Electrification of Fleet: NITI sets FY31 target for Ola, Uber in green push

Ride-hailing company Uber has committed to 100% of rides taking place in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micro-mobility by 2040

In the latest push to electric vehicles (EVs) to meet climate goals, government think tank NITI Aayog has come up with yearly targets for ride-hailing apps for electrifying their fleet by 2030-31, according to government sources. 

For two-wheelers, the target is to achieve 30 per cent of EVs in the fleet, while for four-wheelers the aim is 20 per cent. However, half of the total three-wheeler fleet registered on these apps should be electric by 2030-31, according to the goals set. 

These numbers are a part of a yet-to-be-released study by NITI Aayog in collaboration with Uber and Ola across cities, including Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Pune. 

While these targets have been set, one of the key challenges will be production and supply of these vehicles.

At present, EVs make up less than 3 per cent of the total fleet of the ride-sharing apps for four-wheelers and two-wheelers. In Delhi, the percentage is even lower at one per cent against the 4 per cent target for 2023-24. 

The Delhi government, too, announced the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme 2023, which talks about mandatory transition of commercial vehicles from conventional vehicles to EVs. The policy further mandates that after four years from its notification, all new commercial two-wheelers and three-wheelers will need to be EVs. Similarly, after five years from its notification, all new commercial four-wheelers need to be EVs. “The aggregator and delivery service provider shall also be mandated to switch to an all-electric fleet by April 1, 2030,” the Delhi government policy said. 

Raide-hailing app Uber has committed to 100 per cent rides in zero-emission vehicles, on public transit, or with micro-mobility by 2040.

In February this year, Tata Motors — India’s largest electric passenger vehicle manufacturer — signed an agreement with Uber to supply 25,000 EVs. The agreement is the largest EV commitment between an automotive manufacturer and a ride-sharing platform in the country.

As part of the deal, Uber will deploy Tata Motors’ XPRES-T EVs by partnering fleet operators in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad.

Tata had also signed an agreement with Gurugram-based all-electric cab company BluSmart Mobility for delivering 10,000 XPRES-T EVs in June last year.

Early this year, Ola Cabs said it had plans to launch a premium EV category with a fleet of 10,000 cars. It was in the final stages of rolling out the pilot of the new category.

Ola had said the new premium fleet will be operated by top-rated drivers, which will have benefits such as 100 per cent ride-assurance post allocation of the cab, zero cancellations and 100 per cent cashless payments for a seamless consumer experience.

Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola Group, had said electrification of the ride-hailing fleet was the next target for the industry and a huge step in the direction of the future of mobility. “Our road map of developing in-house core technologies and products that can be leveraged across the group level gives us a very strong competitive advantage in the ride-hailing business,” Aggarwal had said.

“We are completely reimagining this segment to not only improve the driver and consumer experience, but also offer clean and green mobility options eventually to 500 million Indians,” he added.