Car rental companies Hertz and Uber said Tuesday that the two companies will provide up to 25,000 electric cars for lease to Uber drivers in European capitals by 2025.
The leasing agreement will be launched in London this month and will include models from Tesla and Polestar. The program will also expand to other European capitals, including Paris and Amsterdam, by 2023.
“Expanding our partnership with Hertz to Europe will significantly contribute to our zero-emissions transition, helping drivers reduce operating costs and clean up urban mobility,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber.
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Uber-which has been offering car rentals to drivers who don’t own a car since 2016 and has partnered with Hertz on such programs, but the company didn’t partner to rent specific vehicles to drivers until recently.
Uber declined to provide any details about weekly rentals, but the figure is likely similar to U.S. rentals, which are around $330 a week for a Tesla or Polestar, which also includes maintenance and insurance costs.
Uber says the electric car partnership with Hertz has made it very popular in the United States. About 38,000 EV drivers completed 20 million trips in the U.S., Canada and Europe in the third quarter of 2022 a fourfold increase over the same period last year, the company said.
By 2022, active electric vehicle drivers at Uber worldwide saved more than 12.5 million gallons of gasoline, the company said.
