Splend, a provider of subscription vehicles for rideshare drivers, has secured $20 million in funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).

The money is intended to help the company  accelerate the electrification of its fleet and contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from cars on Australian roads. 

With this investment, Splend says it will expand its electric car fleet to approximately 1,000 vehicles, effectively doubling its current size.

The increased number of electric vehicles in Splend's fleet will enable the company to enter into more short- or long-term hire agreements, supporting the growth of sustainable transportation options. 

Some drivers have warned that hiring a car to make money so drastically eats into margins that it could be considered a ‘debt trap’. There is no suggestion that Splend may be involved in such practices. 

Ian Learmonth, CEO of the CEFC, says it is important to decarbonise the transport sector by transitioning fleet vehicles to electric. 

Learmonth noted that rideshare drivers, who cover significant distances, have the potential to lead the electrification movement and called for increased investment in charging infrastructure to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles.

Chris King, CEO of Splend, has expressed the company's desire to promote the use of electric vehicles among rideshare drivers to make the industry more sustainable. 

King has highlighted the current low percentage of EVs in the rideshare sector, with only 1 per cent of over 100,000 rideshare vehicles in Australia being electric. 

Splend aims to work with the CEFC to achieve its global fleet target of 10,000 EVs by 2024.

Splend has already made progress in introducing electric vehicles, having initiated the rollout of 500 EVs in Sydney during the fourth quarter of 2022. 

This milestone has made Splend the largest operator of electric vehicles in Australia. The company's EVs have collectively travelled over 6.2 million kilometres and saved more than 1,000 tonnes of CO2 tailpipe emissions.