Uber pledges 100% electric vehicles globally by 2040

Uber promises that by 2040 all trips booked via its ride-hailing platform worldwide will be made with electric vehicles or micro-mobility offers such as e-scooters or rental bicycles. In the USA, Canada and Europe, this goal is to be reached by 2030.

The company is now announcing that it will provide 800 million dollars to help hundreds of thousands of Uber drivers make the transition to electric vehicles by 2025. This includes discounts for electric vehicles purchased or leased from partner manufacturers. To offer drivers attractive offers for electric cars , Uber has entered into two partnerships with car manufacturers: With General Motors for the USA and Canada and the Renault Nissan Alliance for European cities in the UK, France, the Netherlands and Portugal.

The $800-million will finance not only vehicle discounts for drivers but also a fare surcharge for electric and hybrid vehicles. This should make up for any additional costs for the drivers. So Uber also wants to cross-finance the costs through customers – at least those who request a “green ride” via the platform. The ‘Uber Green’ service is currently being tested in 15 cities in North America, and by the end of the year, the service is to be offered in 65 cities worldwide.

In Europe, Uber Green is to be expanded in conjunction with the Renault-Nissan cooperation – i.e. in Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Portugal. The cities in these countries are said to account for around 80 per cent of the European business of the driving broker.

However, in a statement from Renault-Nissan there is also talk of “other markets“. First of all, the British model, where Uber 2,000 Nissan Leaf have been ordered for London, is to be extended to France by the end of 2020, followed by the Netherlands, Portugal and the “other markets” mentioned above. So far we have heard of Uber Green in Bucharest as well as Kyiv. Besides, joint marketing and training measures with test drives are planned to familiarize Uber partner drivers with the offers and advantages of electric vehicles.

While the exact conditions for Uber drivers are not known at Renault-Nissan, General Motors claims to grant Uber-drivers the same discount as GM employees. At present, however, the offer is only to include the Chevrolet Bolt EV. Uber drivers will receive a 20 per cent discount from GM on accessories such as a wall box. In terms of charging infrastructure, Uber is also cooperating with BP, EVgo, Enel X, EDF and Power Dot.

Uber still has room for expansion in the electrical component. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, only 0.15 per cent of all miles driven in the USA and Canada were electric.

reuters.com, techcrunch.com, uber.com, nissannews.com, gm.com