Government support for early adopters of electric vehicles needs to be extended to leasing companies and their thousands of customers, the BVRLA has said.

In its Budget submission, the association has asked the Treasury to provide more details on the100% first-year allowance it is introducing for companies purchasing electric vans.

This allowance enables firms buying one of these vehicles to offset their full cost against their corporation tax bill in the first year.

The BVRLA wants to know if leasing companies will be able to take advantage of the allowances and pass on the savings to their customers.

“We are still waiting for a response on this issue,” said BVRLA chief executive, John Lewis. 

“The van market is in the doldrums and in the current economic climate most companies cannot afford to go out and buy new vehicles outright.

"Many of them turn to a leasing provider and our industry is absolutely vital to the new van market.”

The BVRLA also asked the Treasury to ensure that its tax incentives incorporate all zero tailpipe emission vehicles and not just electric ones.

During a meeting, the association asked the government to consider a number of other issues ahead of its 2010 Budget, including:

• An immediate removal of the unjust 3% diesel supplement from Benefit-in-Kind tax
• An investigation of the continuing use of over-generous advisory mileage allowance payments (AMAP) which encourage staff to use their own cars instead of potentially much greener and safer forms of transport