The Latest Employee Perk: Electric Vehicles

Get this, the latest perk from Silicon Valley employers is free fuel for employee cars and the ability to use the carpool lane even when driving solo.

How does that work? In the competition to attract and retain the best employees in a market with lots of demand and not enough supply, employers offer stock options, free food, bonuses, coffee, and transportation. The latest perk from these creative companies is Electric Vehicle charging.

The employers that have gone this route are a who’s who of progressive companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, 3M, Pixar, Dell, Adobe, and even Yahoo!

What does that mean to the employee? For one thing, they no longer spend money on gasoline and they don’t even have to use home electricity for their car. Their company pays for it all.  And it enables them to own the coolest cars on the road.

It also means they have a preferred parking space at work and for some, the most important perk at all, the right to drive in the carpool lane any time they want, with or without passengers.

What’s in it for the employer? Happy, loyal employees, LEED points for their buildings, a 30 percent tax writeoff on all they spend on EV charging, and a reputation for supporting clean energy.  Everybody wins with this latest perk.

Richard Lowenthal lives in Cupertino and founded electric vehicle charging company ChargePoint right here on Bubb Road. He’s also a former Cupertino Mayor and guest contributor to Cupertino Patch.

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