Uber’s green push: Cab aggregator to bring e-car option from June 

NEW DELHI:  Planning to go all-electric in India by 2040, cab aggregator Uber on Tuesday announced rollout of Uber Green in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, starting June 2023. This service, currently present in 100+ cities in 15 countries across the world, allows passengers to request an all-electric vehicle rather than a regular fossil-fuelled car.

To support the services, Uber will deploy 25,000 electric vehicles across Uber’s top seven cities via partnerships with Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet Private Limited and Moove. Uber is also tying up with Zypp Electric to deploy 10,000 electric two-wheelers by 2024. Over 1,000 Zypp Electric two-wheelers are already deployed on Uber Moto in Delhi.

Uber’s shift towards EV comes as it faces competition from electric taxi aggregator BluSmart Mobility and long-time competitor Ola. Earlier this year, Uber had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Motors to introduce around 25,000 XPRES–Tata Motor EVs in the Indian market.

For EV financing, Uber and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have signed an MoU to support the purchase of cleaner fuel vehicles – EV and CNG. The partnership will help provide affordable loans of approximately Rs 1,000 crore.

“Going all-electric is a challenge that’s bigger than Uber. We can’t do it alone. To be successful, 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,” said Prabhjeet Singh, President, Uber India and South Asia.