More rides and deliveries could take place in second-hand electric vehicles if a pilot program launched by Uber takes off in Australia.
The tech giant announced its vehicle trial on Tuesday after partnering with Queensland firm Car Empire to offer discounted access to used electric cars from Japan.
The Nissan Leaf models, which will cost about $22,000, will be offered to delivery as well as ride-share drivers for the first time.
The program comes less than a week after the Clean Energy Finance Corporation invested another $20 million in supporting electric vehicle ride-share loans and after the price of Australia's cheapest EV dropped below $35,000.
Uber Australia and New Zealand managing director Emma Foley said despite these and other efforts to help professional drivers adopt electric cars, their high initial cost remained a speed bump.
Making used electric vehicles available in Australia, she said, could help to accelerate their adoption and deliver more low-emission transport options for all motorists.
"New electric vehicle purchase numbers are coming up – in 2023, 8.5 per cent of new vehicles in Australia were EVs – but the second-hand market is still less than one per cent," she said.
"We hope that, long-term, this becomes a catalyst for the wider market because ride-share drivers might have these cars for a few years and on-sell them."
Uber's second-hand EV trial will extend to drivers in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and will give them access to used Nissan Leaf vehicles from 2017 to 2019.
The vehicles, which will be packaged with three-year warranties and roadside assistance, will be available on five-year loans for $124 per week.
Car Empire director David Cosgrove said the company had 20 EVs ready and could import up to 200 models per week, depending on demand.
"Not everybody wants a $50,000 or $60,000 new EV – the cost of living is up," he told AAP.
"There is a gap in the market for second-hand (electric) cars which Australia can't really fill because the pool of second-hand vehicles is very small."
Ms Foley said she hoped second-hand EVs would appeal to delivery drivers in particular, and the company could expand the trial into other states to meet its 2040 net-zero goal.
"We'd love to take this to the rest of Australia," she said.
"This early trial in Brisbane will test how things go but we would love to scale this more broadly if we get good feedback from drivers."
Last week, the federal government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation invested $20 million in car finance firm Splend to help make another 500 electric vehicles available to ride-share drivers in Australia.
MG also dropped the price of its electric SUV, the ZS EV, below $35,000, making it the least expensive electric car on sale in Australia.
The growth of electric vehicles has slowed in 2024, however, with figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showing EV sales grew by eight per cent over the past year.
