Four years ago, Uber (UBER) made a pledge to globally transition all its vehicles from gas to electric by 2040. The company now runs a fleet of more than 140,000 electric vehicles (EVs) and oversees about 500 EV trips per minute. But that’s not enough for Dara Khosrowshahi, the company’s CEO. “Frankly, we need to increase that,” he said today (Sept. 23) at the Concordia Summit in New York.
In addition to its 2040 pledge, Uber has committed to becoming zero-emission across the U.S., Canada and Europe by the end of this decade. To help incentivize its drivers to make the transition away from gas as quickly as possible, the company invested $800 million in introducing a slew of new initiatives, such as paying Uber drivers higher rates for EV trips. “An EV driver is making more on every single trip, and it’s coming from our pockets because, without investment, the innovation is impossible,” said Khosrowshahi.
Uber drivers also receive discounts in the thousand-dollar range when they purchase EVs from Uber partners like the car retailer AutoNation and Tesla (TSLA). The company offers discounts on charging options for drivers because, according to Khosrowshahi, “the affordability is not quite where it needs to be. ”
Another barrier to Uber’s implementation of its green strategy is drivers’ anxiety about charging, which encompasses concerns over whether charging EVs will be too time-consuming, complicated or get in the way of Uber rides. To tackle this challenge, Khosrowshahi said the company has introduced a smart charging feature for EV drivers that alerts them where and when they should charge, optimizing for low rates and less busy times. To help drivers take advantage of local charging infrastructure, Uber has entered into strategic partnerships in certain cities. In New York, for example, it has investments and deals with the likes of Its Electric, a startup working on curbside EV charging, and the charging provider Revel.
Uber also recently entered into a partnership with the Chinese carmaker BYD to introduce 100,000 electric vehicles onto its platform in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (Uber isn’t available in China.) The deal aims to bolster Uber’s EV fleet outside of the U.S. and lower vehicle costs for Uber drivers. The July partnership followed Khosrowshahi’s warning in January that the EV market is suffering from a loss in demand as governments scale back on financial incentives and automakers focus on premium models. “The stark reality is that Uber will not reach our zero-emission goals without stronger action from policymakers and businesses,” Khosrowshahi wrote in a January op-ed published in Fast Company.
Uber’s climate mission isn’t limited to EVs. Khosrowshahi said Uber is also focused on boosting the popularity of its ride-sharing options. “We’re trying now to get riders to share the same car, so you drive down congestion and you drive down your emissions as well,” he said. “Affordable, sustainable, shared is what we’re trying to achieve.”
