Uber Applied sciences Inc on Wednesday stated it’s launching a brand new partnership with rental car firm Hertz to supply 50,000 Tesla Inc autos as a rental choice to its ride-hail drivers by 2023.
Uber drivers can lease a Tesla by means of Hertz beginning on Nov. 1 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington DC, with this system later this yr increasing to cities nationwide, the ride-hail firm stated in a weblog publish.
The Tesla leases, consisting principally of the electric vehicle firm’s Model 3 sedan, will probably be accessible completely to Uber drivers and begin out at $334 every week, together with insurance and upkeep. Uber stated the rental price would drop to $299 per week or decrease as this system expands within the coming yr.
Uber’s announcement comes simply days after Hertz on Monday said it would order 100,000 Tesla vehicles by the top of 2022. Information of the biggest-ever Tesla order led to a share value rally and noticed the corporate’s market worth surpass $1 trillion.
Wednesday’s deal represents Uber’s most vital step to this point in increasing the usage of EVs on its platform. The corporate has vowed to function solely electrical autos on its U.S., Canadian and European platform by 2030, and worldwide by 2040.
However solely few ride-hail drivers can afford the upper EV sticker costs and in 2019, solely 0.15% of all Uber miles within the U.S. and Canada had been pushed in electrical autos, firm knowledge confirmed.
Trip-hail drivers produce extra air pollution per passenger-mile traveled as a result of they spend greater than a 3rd of their time driving round empty. Researchers typically assume that electrifying one ride-hail automobile reduces the identical quantity of CO2 as changing three common gas-powered autos.
Hertz, which is rising from chapter, hopes the EV focus will enable the once-dominant model to face out in opposition to rivals.
Carmakers additionally contemplate partnerships with ride-hail firms as a handy solution to expose extra shoppers to non-fuel-powered autos.
Tesla didn’t reply to a request for remark.
(Reporting by Tina Bellon in Austin, Texas; modifying by Richard Pullin)
