Company Tesla business mileage in the UK: 7p home charging and 15p public charging

A company Tesla and a personally owned Tesla use different HMRC mileage systems. For an employee's own car, Approved Mileage Allowance Payments use the 55p/25p rates. For a fully electric company car, HMRC publishes Advisory Electric Rates that employers can use for business travel reimbursements.

1. Own Tesla and company Tesla are not the same mileage claim

This distinction is important. The 55p rate is designed to cover the wider cost of using an employee-owned car for business. The company already provides the company Tesla, so the relevant reimbursement is about the electricity used for business travel rather than ownership costs.

2. The current HMRC electric company-car rates

HMRC's rates applying from 1 June 2026 are:

HMRC allows these rates to be used when an employer reimburses employees for business travel in a company car. Payments at or below the relevant advisory rate can normally be made without creating a taxable profit or Class 1A National Insurance charge under the advisory-rate rules.

3. Mixed home and public charging needs a sensible split

A Tesla may be charged partly at home and partly on the public network. HMRC explicitly allows the mileage to be apportioned based on how much charging happens at each location.

Total advisory reimbursement in this example is £53.00.

4. Business miles still need to be separated from commuting and private travel

The rate is only useful once you know which journeys are business travel. Ordinary travel between home and a permanent workplace is normally private travel for HMRC purposes. Customer visits, travel between workplaces and genuine temporary-workplace journeys can be treated differently depending on the facts.

If the bigger question is whether the company car is available for private use at all, see the separate company car business vs private mileage guide. That is a benefit-in-kind question, not just a reimbursement calculation.

For a fully electric Tesla that is available for private use, see Tesla company car tax and BIK or use the Tesla BIK calculator.

5. What should the company Tesla mileage record contain?

For a robust expenses process, keep the factual trip information together with the confirmed business purpose. Useful fields include date, start and end location, distance, journey purpose and whether the trip is business, ordinary commuting or private. Where reimbursement depends on home versus public charging, the charging-source split also needs a supportable basis.

For the journey record itself, see the mileage tracker app for business. If you are comparing this with using your own car, the HMRC mileage rates 2026/27 calculator shows the approved 55p/25p framework.

DriveQuery's role is to collect the trip trail automatically and reduce manual classification. It should not silently decide the HMRC purpose of a new journey.

6. What if the real electricity cost is higher than the advisory rate?

The Advisory Electric Rate is a convenient HMRC benchmark, not the only possible reimbursement method. HMRC says employers can use their own rate where business-travel costs are higher than the guideline rate, provided the employer can demonstrate that the alternative rate reflects the actual circumstances.

This matters particularly for expensive public charging. The 15p/mile public AER is a standardised rate; a specific journey may cost more or less depending on the charger, efficiency and tariff.

7. Reimbursing actual home electricity is a separate route

HMRC guidance also recognises reimbursement of electricity used to charge a company electric car at an employee's home. That is a different method from simply multiplying business miles by the AER. Employers need to make sure the reimbursement relates to electricity used for the company electric car and apply the relevant expenses and benefits rules.

For DriveQuery, this creates a future opportunity to connect trip mileage + charging sessions rather than treating them as separate datasets.

8. Why DriveQuery fits a company Tesla

The repetitive work is not multiplying 500 miles by 7p. It is reconstructing which Tesla journeys were business travel, which were commuting, and whether the supporting data is complete. DriveQuery can capture every trip, learn recurring route categories and leave only uncertain journeys for review.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: HMRC – Advisory fuel and electric rates, HMRC – rates and thresholds for employers 2026/27, HMRC – electric company-car tax treatment and HMRC – ordinary commuting and private travel.