The Expert Podcast

So many things are different about electric vehicles. One thing is how you buy them. We saw the other day a company called Tenet that offers a balloon program where you don’t have to finance the whole thing—you can hold some of it out to get a rebate from taxes.

Today, another company called Driving Away introduces a subscription model for vehicles. Instead of buying or leasing, you simply pay for a subscription. They have a financial plan that allows you to just drive the car, and you can probably switch the car around too.

The way they word it is that it's an app where, regardless of credit, you can immediately start driving a new Bolt EV through a turnkey vehicle subscription. It includes insurance, maintenance, service—everything you need to have a vehicle. And this is a full plug-in electric vehicle.

This is the type of modern financial technology that will be attached to new types of electric vehicles to make the ownership experience different from gasoline vehicles. These companies recognize that electric vehicles are a rapidly growing segment, and their usage might be non-traditional.

You might not need a car for three to four weeks if you’re working from home, or even for a month. A subscription allows you to use it for different intervals. So be aware that not only are electric vehicles different in their architecture, but the ownership experience and payment structure might also be different from traditional legacy ownership—buying, leasing, money down, interest rates.

It might be a more app-driven experience, just like everything else in modern technology.