Blablacar, a French carpooling platform with over 20 million users in France, has been hailed as a model of innovative start-ups. However, it has been revealed that the company has benefited from significant financial support from the French government, totaling several tens of millions of euros per year. This support has been given to Blablacar almost exclusively for the past decade, allowing the company to thrive and grow into a global leader in carpooling.
The story began in 2012 when Total, a major French energy company now known as TotalEnergies, approached Blablacar, then known as Covoiturage.fr, with a unique proposition. As part of an environmental obligation imposed by the French government on energy providers, Total was required to finance actions promoting energy efficiency. Total saw an opportunity to support the development of carpooling as a way to reduce the environmental impact of individual car trips, where vehicles typically carry only 1.4 passengers on short journeys.
TotalEnergies proposed a deal where Blablacar would generate energy savings certificates (CEE) for each new user registered on the platform. These CEEs would be sold to TotalEnergies at a predetermined price, effectively creating a partnership between the energy company and the carpooling platform. The specifics of this arrangement, known as the “specific CEE operation,” were kept confidential, but it provided Blablacar with a significant source of revenue and a competitive advantage in the market.
While the partnership with TotalEnergies was publicly announced in 2012, the full extent of the financial support provided by the energy company was not widely known. In addition to offering fuel cards to new Blablacar users, TotalEnergies also made direct payments to the carpooling platform for every registered driver. These CEEs quickly became a valuable asset for Blablacar, helping the company attract new users, secure investments, and outperform its competitors. According to industry experts, Blablacar’s success and growth would not have been possible without the financial support received from TotalEnergies.
As Blablacar continued to benefit from the CEEs provided by TotalEnergies, the carpooling platform expanded its services to new markets and increased its user base. The financial support from the energy company allowed Blablacar to scale its operations and become a global leader in carpooling, with a strong presence in multiple countries. In 2022, the French President Emmanuel Macron praised Blablacar as a source of national pride, highlighting its success as a French-born start-up that has revolutionized the concept of carpooling.
Despite the controversy surrounding the financial support received from TotalEnergies and the French government, Blablacar remains a popular and successful platform for carpooling, with millions of users worldwide. The partnership with TotalEnergies, while initially shrouded in secrecy, played a crucial role in the growth and expansion of Blablacar as a global leader in sustainable transportation. Time will tell how the company continues to evolve and innovate in the changing landscape of the sharing economy.
