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Uber Green to launch in London for riders who want electric cars

Uber Green will mean fares will match those made in petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles. Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA/LightRocket via Getty Images
Uber Green will mean fares will match those made in petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles. Photo: Rafael Henrique/SOPA/LightRocket via Getty Images (SOPA Images via Getty Images)

Uber (UBER) is shifting some of the onus to its customers to go green, launching a new function where riders can choose to ride in a fully electric car in certain bits of London.

The ride-hailing app said the move would mean London customers can "play their part in cleaning up urban transport."

According to the firm, Uber Green will mean fares will match those made in petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles. Riders will also be offered a reduced service fee.

The catch is that this only applies to journeys originating in Zone 1. Destinations are unrestricted.

Jamie Heywood, Uber's regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, said: "With cities beginning to open up once again, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive a green recovery by ensuring that every car on the Uber app in London is fully electric.

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Watch: Uber Green expands across North America

"We continue to partner with drivers to help them make the switch to electric and today we are excited to start offering riders the option to select an electric vehicle at no extra cost, allowing everyone using Uber to play their part in cleaning up urban transport."

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The move follows a push from its European operation last year that 50% of rides in Europe would be made in emission-free vehicles by the end of 2025. At the time it also said it was aiming for 100% of emission-free rides by 2030.

In September it said it would commit $800m (£581m) in resources to help hundreds of thousands of drivers transition to EVs by 2025.

Uber began to add a 15p per mile "clean air fee" in London at the beginning of 2019 in order to help drivers with the cost of switching to greener vehicles.

Recent figures show the number of green vehicles has risen from 100 to 1,600. This is, however, still a small portion of the 45,000-strong fleet.

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