Another 500 electric vehicles (EVs) will be offered to Australian ride-share drivers as part of a $20 million (US$13 million) government investment in cutting emissions from the growing industry.
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s latest cash injection in Splend, which rents electric vehicles to ride-share drivers, will double its financial support for the company.
Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the investment was designed to accelerate cuts to transport emissions as ride-share cars were driven up to four times as far as private-use vehicles.
The $20 million investment in Splend comes more than a year after the corporation first invested in the Sydney firm, and is expected to fund the addition of 500 electric cars, bringing its fleet to 2000 vehicles.
The corporation’s Chief executive Ian Learmonth said the investment proved popular with drivers and he hoped more would consider swapping their petrol cars for a battery-powered model.
“It is... a great opportunity to drive further emissions reduction in the hard-to-abate transport sector,” he said.
“By shifting the composition of the ride-share fleets towards EVs, ride-share drivers, and customers can do their part to reduce emissions and create healthier, cleaner roads to drive on.”
Bowen said electrifying the ride-share industry could make an even bigger impact on cutting emissions than EVs as personal cars.
“Ride-share drivers can clock over four times as many kilometres as typical vehicles,” he said.
“The more we help ride-share drivers choose cleaner, cheaper-to-run EVs, the greater savings they'll see and the more transport sector emissions we can cut.”
Bowen said using an electric vehicle could also save drivers up to 70 percent on fuel and 40 percent on maintenance.
The up-front cost of new electric vehicles is typically higher than their petrol and diesel equivalents, however, which has slowed their adoption in Australia.
Electric cars represented almost eight percent of new vehicles sold in the first six months of the year, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
Splend chief executive Chris King said the company launched rent and rent-to-own options to make electric vehicles more accessible to drivers.
The company, he said, planned to stop renting internal combustion vehicles to drivers within the next four years.
“By 2028, we’re going all-in on electric and aiming to support the transition of at least 25 percent of all ride-share vehicles to EV,” he said.
“It’s about driving real change for our planet and setting a new standard for urban mobility.”
Tech giant Uber launched an electric vehicle option in its Australian app in October last year, and has set a target to eliminate transport emissions on its platform by 2040.
The transport sector generates more than 21 percent of Australia’s carbon emissions and the federal government is currently seeking ways to cut its impact in the Transport and Infrastructure Net Zero Consultation Roadmap.
