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Uber Wants An All EV Fleet, But They Don’t Own Any Vehicles

As the world tries to create the tipping point for mass adoption of electric vehicles, some companies are taking the lead. After all, it will likely rely on big business to be the ones to finally give up on the old internal combustion engine and move permanently away from fossil fuels.

And Uber has suggested that it is right there ready to be the one to do so. They have hinted that they would like to phase out regular cars and replace all of them with electric vehicles. Going 100% EV would be quite a coup and could signal the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine.

There’s one problem with their plan, however.

Uber doesn’t own any of their vehicles. They have even been resisting categorizing their drivers as employees so it is a bit of a mystery as to how they plan to achieve this grand plan. Since their driver’s own the cars and Uber says that they are independent contractors, it’s not clear how this can come to fruition.

How can they convince their drivers to buy an electric?

Many of the drivers for Uber are not full time so they won’t be very eager to go and buy an electric vehicle. Many cost well over $30,000 so it would be out of reach for most of their drivers regardless of whether they are full time or part time drivers.

Even if many were able to buy, they might be hesitant to spend the money anyway. A full time driver will likely need to pause at some point to charge up. This isn’t much of an issue with Supercharger Map type apps that can help a driver find the closest charging station, however.

There are benefits to them buying an electric, however. Since these cars require little maintenance they will cost a fraction to run. Driving professionally puts a lot of strain on a car, and this makes maintenance a real issue for drivers. Having that lower would be very beneficial. That and the cost of gas goes down to zero with the only cost to operate being the electricity bill.

Though the one big expense is changing batteries. And with the kind of mileage a full time driver has to put in, then this could happen after a few years.

Uber has said that it will spend around $160 million annually until 2025 to give some incentives to drivers to make the switch. Part of that money is going to be used to partner up with car manufacturers directly to give drivers a steep discount on a new EV. They could end up with almost $3,000 off a Chevy Bolt for instance. And then there are other deals like a 10% lifetime discount on charging and even a deal with Avis to see about leasing options for new drivers that don’t have a car.

Not only that, but drivers will make $1 more per trip when they have an electric only car and $0.50 per trip if they have a hybrid.

Uber has already tried a pilot program offering additional pay for drivers with existing EVs already. It only lasted about a year and was discontinued when it proved to be difficult to implement on a large scale. If the whole fleet is electric then this could change.

What it could mean for the environment

With most of Uber’s rides happening in major cities, this would go a long way towards reducing emission in the places where it counts the most. A typical passenger car emits up to 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. This could be much more for the average Uber driver who can rack up as many as 30,000 miles per year.

Taking hundreds of cars out of that equation would do wonders for any city.

Then, it could lead the way for others to do the same. Once companies can see how their scheme worked and how the logistics were covered to keep the fleet running efficiently, then this could spur others to take the leap. Thi domino effect could then lead to the tipping point that starts to see an acceleration of the mass adoption of electric vehicles in the next few years.

How this all shakes out remains to be seen, but if Uber does pull this off then look for big things to follow it.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of EconoTimes

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