is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State.
As it rushes to meet its pledge for “100 percent” of trips in electric vehicles by 2030, Uber is offering grants of $4,000 for drivers to swap their gas-guzzlers for zero-tailpipe emission vehicles. The company is also dropping its “Uber Green” branding in favor of the more simple “Uber Electric.”
Uber has said it will be completely carbon neutral in North America and Europe by 2030 and in all global markets by 2040. But when it first announced this pledge in 2020, it said it wouldn’t directly pay drivers to ditch their gas-burning vehicles in favor of EVs. Now, the company is reversing that decision in the hopes that direct payments can help accelerate EV adoption.
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The reason for the switch is not that surprising. The recent expiration of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit in the US is expected to put a serious dent in EV sales, which will make it harder for Uber drivers to make the switch while also keeping their costs inline. Uber’s new offer is aimed at softening the blow for many drivers who relied on the credit for both used and new EVs.
Not every driver will be eligible for the grants, at least not initially. As part of Uber’s new “Go Electric” program, drivers in New York City, California, Colorado, and Massachusetts can apply for $4,000 when they switch to a new or used EV. When combined with local incentives, like Massachusetts’ MOR-EV and Colorado’s Clean Fleet Program, EV prices can drop even further.
Uber notes that the $4,000 amount was the same as the recently expired federal tax credit for used EVs. Through “Go Electric,” Uber is hoping to make up for the loss of the tax credit by putting up its own money for EV purchases.
It’s been a bumpy ride for Uber in its quest to eliminate gas guzzlers from its platform. During the EV exuberance of 2021, rental company Hertz announced the purchase of 100,000 Teslas and 65,000 Polestars, with the aim to rent some of them to ridehail drivers. But high rates of depreciation led Hertz to reverse the deals and offload most of its EVs it had already acquired.
Uber notes that the $4,000 amount was the same as the recently expired federal tax credit for used EVs
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