Uber the biggest ride-hailing company of the world is planning to switch to electric cars completely and it has announced 800$ million of investment for fast transition. To accelerate the process Uber is partnering with General motors’ that will give a discount to the Uber drivers upon buying electric Chevy bolt. This move of Uber could be considered as a response to Lyft that has already made a similar announcement earlier this year and has a plan of electrifying all its vehicles by 2030.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told reporters that; Uber has a clear responsibility to reduce our environmental impact, “Today, we’re committing to working with cities to build back better together and tackle the climate crisis more aggressively than ever before.”
Switch to electric vehicles by ride-hailing companies could bring a great impact over environment because bigger companies like Uber and Lyft are now present in about all the countries of the world and Millions of people are driving with these companies as a full-timer and Part-timer moreover this shift to electric cars will also encourage other non-uber users to adopt electric cars earlier.
Read Also:Â Toyota and UBER on the same Path for Autonomous carsÂÂ
“Uber is committing to become a fully zero-emission platform by 2040, with 100% of rides taking place in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micro-mobility. We’re also setting an earlier goal to have 100% of rides take place in electric vehicles (EVs) in the US, Canadian, and European cities by 2030. In fact, we believe we can achieve this 2030 goal in any major city where we can work with local stakeholders to implement policies that ensure a fair transition to EVs for drivers. In addition to our platform goals, we’re also committed to reaching net-zero emissions from our corporate operations by 2030. All told, hitting these goals would put us a decade ahead of Paris Climate Agreement targets.”
The 800$ Million investment by Uber is particularly to help drivers for transitioning to electric cars by 2025 moreover in US and Canada company also paying extra money to drivers those have electric vehicles for hailing.
“Drivers who choose to drive greener and electric vehicles will earn extra money with each trip. In the US and Canada, hybrid and EV drivers will receive an extra $0.50 directly from the rider on every Uber Green trip completed. Since our goal is to ultimately transition all drivers to zero-emission vehicles, drivers using a zero-emission vehicle (namely, a battery EV) will receive an additional $1.00 for every trip they complete in the US and Canada. This means that battery EV drivers* will receive both incentives—a total of $1.50 extra—for every Uber Green trip they complete.”
Read Also:Â GRAB Singapore Based Riding Hailing Company in Pakistan | GRAB in Partnered with Careem
The Plan of Uber is to 100 per cent electric by 2040 while Lyft is planning to switch 100% by 2030. This switch will no doubt be a great step toward saving the environment but we all know that other than being expensive, electric cars require a lot of time to charge and unlike gasoline cars electric cars will face a lot of trouble finding points and charging their vehicles during a ride. We have to see how the ride-hailing companies will tackle low electric driving range and slow charging.
