Uber doesn’t own any cars though. That’s a big part of their business model.
Even a significant % of traditional taxis don’t own the cars. The taxi drivers are ‘brokers’ who buy and maintain the vehicles and make a deal with the taxi companies for business (branding, debit/credit card machines, running the phones, etc).
Uber would have to require most new cars from drivers they hire to be electric in order to accomplish this. Otherwise they’ll be forced to get into the fleet buying/maintenance business.
There's a set of requirements. Basically it boils down to the car needing to be reasonably new and having four doors. They don't want people associating Uber with 90s shitboxes.
Yes they already have requirements about age, size, models, no-2dr cars etc. The difference is there are already tons of regular people with vehicles that fit this profile already.
>The difference is there are already tons of regular people with vehicles that fit this profile already.
Not in India. The cars operated (usually now owned) by Uber/Ola drivers are considered high end cars and are loaned to the drivers by a cottage industry of agencies which take a cut of the fare (not sure if that cut comes from Uber's side or the driver's share).
The question is whether it will be economical for your standard Uber driver to own electric cars by 2026. Otherwise the number of people able to make money on the side p/t with their personal vehicle will be far smaller - therefore increasing the cost of fares if demand is higher than the supply of vehicles available.
‘Surge’ pricing already exists for this reason. Which will be good for electric car owners and Uber, bad for the average consumer rider who will pay higher fees and drivers who can’t afford an electric vehicle will be out of work.
The whole point of making laws is to get people to do things that aren't economical to do in the absence of laws, or not do things that are economical to do in the absence of laws. I don't see why it's so incomprehensible that the government would ask a private business to do something that's not economical.
Yes no ones debating that. Particularly in India with their long history of gov intervening in every sort of business.
But those same people who call for this type of policy were already outraged at the idea of surge pricing and the service being more exclusive to the middle class and wealthy. I wouldn’t be surprised if this amplifies that. Not only for riders but also for the poor drivers who get excluded because they can’t afford a new electric car.
Of course this policy is a bit of a gamble that those 4dr electric cars will be feasible and economical for your average Uber driver to own. It’s possible costs will be similar in 5yrs and won’t add too much expenses which will roll down hill.
Even a significant % of traditional taxis don’t own the cars. The taxi drivers are ‘brokers’ who buy and maintain the vehicles and make a deal with the taxi companies for business (branding, debit/credit card machines, running the phones, etc).
Uber would have to require most new cars from drivers they hire to be electric in order to accomplish this. Otherwise they’ll be forced to get into the fleet buying/maintenance business.