Uber announced today that by 2040, all vehicles on its platforms will be electric, and vowed to contribute $800 million through 2025 to assist drivers in making the switch to battery-powered vehicles, which would include discounts for vehicles purchased or leased from partner automakers. The ride-hailing platform also set an earlier goal for every vehicle on its platform in the U.S., Canada, and Europe to be zero-emission by 2030.
Instead of paying drivers to switch from gas-powered vehicles to electric ones, Uber is incentivizing the switch by imposing an extra fee on trips completed in electric vehicles. For an additional fee of $1, riders can specifically request an electric or hybrid vehicle. All drivers with clean cars will get an extra 50 cents per ride, whilst those driving specifically battery-electric vehicles will get another dollar on top of that, making it a total of $1.50 extra per ride.
Starting today, the firm is making Uber Green available in more than 15 cities in the U.S., and Canada. Uber plans to extend the service to at least 65 cities worldwide by the end of this year.
Uber is also partnering with carmakers, including GM in the U.S. and Renault-Nissan in Europe, to make electric vehicles cheaper to buy for drivers. The firm added that it is discussing partnerships with other automakers. It also made its emission footprint data available and stated that it would publish such reports in the future.