Mobility giant Uber expanded its Comfort Electric program to 15 additional U.S. cities recently, bringing to more than 25 the number of metropolitan areas where program users have access to a fleet of 100% electric vehicles. In Canada, the program already exists in Vancouver.
It should be noted that the vehicles in the Comfort Electric program must be electric, as Uber wants to offer a fleet of high-quality electric vehicles such as Tesla, Polestar, and Ford.
Now, Uber intends to go further by becoming a fully electric company by the end of the decade. That’s what CBS reporter Ben Tracy found out in an interview with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. In fact, this desire to go fully electric by 2030 applies to North America and Europe for now.
So it’s important to understand that drivers of vehicles with combustion engines will be encouraged to switch to electric drive by 2030. “If we do our job, we will be all-electric,” he added.
To help drivers who want to switch to an electric vehicle more quickly, the ride-sharing company has planned to spend about $800 million on various incentives. For now, Uber is offering discounts on electric vehicle charging and paying electric vehicle drivers a dollar for every ride they take. Uber also recently announced that it is partnering with rental giant Hertz on the possibility of long-term Tesla rentals.
The company is well aware that its Comfort Electric program is not the most affordable option on the market right now, but senior management believes that the more demand there is, the more EV drivers there will be and the more affordable the service will become over time. As of this writing, Uber has more than 26,000 electric vehicles in its fleet, a statistic that could double by 2023.
