Cox Automotive and Spring Free EV Partner to Provide Used EVs to Small Businesses

A new used electric vehicle subscription program is now available through a partnership between Cox Automotive and Fintech startup Spring Free EV.

The new partnership allows business owners to more comfortably transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric ones, paying a per-mile usage fee along with a small monthly subscription fee.

Sunil Paul, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded ride services company Sidecar and co-founder of the San Francisco startup Spring Free EV, says, “The biggest problem with EVs is that they cost too much, especially up front, compared with gas-powered cars, even though the operating cost of EVs is much lower,"

Spring Free EV has vehicle supply agreements with Nissan, Tesla, and others.

Cox Automotive, an Atlanta-based company and unit of Cox Enterprises, will handle vehicle acquisition, refurbishment and delivery, while Spring Free EV will handle the financial transactions with small and medium businesses.

Paul says there’s no up-front cost due to Spring Free EV’s “mileage purchase agreement,” which works like a subscription; users are required to keep the used EV for at least a year and drive a minimum number of miles. Users have the option to purchase the third-party owned vehicles.

The initial target audience is owners of businesses from ride sharing to delivery with high-mileage vehicle fleets.

Spring Free EV is backed by several Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, both of whom also have invested in Joby Aviation, the electric aerial vehicle startup.

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