Charging infrastructure needs to improve to accelerate EV adoption, says Uber CEO

The EV charging infrastructure in many of the cities in which Uber operates is “not growing fast enough”, the company’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, has told The Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit, which is taking place in Amsterdam this week.

Uber has set a target that by the end of 2030, 100% of rides in Canada, Europe and the US will be zero-emissions, along with 100% of deliveries in seven European capitals. By 2040, it is aiming for 100% of global trips and deliveries to be zero emission.

Fleet evolution

As Khosrowshahi told a panel discussion on the topic of Leadership in a Dynamic World, one of Uber’s core challenges is to “turn over the fleet of cars – from internal combustion engines to EVs. And the rate of penetration for EVs has now started to decrease, which is not good news in terms of getting to 100% sustainability.”

Khosrowshahi noted that Uber drivers are switching to EVs “four to five times faster” than the general population, with the typical Uber driver also driving “four to five times the number of kilometres” than the average driver.

“But the economics and the charging infrastructure in many of the cities in which we operate are not growing fast enough,” he added.

“Where they are – in many European cities – EV miles represent more than a quarter of miles driven on our platform, which is far higher than the general population. But we need that to continue, especially in some of the other places where we do business, where the charging infrastructure isn’t growing fast enough.”

Uber Eats

Khosrowshahi also noted that the pledge to have 100% of Uber Eats restaurant merchants transition to more sustainable  – reusable, recyclable or compostable – packaging options globally by 2030 is “making decent progress”, with the company currently at around “20% to 25%” sustainable packaging across its operations.

“It is about cost, and it’s about economics, and it’s about the supply base,” he explained. “By 2040 we expect the vast majority of business is going to be sustainable.” Read more here.