They are aiming for full-electric mobility
Uber and Nissan are working together on an electric vehicle project that would tackle the issue of air pollution and serve mobility around London.
For now, the initiative will roll out as a trial which will provide "data on driving patterns and economics of private hire drivers using electric cars and the capacity of London’s current network of charging points to support these vehicles."
Uber claims that 60 percent of Uber journeys in London are carried out in hybrid vehicles. Therefore, the company wants to see the implications of swapping to a full-electric approach before London introduces the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in 2020.
"People already associate Uber with hybrid cars, but we now want to go a big step further with fully electric cars on the road from today."
Jo Bertram, Regional General Manager of Uber UK
Choosing the Nissan Leaf for this particular project had to do with EV's current status as the world's best-selling electric car.
Furthermore, Nissan stated that all the cars involved in the action are fitted with the newly-introduced 30 kWh battery pack which allows an EPA-estimated range of 104 miles (around 170 km) on a single charge.
Uber is also orchestrating a similar action on the other side of the pond – in Pittsburgh, to be more precise – where a fleet of autonomous Volvo XC90 SUVs has been deployed last month as the transportation giant looks to boost ride safety levels for its customers.