Uber, as we know, is one of the most popular ride-hailing platforms in India. Earlier this month, it started offering services in Agartala. The capital of Tripura became the 83rd city in Uber’s service portfolio. Impressive isn’t it! But, there’s been another development which has the potential to leave a more significant impact.
The company has entered a partnership with Lithium Urban Technologies – India’s largest electric vehicle fleet operator. Why? To smoothen out the plan for an important project – deploy over 1,000 EVs, all sedans, in the coming months. Where? In five cities – Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.
This won’t the first time Uber has ventured into the EV game. It already has over 100 pure-electric sedans in its fleet. The models include the Tata Tigor EV and the Mahindra eVerito. Lithium’s charging hubs in the cities mentioned above will help run things smoothly to meet the ultimate goal – reducing harmful emissions from cab rides. For the record, these charging facilities have both slow and fast chargers. Depending on the feed and the conditions, an EV can replenish entirely in about 90 minutes.
In the past, Uber has been in partnerships with Yulu, Mahindra and SUN Mobility. All three tie-ups were on the same lines as the latest one – to safeguard the deteriorating environment by providing zero-emission commutes. On a global level, Uber aims to make all the rides across platforms 100 per cent emission-free by 2040. If all goes as per plan, the number of EVs will shoot up to 2,000 in the next 12 months. That’s including the Lithium EVs.
In a country as vast as India, both area-wise and population-wise, deploying 1,000 or even 2,000 EVs won’t make a bit impact. But it is a good starting point. It will help instigate a push towards zero-emission mobility solutions. And that’s important because IQAir rankings say that 14 out of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India.
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