Octopus in electric car deal

RENEWABLE energy supplier Octopus has signed a multi-million pound finance deal with NatWest to accelerate its electric car business.

The high street lender’s Lombard division has provided a credit line to Octopus Electric Vehicles that will help it buy £500million of cars from Tesla, Volkswagen, Nissan and others over the next year.

Octopus leases the cars to firms looking to reduce the carbon footprint of their company car fleets.

Firms provide the cars to employees, who pay part of their gross salary to cover the costs of buying and running the vehicle, typically £35 less a month than for petrol or diesel cars. Co-op Energy and Purplebricks are two of 550 firms signed up to Octopus’s scheme.