a charging card provided by your employer? So basically, when it comes to charging your company car, you’re on your own. Here is what you get back when charging at home in this case:

• Electric car: €70 per month
• Plug-In-Hybrid car: €35 per month

If your charging costs are higher than the flat rate your employer offers, they can reimburse you for the actual costs if you provide receipts, and it won't be taxed.

Instead of a flat rate, you and your employer can agree to bill based on the exact kilowatt hours charged at home. You'll need a special MID electricity meter if you only charge the company car at the wallbox. If you would also like to charge cars other than the company car, the wallbox must also enable charging in compliance with measurement and calibration law in accordance with German MessEG.

To get reimbursed this way, you must provide your charging data and electricity rates (basic and labour prices) to your employer.

When choosing a wallbox, consider how to send the data to your employer:

• Manual transmission

You can email your current electricity report with the kilowatt hours actually charged to your employer. Records should be submitted for a representative, continuous period of time, normally around three months. Of course, this is only possible if the manual transmission is sufficient for the employer.

• Automatic transmission

A private wallbox can be connected directly to your employer’s billing system if the wallbox is internet or mobile-enabled and uses the OCPP standard. All processes related to the management of the charging station and the automation of billing processes are often realised via special backend systems, such as those offered by Monta or Road.

Important: In both cases, either the charging station must be equipped with an MID meter or the MID meter needs to be installed in front of the charging station. However, with MID, only the company car may charge at the wallbox. An additional wallbox would be required to charge private electric cars in the household. Otherwise, your wallbox needs to offer measurement and calibration-compliant charging, according to MessEG.

A company can cover the cost of a home wallbox installation for its employees. In that case, when the wallbox is handed over, it remains the property of the employer. The company can pay for the installation of a home charging station tax-free.

The tax benefit covers everything: the entire installation of the charging station, including accessories and related services. This includes the construction, installation, and set-up of the charging station, as well as its maintenance and operation. As the standard does not permit mobile charging stations with MID meters, a stationary wallbox with a corresponding meter must be installed for precise kWh billing in Germany. Only in the case of monthly flat-rate billing could a mobile wallbox be used.

However, it is common for employees to pay for the charging station completely themselves. Moreover, this is even required by some employers, as this sets them free from having to deal with the liability and warranty as well as any maintenance for the charging station.

Alternatively, the employer can offer its employees a subsidy for the purchase and installation of a wallbox for home use. This subsidy can be taxed at a flat rate of 25% and has no impact on social security contributions.

Let’s start with the basics. The MID standard is a Europe-wide regulation governing the billing of energy costs. This EU directive mandates that manufacturers of electricity metres are responsible for testing their devices using standardised methods. MID is the common standard used. Many employers say such a meter is plenty enough for them to track the amount of electricity used by their employees for charging company cars.  

Nevertheless, the Mess- und Eichgesetz (MessEG) certificate is additionally required in Germany for billing third parties. This requirement was introduced as the core of the calibration law. So basically, beyond the EU requirements, devices complying with this law must also store information about individual charging sessions. The validity of the certificates issued under this directive depends on national regulations, which, in Germany, is set at eight years.

The MessEG regulation sets specific rules for measuring instruments. It doesn't just focus on the accuracy and reliability of the measurements but also includes guidelines for monitoring, maintaining, and repairing the measuring instruments, as required by the German calibration law. For instance, at some point, the meter could start showing wrong data due to some technical issues. If it is MessEG-certified, the issue will be immediately recognised. 

As of January 2023, the Austrian government has introduced further tax relief for those driving electric company vehicles. In addition to the previously tax-free private use of company-owned electric cars, employees can now charge these vehicles at home without incurring taxes for granting this monetary benefit.

• Since January 1, 2023, employees have been able to charge employer-owned, emission-free vehicles at home tax-free. So cost reimbursements for charging or the provision of a home charging station by the employer now come without any charging of income taxes, although this is a non-cash benefit. However, this only applies if the electricity used for charging an electric car at home by the employee is clearly determined. As long as the Austrian employer does not require that this be done with a charging station that has an MID meter integrated, a charging station is also permitted where the charged electricity can be assigned to the car via a user account and authorisation (e.g. via RFID). That means our smart go-e Charger Gemini flex or Gemini also in Version 2.0, with a simple energy meter and RFID, is often enough to see how much energy the employee has used for charging. However, the MID requirement varies by company.
• One of the main reasons for choosing a mobile wallbox for charging company cars at home in Austria is the reduction of installation costs. In this case, however, it must be ensured that the company car is charged by using a dedicated RFID-tag. If you want to charge a private car at the same wallbox, you can use another RFID tag. In addition, the charging processes are often billed automatically via a professional backend system.
• However, if the employer insists on an MID meter in the wallbox, a corresponding charging station must be installed. For example, our newly introduced go-e Charger PRO will also come with an MID meter. Regarding the reimbursement amount, the rate for 2023 is 33.182 cents/kWh, set by E-Control. If the required electricity amount cannot be determined, a flat rate of up to EUR 30 per month can be reimbursed tax-free and duty-free from 2023 to 2025.

If you can charge at home for free, the employer should have a way to ensure only the company car consumers get the energy paid for. After all, your wife or husband, for instance, may have an electric car too. Therefore, the kWh quantity must be assigned to the vehicle. 

Not every wallbox can be used if the employer wants to cover the costs of charging company cars at home. 

In order to keep track of the electricity costs per kWh for billing between the company and employees, as described above, a wallbox for charging the company car at home must fulfil a number of important requirements:

• Compliance with local regulations 

In Austria, some employers only agree to pay for employee home charging if the wallbox has an integrated MID meter for measuring the amount of consumed kWh. However, there are quite a lot of exceptions where companies are okay with corporate cars being charged from a wallbox with a simple non-certified meter such as the one inside our go-e Charger of the Gemini series.
In Germany, due to the introduction of the calibration law, wallboxes must be equipped with an MID meter. And if other than the company car is charging at the wallbox, the MessEG-certified meter for precise billing by an employer is required.

• Access protection

The wallbox should have access protection, such as an RFID card, to provide accurate billing for separate users. This is to ensure that only the charging processes for the employee's car are taken into account and that the charging processes of family and friends are not billed to the company.

• Internet connection

In order to automatically transfer the electricity consumption data for company cars charged at home to the employer, the wallbox must be internet-enabled. Depending on the wallbox model, the internet connection can be established via LAN, WLAN, or LTE.