Within the framework of a virtual event, Uber hire car partners informed themselves about the background and possibilities of cooperation with Volkswagen and 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 for the project. Volkswagen has already been using the e-Golf successfully for its own car sharing service We Share since 2018.
“Through our cooperation with Uber, we are helping improve air quality in urban areas with our locally carbon-neutral electric vehicles” said Holger B. Santel, Head of Sales and Marketing Germany for the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand. “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 that the company is pleased to have gained Volkswagen, one of the world’s leading drivers for e-mobility, as a partner for Uber’s intermediation platform and that electric vehicles from Volkswagen are a perfect match for the company’s sustainable ‘Uber Green’ concept. The cooperation offers Uber’s hire car partners an economically attractive possibility of switching to zero-emission drive systems at short notice. In addition, Uber’s 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.
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