Uber’s EV ridehailing business is maturing

Uber is holding its annual go-get conference in London today. As part of the event, the company is making several changes to its ridehailing and delivery business to reflect the fact that more drivers and couriers are using electric vehicles.

The company’s EV and hybrid ridehailing product Uber Green is going fully electric in several select cities. Uber says Uber Green is now an EV-only service in 40 cities and states.

Previously, Uber Green included both electric and hybrid vehicles, offering an additional per-trip fee (usually $1) to drivers who used any vehicle with low tailpipe pollution. Now, the service is going to exclusively feature battery-electric vehicles, which is a reflection of the fact that more drivers are using EVs on the platform than ever before. Uber says it currently has 180,000 drivers using EVs in the US, Canada and Europe.

The new EV-only Uber Green is available in 40 cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Orange County, Sacramento, Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Internationally, it will be available in all cities in France including Paris and cities in Australia and New Zealand including Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

Customers who want to ride green can now adjust their account preferences to automatically match an EV when one becomes available. Uber has designed this feature such that if the ETA is within a few minutes of the standard UberX, an EV will be en route. If it’s longer, the algorithm will match you with a gas-powered vehicle.

These app changes are based on The company made last year To guide its two main categories of customers – passengers/delivery customers and drivers/couriers – towards more eco-friendly decisions.

This way, the company has a better chance of reaching its sustainability goals, going all-in. North America and Europe to be carbon neutral by 2030 and in all global markets by 2040. To that end, Uber announced a partnership with Chinese auto giant BYD last July to bring nearly 100,000 EVs to Uber drivers in Europe and Latin America.

But drivers still have a lot of questions about switching to EVs. So, the company is adding a new chatbot to its driver app to assist with some more basic questions. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o, the chatbot aims to help drivers answer questions such as which model to buy, where to charge and how much range is enough. The company says the chatbot will launch in early 2025.

Uber is also using its EV-using drivers to help mentor other EV-curious people. A new mentorship program is being launched through the company’s Greenlight Driver Resource Center, allowing EV drivers to communicate directly with their peers who are thinking about making the switch. Participating Uber drivers are eligible for cash rewards and other bonuses.