Uber, who has around 40,000 drivers in London, wants them all to switch to either electric or hybrid vehicles by 2020. This comes as a surprise as Uber is definitely looking at being part of the solution to reduce emissions in the capital. London already has plans to ban all fossil fuel burning cars in the city by 2040.
Of course, not everyone will switch but Uber plans to incentivize the move with a £5,000 for people who switch. They are also planning to invest up to £150million in a “Clean Air” fund where they have already fronted £2million and also started charging 35p charge per drive in London to fund the rest of the fund.
Fred Jones, Uber’s Head of UK Cities said (via Engadget):
“Air pollution is a growing problem and we’re determined to play our part. Londoners already know many cars on our app are hybrids, but we want to go much further and go all electric in the capital.”
Uber also plans to incentivise the first 1,000 Londoners who ditch their older diesel cars with £1,500 in credit to use on Uber. In London, Uber’s competitor comes in the form of the iconic London Black cabs which has also announced that they are switching over to electric powertrains.
This goes along with the trend where many car makers (Volvo, Jaguar) who have categorically announced that they will stop producing fuel combustion engine cars in the future and focus fully on electric vehicles.
[Source: Guardian]
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