The chief of ride-hailing giant, Uber, says the company is working to phase-out internal combustion engines powering its fleet by the turn of the decade and will turn away ICE owners looking to drive for Uber.
Speaking with media in the USA, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company has already looked to accelerate the number of EVs in its fleet with the goal of making its services EV-only by 2030.
Khosrowshahi said the target is primarily for the North American and European markets, stating that “we have a target to be fully electric” before the end of the decade.
When pressed whether or not owners of an internal combustion vehicle will be able to sign up and drive for Uber, she said: “No, if we’re doing our job, we’re going to be all-electric.”
Uber has previously stated plans to spend around $800 million to offset some of the cost burdens for its drivers moving to an electric vehicle, often paying EV owners a dollar per trip to help incentivise electric vehicles.
The company recently introduced a new feature that allows users to select an electric vehicle as their preferred mode of transport, which has been rolled out across 25 cities in North America so far.
Uber’s current fleet of EVs stands at around 25,000 vehicles, which the company hopes to double in the next 12 months to 50,000.
