Volkswagen together with the intermediation platform Uber, launched a pilot project for the utilization of electric vehicles within the sustainable ride hailing service “Uber Green”. Within the framework of a virtual event, Uber hire car partners informed themselves about the background and possibilities of the cooperation.
With the e-Golf, they now have a locally zero-emission alternative from the Volkswagen model portfolio available in Berlin. The objective of the pilot project is to use a number of year-old e-Golf vehicles which may run into three digits. Volkswagen has already been using the e-Golf successfully for its own car sharing service We Share since 2018.
Holger B. Santel, Head of Sales and Marketing Germany for the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand, said: “Through our cooperation with Uber, we are helping improve air quality in urban areas with our locally carbon-neutral electric vehicles. In addition, with the demanding continuous operation of battery-electric vehicles in a ride hailing service, we will gain valuable experience which we will be able to use for future vehicles.”
Christoph Weigler, General Manager Uber DACH, added: “We are pleased to have gained Volkswagen, one of the world’s leading drivers for e-mobility, as a partner for our intermediation platform. Electric vehicles from Volkswagen are a perfect match for our sustainable “Uber Green” concept. This cooperation offers our hire car partners an economically attractive possibility of switching to zero-emission drive systems at short notice. In addition, our experience shows that people are considerably more open to the topic of e-mobility after their first ride in an all-electric vehicle.”
As part of its e-offensive, the Volkswagen brand plans to offer electric cars in all major vehicle segments by 2022. Volkswagen aims to become the world market leader in e-mobility in the coming years and is investing 33 billion euros group-wide by 2024, 11 billion of which will be invested by the Volkswagen brand alone. The Volkswagen brand expects to produce 1.5 million e-cars in 2025.
In September, Uber announced that it intends to evolve into a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040, with 100 percent of the rides offered using zero-emission vehicles, public transport or micro-mobility offerings.
