Cab-hailing giant Uber is increasing its contribution towards sustainability. They have now partnered with Bangalore-based Lithium Urban Technologies to onboard more than a thousand electric vehicles that would ply on five major cities in India, including the national capital.
Uber has often talked about how it plans on reducing its impact and drive a green recovery, as life gets back on track and pollution levels return to pre-lockdown levels. A big part of this mission is to transition to electric vehicles and thus reduce urban emissions. Today, it took another big step in this direction, starting with five major cities in India.
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The future of mobility is sustainable, convenient, safer and wallet-friendly. We’re proud to partner with @LithiumUrban to move electric vehicles in five cities⚡ To know more, visit 👇https://t.co/KFa5i7Y6m1October 8, 2020
Uber is partnering with Lithium Urban Technologies, which is India’s largest electric vehicle fleet operator and a pure B2B operator, to deploy 1,000+ electric cars in the country. The first wave will cover Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune under the Uber Rental and Premier options.
Until now, Uber’s electric fleet in India consisted of about a hundred vehicles, primarily in the form of sedans such as the Mahindra eVerito and the Tata Tigor EV. Along with the larger fleet, it will also gain access to Lithium’s charging hubs in these cities where dozens of cars and buses can be charger simultaneously. Drivers will have the option to choose between 90-minute fast charging and 8 to 9-hour slow charging.
In the subsequent 12 months, Uber plans to scale up to 2,000 electric vehicles on its platform, including Lithium’s fleet. This isn’t the first partnership by Uber in India in this space. It also works closely with Yulu for sustainable last-mile commute, Mahindra & Mahindra for the initial EV deployment, and SUN Mobility for E-autos and smart battery swapping infrastructure.
Commenting on the partnership, Ashwin Mahesh, Co-Founder and CEO, Lithium Urban Technologies said, “Our partnership with Uber has the potential to significantly add to the number of electric kilometres covered by cars in every city. The responsibility to accelerate the adoption of clean mobility belongs to all of us, and partnerships have an important role to play in making that happen. Electric vehicles are particularly well-suited to the shared economy, and that's why we're seeing their early adoption, most noticeably in fleets."
