Ford on Thursday introduced the beginning of a pilot program permitting Uber drivers in some markets to lease EVs by the week to be used on the ride-hailing community.
With a pilot program known as Ford Drive, the automaker says that it’ll supply Mustang Mach-E fashions in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles program beginning Thursday.
Drivers can join versatile lease intervals of 1 to 4 months, and the automobile is delivered inside two weeks of signup. A Ford Drive app is used for automobile funds and repair, and vehicles come from a devoted Ford Drive fleet. Drivers might want to work out their very own insurance coverage, however common upkeep is included.
Ford Drive – Uber pilot program with Mustang Mach-E
What do Ford EVs price by the week?
Costs will range by metropolis, Ford confirmed to Inexperienced Automobile Studies, however it did present an concept of the place they’ll be. These signing up now will see gives at $199 weekly for 500 included miles, or $249 with 1,000 included miles and 20 cents a mile for overage.
That is a greater deal than what Hertz had been providing on the Mannequin 3 to Uber drivers—round $300 per week, though there together with insurance coverage.
Uber’s Zero Emissions incentive is at present one of many firm’s methods of incentivizing drivers to shift to EVs; it at present provides an additional $1 for drivers for every EV Uber Rides journey, as much as $4,000 per calendar 12 months.
Uber says that in California, 10% of its on-trip miles are already accomplished in totally electrical automobiles, as of late 2022. It’s concentrating on all-electric rides by 2030.
This system builds on one launched in 2022 between Ford Subsequent and Uber in San Diego, together with 150 Mustang Mach-E automobiles. Ford Subsequent is a unit centered on future applied sciences, together with autonomous automobile tech.
Ford Drive – Uber pilot program with Mustang Mach-E
Uber-ready Mach-E is BlueCruise assisted-driving-capable
On that observe, Ford Subsequent confirmed to Inexperienced Automobile Studies that every one Mustang Mach-E automobiles delivered by way of this system might be BlueCruise-capable. Clients could select to activate the function if desired.
Uber claims that switching high-mileage ride-hailing drivers to electrical ends in 4 instances the emissions-reduction profit versus that of the typical automobile proprietor, so simply as with the potential of getting gasoline superusers into EVs, there’s extra of a real-world environmental return, sooner. It’ll additionally assist reduce the environmental affect of so-called “deadhead miles”—the space drivers must cowl to get to the beginning of a visit and from the tip of it.
In accordance with a report earlier this 12 months Uber continues to work with unnamed automakers on EVs personalized for ride-hailing and supply providers, though an attention grabbing ride-hailing EV design from Arrival seems to have been scrapped.