American ride-hailing giant Uber has cut a deal with Chinese carmaker BYD to offer 100,000 electric cars at lower vehicle pricing and financing to Uber drivers in Europe and Latin America in the following years. The US is omitted as President Biden raises tariffs on Chinese EVs to 102.5% this year, but the Middle East, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will follow later.

Other than the deal Hertz made with Tesla in 2021 on 100,000 cars in the US, Uber is not buying the vehicles itself but offers them to its drivers at an interesting discount. That may also include discounts on charging, vehicle maintenance, or insurance. From 2030, Uber will allow only zero-emission cars in its fleet in Europe and Latin America.

Deals with Tesla and Hertz

In January of this year, Uber already announced a deal with Tesla to encourage its drivers to use EVs in the US and Canada. Tesla offers its electric cars directly to drivers with discounts of up to $3,000.

Earlier, Herz also promised to provide Uber drivers with 50,000 of its Tesla fleet for rent at a discount. But since January, Hertz Global Holdings has been selling 20,000 electric vehicles from its global fleet at what it calls ‘no-haggle prices’.

Hertz cited ‘unsatisfying customer demand’ as one reason and said it would reinvest in combustion-engined cars. A month later, the company temporarily suspended the agreement to purchase 65,000 Polestar 2 vehicles.

126.000 EVs in Uber fleet

At the end of 2023, some 126,000 Uber drivers were using a zero-emission car for a total of about seven million. “As the largest global agreement of its kind, we’re thrilled about the benefits this partnership with BYD will deliver for drivers, riders, and cities,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.

“When an Uber driver switches to an EV, they can deliver up to four times the emissions benefits compared to a regular motorist, simply because they are on the road more. Many riders also tell us their first experience with an EV is on an Uber trip, and we’re excited to help demonstrate the benefits of EVs to more people worldwide.”

Autonomous driving

The two companies also announced they will collaborate on future BYD autonomous-capable vehicles to be deployed on the Uber platform. “As the world’s largest on-demand mobility and delivery platform, Uber is well-positioned to bring autonomous vehicle technology to a global audience at scale,” Uber claims.

In 2020, a year after a deadly accident in Tempe, Arizona, with one of its self-driving Volvo XC90 cars, Uber decided to pull out and sell its robot taxi division in which it had invested over one billion dollars. It announced in May 2023 a partnership with Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Alphabet, to offer rides in Phoenix.

BYD plans to invest 100 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) in autonomous driving, Chairman Wang Chuanfu told shareholders at a meeting in June. BYD is believed to have 4,000 to 5,000 engineers working on autonomous driving.