BYD, China’s largest EV maker, has struck a deal with Uber to provide 100,000 full electric vehicles to the global ride-hailing giant.
The “multi-year strategic partnership” aims to “bring down the total cost of EV ownership for Uber drivers, accelerating the uptake of EVs on the Uber platform globally,” BYD said.
Uber’s ride-hailing platform will deploy the EVs in Europe and Latin America initially, and in the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand at a later stage.
BYD didn’t provide a time frame on EVs to be shipped to these markets via the Uber platform.
Uber drivers will receive favorable pricing and financing when obtaining the EVs, BYD said.
To reduce ownership costs for the EVs, BYD will collaborate with Uber to offer discounts on vehicle charging as well as preferential policies on maintenance and insurance, the company said.
Under the deal, the two plan to work together to deploy autonomous vehicles to be developed by BYD via the Uber platform.
