Uber forays into green mobility space; launches Uber Green

Ride-hailing app Uber on Wednesday launched Uber Green as part of the company’s sustainability push. With this, the company has forayed into the electric vehicle segment. Uber Green, which is already present in over 100 cities in 15 countries, will be rolled out beginning June this year, in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

According to the company, Uber Green allows passengers to request an all-electric, zero-tailpipe emission vehicle rather than the regular fossil-fuelled car. With the new initiative, the company plans to electrify every ride on its platform in India by 2040.

"India's huge scale and electrification momentum makes the country a priority for Uber as we seek to meet our commitment to electrify every ride on our platform by 2040. Today, we are taking a major step toward that goal with the launch of Uber Green. We know that our impact goes beyond technology. We are determined to become allies of cities and governments as they seek to combat climate change and pollution through sustainable mobility," says Andrew MacDonald, senior vice president, Mobility and Business Operations, Uber.

As part of the new initiative, the ride-hailing app has partnered with some companies that are prominent in the EV space. Uber, which already has more than eight lakh driver partners across 125 cities, will also be investing $800 million, in the form of incentives to make this transition i.e. from fossil-fuelled vehicles to electric vehicles for its drivers by 2025. In order to expand, its electric vehicle fleet size, the company has partnered with electric vehicle companies such as Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet Private Limited and Moove, to deploy 25,000 electric vehicles across the company’s top 7 cities for faster adoption of EVs by its drivers.

For Uber Moto, which is the company’s two-wheeler riding option, Uber has partnered with electric two-wheeler manufacturer Zypp Electric to deploy 1,000 electric two-wheelers by 2024. Of this, more than 1,000 Zypp electric two-wheelers are already deployed in Uber Moto in Delhi, the company says. 

The company has also partnered with Jio-bp and GMR  to enhance and enable the new EV charging infrastructure in the country. To facilitate the purchase of cleaner fuel vehicles such as EVs and CNG, the company has also partnered with SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) to provide affordable loans to its partners for shifting from high-emission fuel vehicles to no or low-tailpipe emission vehicles.

"Going all-electric is a challenge that’s bigger than Uber. We can’t do it alone. To be successful, the economic burden of making the transition to EVs should not fall on drivers. With these industry-leading partnerships, we are matching commitment with action to help drivers go electric faster and supercharge sustainable transition in India’s ride-sharing industry," says Prabhjeet Gill, president, Uber India and South Asia.

Apart from India, the company plans to become a zero-emissions mobility platform by 2030 in Europe and North America, and globally by 2040. In February this year, Uber partnered with Tata Motors, the country’s largest EV manufacturer, to provide 25,000 EVs into Uber India’s Premium Category service.