By Aditi Shah and Navamya Ganesh Acharya
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU (Reuters) -Ride-hailing platform Uber Technologies is stepping up its efforts to go green in India by introducing more electric vehicles, partnering with fleet operators, boosting financing options and giving its users the option to hire electric vehicles while booking their ride.
As part of the launch of Uber Green in June, it will add 25,000 electric cars on its platform in partnership with fleet providers like Lithium, Everest and Moove, the company said on Wednesday.
Besides, it will roll out 10,000 electric two-wheelers in Delhi by 2024 along with Zypp Electric, another EV start-up.
It has also joined hands with micro-lender SIDBI to provide 10 billion rupees ($122.3 million) in financing to buy clean cars and build charging stations with partners.
The move comes as a new entrant BluSmart, an electric mobility start-up backed by BP’s venture fund, is chipping away at the dominance of Uber and SoftBank-backed Ola with bets on an all-electric taxi fleet and an aggressive bid to lure disgruntled passengers and drivers from the incumbents.
“India’s huge scale and electrification momentum makes the country a priority for Uber as we seek to meet our commitment to electrify every ride on our platform by 2040,” said Andrew Macdonald, the senior vice president for mobility and business operations at Uber.
Additionally, in partnership with Jio-bp, Uber is bringing its global mobility agreement with BP Pulse to India. The partnership, while enabling Uber drivers to access their charging networks, will also help develop new charging infrastructure.
The plans for a green fleet underscore Uber’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2040. Uber is targetting more than 1 million EVs in India and South Asia, considering it “a key piece” in its regional growth strategy, a company job ad on LinkedIn said.
Earlier this year, it unveiled plans to introduce EVs in India for ride-sharing, its first move to adopt clean cars amid an Indian government push for greater electrification of public transport and shared mobility.
(Reporting by Aditi Shah in New Delhi and Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
