Going 'Green': Uber gears up to add 25,000 electric vehicles to fleet

Ride-hailing platform Uber on Wednesday announced the launch of Uber Green in India – to allow users to book electric vehicle (EV) rides – along with multiple new partnerships for financing, access, and charging for a new fleet of electric cars and two-wheelers.

With Uber Green, passengers can choose to request an all-electric, zero-tailpipe emission vehicle, rather than an internal combustion engine (ICE) car. The service will be initially rolled out in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, starting in June. The company aims to become a ‘zero-emission’ platform by 2040. Uber Green is currently active in over 100 cities in 15 countries.

As part of the new push for electric mobility, Uber will add 25,000 electric cars to its fleet in the top seven cities by expanding its partnership with EV fleet partners like Lithium, Everest, and Moove. The global ride-hailing giant has also teamed up with Zypp Electric for 10,000 EV two-wheelers in Delhi by 2024. Uber Auto and Uber Moto together amount to over 50 per cent of its ride bookings in India.

Uber has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SDBI) to support drivers to purchase EVs and CNG vehicles. This will help provide affordable loans of a total of nearly Rs 1,000 crore, the company said.

The development comes on the back of rising competition posed by electric mobility start-up BluSmart, whose monthly revenue has grown threefold over the past three quarters, operates electric vehicles, unlike its competitors. BluSmart has more than 2,300 EV charging points across Delhi NCR and Bengaluru and claims to have saved about 12.6 million litres of fossil fuel so far.

“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,” said Andrew Macdonald, senior vice-president, mobility and business operations at Uber.

The company currently has around 800,000 active driver partners in India and enables some 500 million trips per year. However, the company did not disclose the possible pricing of its EV rides in India. Investments in infrastructure, lack of availability of charging facilities near drivers, and low earning opportunities due to long charging times may result in higher than normal ride prices for EV rides in early days.

“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,” said Prabhjeet Singh, President, of Uber India and South Asia.