Uber makes $26 million investment in electric vehicles

Uber is making a $26 million investment towards Australia’s electric vehicle market and is encouraging drivers on its platform to use electric vehicles. The investment is part of Uber’s push to reduce its vehicles’ emissions to zero by 2040.

As part of the initiative Uber will cut service fees for driver-partners that use eligible battery electric vehicles from 1 July, for the first 2500 people to join the program and at a cap of $3500 for each driver. The program begins 1 July and runs until 2025.

A successful trial of reducing service fees for EV drivers has been running for the last year in Australia, with hundreds of thousands of EV trips completed in that time and the number of these trips increasing fivefold. The trial saved around 502 tonnes of CO₂ and drivers saved an average of $5500 each.

“At Uber we believe the future of transport is shared and electric, and we are committed to accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in Australia. This investment is about providing incentives to help driver partners make the switch to electric, and the results from the past year have been phenomenal,” said Dom Taylor, GM Rides, Uber Australia and New Zealand.

“The number of driver-partners using EVs on the platform has almost quadrupled, with five times as many EV trips being taken now than before we began the initiative, equating to over 500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions saved.

“So we know this approach is producing results and we also know that driver partners want the program extended. We want to do our bit — we’ve listened to them and have extended this initiative for another three years.”

The push to adopt more electric vehicles for its drivers is partly due to Australia’s low rate of EV uptake, with only a small number of the number of vehicles on the country’s roads being electric.

Matthew Kean, NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy, said: “Governments and the private sector need to work together to achieve net zero by 2050, and a key part of this is ensuring that we accelerate the use of more sustainable transport options.

“It’s great to see big businesses like Uber invest heavily in the industry and this initiative will help to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles with rideshare drivers in a cost-effective way. NSW has a nation-leading EV strategy and our commitment to tax reform and government rebates, together with support from private companies, will lay the foundation for an EV revolution across the state.”

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