China’s leading carmaker BYD entered a multi-year partnership with Uber on Wednesday to bring its electric vehicles and self-driving cars to the US ride-hailing platform.
BYD will bring 100,000 new electric vehicles to Uber, “to bring down the total cost of EV ownership” for drivers on the platform, Uber said on Wednesday.
The partnership, starting in Europe and Latin America, will offer drivers accessible pricing and financing for BYD’s EVs on the Uber platform.
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It will eventually expand to markets in the Middle East, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the companies said.
“While Uber drivers are going electric five times faster than private car owners, driver surveys show the price of EVs and availability of financing remain the key barriers to switching,” Uber said in a press release.
It added BYD’s vehicles were the right fit for its platform due to their affordability, lower costs of maintenance and repair and “superior battery performance”.
Uber said the companies also plan to partner on BYD’s future autonomous-capable vehicles.
The tie-up comes ahead of a plan by BYD’s key rival Tesla to launch robotaxis in October.
Elon Musk-led Tesla has seen sales slump in the first two quarters of the year, and is banking on robotaxis to provide the company a pivot.
BYD, meanwhile, has been racing neck-and-neck with Tesla in EV sales after briefly taking over the US carmaker as the world’s biggest EV-seller last year.
In the second quarter, while Tesla reported its lowest profit margin in more than five years, BYD posted a 21% jump in EV sales on the back of aggressive expansion into Mexico, Europe, Southeast Asia and other booming markets, with some models priced less than a third of Tesla’s entry-level Model 3.
Green transition
In its statement, Uber said the partnership was aimed at “introducing millions of riders to greener rides.”
EVs generally come with high sticker prices, which have acted as a barrier to their adoption. That, coupled with increased borrowing costs over the past two years have meant EV adoption remains much slower-than-expected.
But worsening climate change and a race to limit global warming to below the key 1.5 degree Celsius threshold has a given a a boost to the global push for vehicle electrification.
Most countries across the globe have set ambitious targets to transition from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs in the coming decade to reduce their carbon emissions and meet their net zero goals.
“When an Uber driver makes the switch to an EV, they can deliver up to four times the emissions benefits compared to a regular motorist, simply because they are on the road more,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said.
Uber and BYD will offer drivers discounts on vehicle maintenance, charging, financing and leasing, depending on the market, to support the transition to electric vehicles.
“This collaboration marks a new era in the electrification of urban mobility,” BYD Americas CEO Stella Li said.
- Reuters, with additional inputs from Vishakha Saxena
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