RIDEGURU
Uber is testing out a new program where they will pay an extra $1 per trip completed to drivers who are driving electric or hybrid vehicles.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/19/17480044/uber-electric-vehicle-ev-driver-cash-incentive
Uber to start paying drivers to switch to electric cars
Posted 5 years, 10 months ago
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drivenmad
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Comments
This is a wonderful incentive, but honestly not enough to cause anyone to change their vehicle. Hybrid vehicles cost a great deal more and the quantity of fares for this to make economic sense is difficult to even imagine. Electric vehicles are even more pricey. They can go about 100 miles before they need to be charged, 30 minutes if you are lucky enough to find a lightning charging station but up to 12 hours otherwise. These stations are not close together and the odds of breaking down due to a lack of charge are pretty high in most areas.
If they really want to encourage this they need to lobby for a better infrastructure because at the moment there is not nearly enough support for electric vehicles for them to be a viable option for rideshare.
Are you a driver? Feasibility aside, would this even make sense financially? EV cars cost more money, albeit some good tax benefits.
How many rides do you give in a day? In a Year? I am trying to do the math on how much that adds up to at $1.00~$1.25 a ride.
Yes, I am a driver. I give between 20 to 35 rides a week. Those rides are often twenty to fifty minutes in duration meaning that I would that I might need to recharge at the end of that drive to be sure I could take the next one. Even if you can find the fast chargers that is at least an hour while I am waiting to be able to make more money. I figure this because conservative estimates of the time you can drive it are about two to two and a half hours. This lessens with the use of accessories such as radio and air conditioning. I would be 1 star rated if I did not have the a/c running here because of the temperature year round. Since you do not know how far the next fare will be until you accept it, you cannot let the battery drain.
I have considered owning an electric vehicle in the past, so I have actually looked at the infrastructure. I do live in Houston, so there is a lot of infrastructure in place for gas vehicles already and some for E-85 but almost none for electric. Th…
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Yes, I am a driver. I give between 20 to 35 rides a week. Those rides are often twenty to fifty minutes in duration meaning that I would that I might need to recharge at the end of that drive to be sure I could take the next one. Even if you can find the fast chargers that is at least an hour while I am waiting to be able to make more money. I figure this because conservative estimates of the time you can drive it are about two to two and a half hours. This lessens with the use of accessories such as radio and air conditioning. I would be 1 star rated if I did not have the a/c running here because of the temperature year round. Since you do not know how far the next fare will be until you accept it, you cannot let the battery drain.
I have considered owning an electric vehicle in the past, so I have actually looked at the infrastructure. I do live in Houston, so there is a lot of infrastructure in place for gas vehicles already and some for E-85 but almost none for electric. There are 18 charging stations in the greater Houston area, and 13 are clustered together in the midtown area. The city can easily take two hours to cross with regular traffic, so the odds of needing to charge at least once while out are very high.
Some of these stations also belong to companies and are exclusively for their employees so the number is unreliable. So until there is a solid infrastructure where people can stop to charge their cars within at least every 50 miles in major metro areas this incentive is nothing but a feel-good measure that will affect no one that would not have already bought an electric car.
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Doesn't this program extend to hybrids too? At least those don't need to be recharged. But the added purchase cost still probably doesn't make sense...
Save money on gas, save the environment and make more $$. Win, Win, Win
I have never ridden in an electric vehicle, what is it like?
They are really quiet. I actually read an article recently about how the blind are very nervous about electric vehicles as they cannot hear them. They depend on the hum of the motor to know when to cross the road. Without that there is a greater risk they will get hit.
Wow, I never thought about that side effect before.
Ya, apparently some people are trying to figure out a synthetic noise that electric vehicles can make specifically for this purpose. So fascinating.
I think this is awesome. We need to start being more aware of our carbon footprint.
Maybe the riders should get to decide, call it UberGreen. That way, the fare can be higher and the users get to decide how environmentally friendly they like to be.
What does Uber get out of this "incentive"? Better leverage with lobbyists?
So many acronyms..
SMUD? Electronic Vehicle (EV), Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and battery-electric vehicle (BEV)
I wonder what incentive Uber has to do this. Did they promise cities to satisfy some EV requirements? Are there tax incentives? I am not trying to by cynical. Just curious.
The real incentive for Uber is for them to actually have some better PR. They have had so many negative stories that they are struggling to find something to regain consumer confidence.