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With a new electric vehicle initiative, Uber is finally speaking Portland\u2019s language. The company shares a rocky history\u00a0<\/a>with the famously green city<\/a>, but that won\u2019t stop Portland\u00a0from becoming the first U.S. market where Uber will push a set benchmarks for electrifying its fleet.<\/p>\n For the Portland version of\u00a0Uber Electric<\/a>, a program that the company\u00a0rolled out to\u00a0London<\/a>\u00a0last year, the ride-hailing company will team up with\u00a0Drive Oregon<\/a>, a partially state-funded nonprofit that seeks to get more electric vehicles on the road. With a combination of incentives and educational initiatives, Uber aims to make 10% of its Oregon\u00a0fleet electric by 2019, statewide. Right now, the company\u00a0says that 100 of the 6,000 active Portland Uber drivers use electric vehicles, so it\u00a0has considerable\u00a0work to do (beyond all of that other work<\/a> it has to do).<\/p>\n To reach its\u00a010% goal, Uber is pursuing a range\u00a0of local collaborations. The company\u00a0will work with Portland\u2019s Black Parent Initiative<\/a>\u00a0to expand electric vehicle access to\u00a0underserved communities, Cynergy E-Bikes to connect UberEATS<\/a> couriers with electric bikes, and Arcimoto, an Oregon-based EV company. Uber is expected to use\u00a0its auto-lease subsidiary Xchange Leasing<\/a> to offer in-house deals to drivers wishing to get behind the wheel of an EV.<\/p>\n \u201cThe City of Portland has also adopted some of the nation\u2019s most aggressive measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,\u201d Uber stated about its mission in the city. \u201cUber Electric will help Portland and the state of Oregon achieve these important clean energy goals.\u201d<\/p>\n Uber isn\u2019t the only alternative transportation company going electric in Portland. Late last year, the city\u00a0became the second market for BMW\u2019s ReachNow<\/a>, a Zipcar-like service with a focus on electric vehicles, and a previous initiative by Car2Go<\/a>\u00a0sprinkled electric smart cars onto its rainy streets all the way back in\u00a02012.<\/p>\n In a world where a quarter of cars could\u00a0drive themselves by 2030<\/a>, Uber\u2019s decision to take two years to recruit a few hundred EV drivers is more incremental than revolutionary. Still, it shows that the company is implementing both long and short-term strategies for rethinking transportation, even in the midst of one of the worst PR crises<\/a> the tech industry has ever known.<\/p>\n Featured Image: Drive Oregon<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Honda](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/03\/do-3738-one-of-the-used-honda-fit-evs-next-to-a-carcharging-group-charger.jpg?w=680\")
With a new electric vehicle initiative, Uber is finally speaking Portland’s language. The company shares a rocky history\u00a0with the famously green city, but that won’t stop Portland\u00a0from becoming the first U.S. market where Uber will push a set benchmarks for electrifying its fleet. For the Portland version of\u00a0Uber Electric, a program that the company\u00a0rolled out… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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