Uber wants all its cars in London to be electric by 2025 ... and you're going to pay for it

Going green ain't cheap.
 By 
Jason Abbruzzese
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Uber announced on Friday that it wants all its cars in London to be electric by 2025.

It's an ambitious goal, one that will take some serious investment. But Uber has a plan for that—add a little extra charge to every single ride. Riders will soon see an extra 35 pence tacked onto their London jaunts.

UberPool Trips, however, won't have the added charge.

The new surcharge is part of Uber's larger "clean air" fund that follows on the UK government's recent efforts to limit pollution, which include a plan to end the sale of diesel or gas-powered cars by 2040.

Uber said it expects to collect around £150 million to fuel the transition. The company is also kicking in £2 million of its own cash.

“Air pollution is a growing problem and we’re determined to play our part in tackling it with this bold plan. Londoners already know many cars on our app are hybrids, but we want to go much further and go all electric in the capital," said Fred Jones, Uber's head of UK cities, in a press release. "Our scrappage scheme will also take polluting vehicles off the road and encourage Londoners to get into a shared car to connect with public transport instead."

In addition to the 2025 goal, Uber said it wants all London cars to be either hybrids or entirely electric by the end of 2019. Uber has a partnership with Nissan that offers discounted leases on electric cars.

Uber's not the only taxi service embracing electric vehicles. London's iconic black taxis will soon be battery-powered.

Uber is also offering an interesting scheme to get more diesel cars off the road. The first 1,000 London residents who turn in their old clunkers to the ongoing scrappage scheme will get up to £1,500 of UberPool credits.

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Jason Abbruzzese

Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.

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