On Tuesday, September 8th, Uber emailed drivers the following:

Committed to a green future with you

Starting today, we’re introducing Green Future, a program designed to help hundreds of thousands of drivers transition to battery electric vehicles by 2025 in Canada, Europe, and the US.

Supporting your choice to transition to electric vehicles is the first step to decarbonizing and electrifying trips on the Uber platform. Our goal is to build a fully multimodal and zero-emission platform. By 2030, we’ll enable 100% of rides to take place in battery EVs in US and Canadian cities as well as in any global city where we can ensure a fair transition for drivers. We expect these cities to be ones where policies and conditions are such that the present costs of EV ownership parallel those of gas-powered vehicles.

Thinking of going electric?

If you’re thinking about making the switch to a battery electric vehicle, here are some ways the Green Future program can help you:

Exclusive deals: Through our partners, you can find affordable deals including vehicle discounts with GM and home charger discounts with Enel X.*

Access to Uber Green trips: We’re introducing Uber Green, the new, low-emission ride option.** Drivers of hybrid and electric vehicles get exclusive access to Uber Green trips.

An opportunity to earn more: In addition to standard UberX fares, drivers with electric vehicles earn $1.50 extra on every Uber Green trip and $1 extra on any other trip they take (up to $4,000 annually) if they choose to opt in to the Zero Emissions incentive.***

Learn more: https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/services/electric/

While CIDU endorses Uber's willingness to take corporate responsibility for combatting climate change, we believe that it is vital that drivers have a voice in the process and that the economic realities of the drivers whose hard work and personal vehicles have built the foundation on which Uber can now pivot to a "green" future are taken into consideration. What about drivers who can't afford to purchase an electric vehicle and might not be able to make the transition before 2025? What considerations is Uber making to ensure that all current drivers can play a role in the "green" future? ? Also, how does Uber's plans to deploy a fleet of autonomous (driverless) cars play into the these "going green" plans over the next 10 years? What do you think?

Author: CIDU News
Published on: 2020-09-08, 11:53 PM UTC