Uber commits over $100 million to build out robotaxi charging network
Uber has announced this investment, which is intended to cover costs for site development, equipment, grid connections, and the associated infrastructure required to build charging stations, according to an Uber spokesperson speaking to Bloomberg. The company states that owning chargers ‘improves efficiency, lowers costs and keeps vehicles on the road longer, maximising utilisation and uptime,’ Uber stated in a release.
The company will provide its own DC fast chargers for its future robotaxi fleets. Later this year, Uber plans to roll out robotaxis across ten US cities. Central to this launch are two partnerships: firstly, Uber aims to deploy thousands of driverless ID. Buzz AD vans on US roads in collaboration with Volkswagen. Secondly, Uber plans to bring at least 20,000 autonomous vehicles based on the Lucid Gravity SUV to its platform in partnership with Lucid and Nuro.
Both partnerships align with the planned locations for the DC fast charging stations. The first rollout of the initiative with Lucid and Nuro will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, while the partnership with Volkswagen will launch in Los Angeles. Additionally, Uber has already introduced its own robotaxi service in Dallas in collaboration with the Texas-based startup Avride in December. Furthermore, robotaxis operated by Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, can already be booked via the Uber app in Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta.
However, electric mobility will play a greater role at Uber not only in the robotaxi sector but also for human-driven vehicles. For instance, Uber drivers in the US who wish to purchase an electric vehicle can receive a grant of up to $4,000 US dollars. To ensure that Uber drivers’ electric vehicles can be charged more effectively in the future, Uber has partnered with charging station operators, including EVgo for New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston; Electra for Paris and Madrid; and Hubber and Ionity for London.
These agreements aim to promote the installation of hundreds of new charging stations in these cities. Uber drivers will receive discounts at these charging stations, and in return, Uber will guarantee high utilisation rates. Uber already has a similar agreement with Revel in New York, where its drivers receive a 25% discount at Revel stations.
Jeroen van Tilburg, CEO of Ionity, commented on the partnership with Uber, stating that the platform’s data would help identify the best locations for building charging stations. “The biggest concern for every charge point operator is to identify the right location,” he told the New York Times.
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