The higher price of electric vehicles due to battery costs often leaves consumers with a cold feeling when considering the switch to zero emissions transport, while others look to their vehicles as a source of income in order to help cover the purchase price.
But this can see electric vehicles hit another snag, as insurance premiums for the cars with pure electric drivetrains are not only higher and harder to find than for internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalents, they are often more expensive.
For drivers wanting to use their vehicles as income – by either ridesharing with an outfit like Uber or renting out their vehicle with startups like Australia’s Evee – the problem is compounded by the fact that to date there has been no insurance solution that covers the vehicle when being car-shared.
This problem has now been solved by Evee, which offers drivers the chance to make a financial return on renting out their vehicles in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast.
Often the problem with traditional insurance companies is that they work on historical data, founder Slava Kozlovskii tells The Driven.
“The insurance industry is very slow to develop and adapt, because they reply on historical data and there’s very little for electric vehicles,” he says.
“Through 3 years of continuous work and perseverance, we were able to collect and present real usage data to prove electric vehicles aren’t just a novelty in the motoring industry, and that they’re here to stay,” says Kozlovskii.
With a solution now available for drivers through the Evee platform, it is the first company in Australia to solve the problem of providing cover while car-sharing an electric vehicle.
The estimates provided by Evee for electric vehicle models currently available in Australia are not necessarily the lowest, Kozlovskii says, but it is the only solution to offer cover to allow drivers to get that financial return from ride-sharing.
Not only that – according to founder Slava Kozlovskii, the potential financial return from hiring an electric vehicle out can also mean that there is in effect zero price to pay for insuring the vehicle.
“No other business within Australia enables owners to rent out their electric vehicles, we are proud that Evee is the first to make this dream a reality.
“In most cases, the insurance cost will cost owners nothing if they simply rent their car through Evee for as little as several days per year,” says Kozlovskii.
To get access, owners need to have vehicles listed on the Evee platform, although there is no expectation of a minimum number of days it needs to be hired out.
The new package is now available but Kozlovskii says that given enough interest, the platform is also considering an insurance package sans ride-share premium.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.