Ride-hailing rental start-up and Uber partner adds its first Tesla to the mix

Ride-hailing rental startup Splend says it has taken delivery of its first Tesla, marking the “first of many” electric vehicle models the company plans to add to its Australian fleet over coming months.

Splend, which is Australia’s largest supplier of hire vehicles to ride share giant Uber, last year committed to replace half of its 1,500 fleet of cars in Australia with electric vehicles by the end of 2022.

The Sydney-based company last week posted a photo on LinkedIn of its very first of the US company’s EVs to be delivered for use in its fleet – a white one and presumably a Model 3, The Driven is waiting confirmation on the details – adorned with new Splend plates, which it said would be added to various new vehicles.

“Exciting things are happening at Splend!” The LinkedIn post said. “We’ve taken delivery of our first Tesla this week at our Member Support Centre in Sydney. This is the first of many EV models we’ll be adding to our Australian fleet over the coming months.”

Splend also noted in the post that Uber Australia had reduced its commission by 50% for every EV ride until the end of June to incentivise drivers to make the shift to electric rideshare cars.

“In order to support our members make the switch, we will be introducing a diverse range of EVs at various price points,” the post said.

Currently, according to the company’s website, Splend’s Flexi rent-to-own plan offers two all-electric vehicle options – and for now, that’s in NSW only: a Tesla Model 3 or a Polestar 2 EV.

Splend last year signed a memorandum of understanding for an order of electric vehicles with Australian zero-emissions transport outfit Nexport, which is the exclusive distributor of BYD EVs in Australia. Nothing more appears to have come from the MOU, however.