Uber partners with EV makers to accelerate transition towards sustainable mobility

New Delhi: Ride-hailing app Uber on Wednesday announced partnerships with various electric vehicle makers and other entities in India to accelerate the transition of its partners towards sustainable mobility.

The company said it has expanded its partnership with EV fleet partners Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet Pvt Ltd and Moove in order to deploy 25,000 electric cars in India on the Uber platform over the next two years.

Besides, Uber said it has teamed up with Zypp Electric for 10,000 EV two-wheelers in Delhi by 2024.

The company also announced a partnership with SIDBI to unlock Rs 1,000 crore in EV financing.

Uber said it is also bringing its global partnership with BP to India through Jio-bp and has also tied up with GMR Green Energy for fast charging Uber EVs.

As part of the sustainability push, the San Francisco-based firm also announced the rollout of Uber Green in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, starting June.

The Uber Green initiative allows passengers to request an all-electric, zero tail-pipe emission vehicle rather than a regular fossil-fuelled car.

Uber Green is the most widely available on-demand mobility solution in the world for no or low-emission rides, present in 100 plus cities in 15 countries around the world.

"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," Senior Vice President, Mobility and Business Operations at Uber Andrew Macdonald said.

The company is taking a major step towards that goal with the launch of Uber Green, he added.

"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," Macdonald stated.

He noted that India is a critical market for Uber with around 8 lakh active partners already on the platform and growing quickly.

India is the third largest country in terms of volumes for Uber and the company would continue to invest in the country to drive future growth, Macdonald said.

He said the ride-hailing service is available across 125 cities across the country.

Globally, Uber is present across 70 countries and 10,000 cities.

Uber India and South Asia President Prabhjeet Singh said going all-electric is a challenge and 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," he added.

Uber has committed to become a zero-emission mobility platform by 2030 in Europe and North America, and globally by 2040.

The company has more than tripled the number of electric vehicles on the platform and connected 31 million unique riders with a ride in an electric vehicle in 2022.