With Australia’s shift to electric cars heating up, and a desire by many to “do their bit” for the environment, Uber has today launched Uber Green across Australia offering electrified rides at the same price as Uber X.

When I first heard the news of Uber Green I wondered who would be prepared to pay the premium to ride in an Electric or Hybrid car, but as it turns out, Uber put that one to the side by making the choice of Uber Green simple – it’s the same price as Uber X.

Scroll a bit down in your Uber ride choices when next making a trip, and you’ll see Uber Green and the price will be better than Comford.

The idea here is to incentivise drivers to go green, thus grow the electrification of the Uber fleet while giving passengers a simple and cost effective choice to help “do their bit”.

Announced in London by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi at their first “Go/Get Zero” event, it’s all part of Uber’s plan to be zero-emissions by 2040.

Uber Australia’s boss Dom Taylor says “We know from a number of studies that light vehicles account for around 11 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions and we have a responsibility to offer more sustainable choices across our platform and to do our bit in accelerating Australia’s path to zero emissions.” 

“We know many Australians want to make greener choices, and this shouldn’t be a choice which impacts convenience or the cost of travel,”

“Uber Green is an incredibly easy way to make a simple switch that lessens your impact on the planet, and we hope to see thousands of riders across the country make the choice to go greener with Uber.”

Right now, in Australia, the Uber Green product includes both Hybrid and Full EV options – perhaps a sign of just how far behind the times we are, in London the Uber Green choice is fully EVs and having booked a couple in my short time here, there’s no shortage of them.

To make the choice of driving an EV for Uber drivers more appealing, Uber is offering $26 million in incentives – by way of reduced commissions, meaning, if you’re an Uber Driver in an EV, you’ll pay less to Uber and keep more in your pocket.

In addition to that, the company is also partnering with BP Pulse, the EV charging network being rolled out primarily at BP service centre locations, to offer a reduced rate to the cost of charging – all of which adds up to an EV being a better option for drivers over the longer term.

“Charging infrastructure and the operational costs of driving an EV is greatly improving in Australia, but we want to do all we can to incentivise our driver and delivery partners to use EV’s when earning on our platform,” said Uber’s Dom Taylor. “This partnership (with BP) is a first for rideshare in Australia, and we’re thrilled to build on our partnership with bp that has brought significant savings to drivers over the past year. This is the power of the Uber platform – creating value for our drivers while accelerating our road to zero emissions.”

BP’s Frédéric Baudry said “We’re bringing the best of our global expertise in EV charging to build Australia’s most convenient EV charging network. Our customers’ mobility and convenience needs are changing, and as we have been over the last 100 years in Australia, we’re on the journey with them,”

“This new deal for Uber drivers builds on our great existing relationship, and we look forward to welcoming Uber EV drivers to take advantage of bp’s great retail offers.”

In addition to all this, Uber’s food delivery business Uber Eats is setting a goal to reduce plastic waste by moving to sustainable packaging for restaurant deliveries by the end of the decade.

So, next time you’re taking a ride, Uber Green is there, you’ve just got to look for it!