Uber has announced plans to charge London passengers an extra 15p per mile to help its drivers buy electric cars.
The new clean air fee aims to raise a £200 million fund to encourage many of its drivers to invest in electric vehicles.
“It represents our wanting our partnership in London not only to be a strong partnership but trailblazing in solving air pollution, which every great city in the world is struggling with, and our mayor here in London is looking to improve,” said Uber chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi.
The rise in journey price for London passengers will be 45p for the average three-mile journey, all of which will go to help drivers buy electric vehicles.
The ride-hailing app hopes for 45,000 drivers to convert to electric cars by 2021 and for every single driver of the London fleet to be electric by 2025.
“You’re going to see many initiatives but what it adds up to is us moving from being a simple ride-sharing service to transforming to an on-demand mobility service,” said Khosrowshahi.
“We ultimately want to be that go-to mobility platform – whether you’re going to move with the car or a bike or ultimately a bus or the tube service. All this is aimed at eventually replacing car ownership itself.”
“Cars are unused 95% of the time and take up enormous amounts of space, in parking etc – we want to give that space back to the city.”
“It’s our goal to help people replace their car with their phone by offering a range of mobility options – whether cars, bikes, scooters or public transport – all in the Uber app,” he added.
The initiative from Uber comes soon after the government has cut for buying greener cars and abolished support for new hybrids.
The RAC and AA (LON: AA) motoring groups called the move a backward step.
Uber’s decision comes in an attempt to prove itself to Transport for London, which initially decided not to renew its licence to operate last year.