March is B-Corp Month – an annual, global celebration of businesses committed to balancing profit with purpose.

This year, March holds extra significance for us: it marks The Electric Car Scheme's first anniversary as a Certified B Corporation.

One year ago, after months of rigorous assessments, we proudly joined the B-Corp community, underscoring our commitment to making Net Zero the obvious choice for drivers and businesses.

In this article – written in the spirit of B-Corp Month – we’ll reflect on what being a B-Corp means, why certification was so important to The Electric Car Scheme, our road to achieving it, and how we’ve lived out B-Corp values over the past year.

We will also share some stories from our community and peek at what’s next for The Electric Car Scheme as we continue to put people and the planet first.

What is a B Corp?

Certified B Corporations are companies verified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. B Corps are businesses that use profit and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the planet.

To earn certification, companies must undergo a rigorous B Impact Assessment evaluating practices across five key areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. The bar is high – companies need to score at least 80 points to qualify, whereas the median score for ordinary businesses is only about 50.9 points.

Importantly, B-Corp certification isn't a one-and-done deal. Certification is renewed every three years, ensuring B-Corps stays true to its commitments and continues pushing forward on social and environmental progress.

Why Becoming a B Corp Was Important for Us

For The Electric Car Scheme, pursuing B-Corp status was a natural step – it perfectly aligns with our mission to make it easier and more affordable for people to switch to electric cars, removing cost and complexity barriers.

In essence, we exist to accelerate the transition to a Net Zero future by empowering others to make sustainable choices. The principles behind B-Corp – using business as a force for good and creating an inclusive and sustainable economy – resonate deeply with that purpose.

Achieving B-Corp certification was also a powerful validation of our efforts. It's an external stamp of approval showing that we meet robust standards of accountability and transparency. This recognition bolsters our credibility and reassures our customers that we're meeting the highest verified standards for sustainability and ethics.

Our Journey to B Corp Certification

Our journey to B-Corp certification was thorough and challenging – but ultimately incredibly rewarding. We underwent an in-depth assessment of our entire business, scrutinising everything from company governance to employee treatment, environmental footprint, and social impact.

When the assessments were done, we were thrilled to learn that The Electric Car Scheme earned an overall B Impact score of 104.3, well above the minimum 80 points required and double the score of an average business.

Each category contributed to our overall score, proving that we're committed to being better in every dimension of business. The journey doesn't end at certification – we're already looking ahead to our recertification in 2027, with plans to push our score even higher.

How We've Continued to Improve as a B Corp

Earning the B Corp badge was just the beginning. Over the past year, we've launched new initiatives to further embed sustainability, accessibility, and innovation into everything we do.

The Charge Scheme

The Charge Scheme, launched in late 2024, is the UK's first salary sacrifice solution for EV charging. It allows employees to save 20–50% on the cost of charging their electric vehicles, at home, in public, or at the office.

Integrating The Charge Scheme app and Charge Card with our existing salary sacrifice car scheme, makes reimbursing and salary-sacrificing charging costs simple. This tackles one of the biggest hurdles for would-be EV drivers – the high cost of public charging – which can average about 40% more per mile than running a petrol car.

The Electric Car Scheme estimates that The Charge Scheme can save an EV driver up to £1,000 per year on charging, effectively bringing the cost of public charging below the cost of petrol or diesel. Crucially, this benefit levels the playing field for those without home chargers who often face higher charging costs.

By removing cost barriers to charging, The Electric Car Scheme is making EV ownership more viable and attractive to a broader range of people – directly supporting our mission to accelerate the shift to Net Zero.

Used Electric Cars

Another key initiative has been expanding our salary sacrifice options for used electric cars. We know price is often cited as the top barrier preventing people from going electric (about 68% of Brits said cost was the main reason they hadn't switched to an EV in a recent survey).

Through our used EV scheme, we take cars that come off lease, ensure they meet our high-quality standards, and offer them to drivers at a lower price via salary sacrifice. Drivers can save an additional 30–50% by opting for a used EV instead of a new one – on top of the 20–50% savings already available through EV salary sacrifice.

This has been a game-changer for inclusivity, enabling employees across the income spectrum to get behind the wheel of an electric car. Our unique used EV offering proved tremendously popular, growing by 300% in the last year, and used vehicles now makeup roughly half of all the cars we supply.

There's an environmental benefit too – by extending the life of electric cars, we're promoting a more circular approach and reducing the demand for new car manufacturing.

Over the last year, our scheme in total has helped save an estimated 14,000 tonnes of CO2 – that's roughly equivalent to planting 650,000 trees or removing 10,000 petrol/diesel cars from the road for a year.

Customer and Employee Testimonials

One year in, the most rewarding part of our B-Corp journey has been hearing real stories from our customers about what these efforts mean to them. Ultimately, the B-Corp ethos is about benefiting all stakeholders – so their feedback is the truest measure of our success.

One customer, Gary, recently leased a used Jaguar I-PACE through our scheme. He shared that he "couldn't be happier" with the experience, and "despite being a used vehicle, the Jaguar I-PACE looked almost new" upon arrival, and the process was smooth and hassle-free.
Gary noted that The Electric Car Scheme team made the transition to an electric car easy and enjoyable, going “above and beyond” to ensure he was comfortable with his new (used) EV.
Read the full testimonial here.

Drivers using The Charge Scheme have been just as enthusiastic. Pam Pinder found "The Charge Scheme was an amazing surprise. The app is fantastic, and the savings are very welcome, especially with the rising cost of living." Another early adopter, John, expects to save over £600 a year using The Charge Scheme, calling it "a huge relief" on his finances.

And it’s not just our customers who have felt the impact. Our employees have also embraced what it means to be part of a B Corp. From day one of certification, we noticed a surge of pride and motivation within the team. Knowing that we hold ourselves publicly accountable to robust social and environmental standards creates a shared sense of purpose.

Our CEO and Co-Founder, Thom Groot, said it best when he described the certification as “a testament to our dedication to transparency, accountability, and a profound sense of purpose. We believe that, as a B Corp, we can inspire others in our industry to embrace responsible business practices, fostering positive change on a global scale.”

Find out more about our mission and impact

As we celebrate our first B Corp anniversary, we're also looking to the future. By the time our recertification comes around, we aim to have an even higher score and new best practices to share.

Being a B Corp has made us a better company. It sharpened our focus, held us accountable to our mission, and connected us with a community of like-minded businesses. For The Electric Car Scheme, being a B Corp means our promise to "make Net Zero the obvious choice" is baked into our legal structure, our daily operations, and our long-term strategy.

We invite you to celebrate with us and support the broader movement of businesses that prioritise people and the planet. Together, we're showing the world that there is a better way of doing business – one that builds a more sustainable, equitable future for everyone.

Click here to learn more about our B-Corp certification, and our impact.

Happy B Corp Month!