27.09.2024

Uber wants the EU to ban internal combustion engines for corporate fleets by 2030.

Ride-hailing company Uber has asked the EU to ban the use of internal combustion engine cars in corporate fleets by 2030. The company is also pushing for the EU to set mandatory targets for the launch of electric vehicles (EVs) to stimulate demand and reduce emissions from cars, he said Euronews.

Corporate fleets, including those of leasing companies, rental companies and taxi services, account for 71% of all new car emissions, according to Uber. The company claims that car electrification will accelerate the EU's 2050 net-zero targets and proposes a 100% EV target to be reached by 2035 at the latest.

Citing Mario Draghi's latest report, Uber called on politicians to deliver "coherent policies" designed to unlock the "significant investments" needed for the climate transition, adding that the company alone is unable to achieve zero emissions targets.

Annabelle Diaz, vice president of Uber, said that corporate fleets should be electrified due to their huge impact on the climate and should act as a catalyst for the green transition.

"Crucially for Uber drivers and many other Europeans, the European Commission must help reduce the costs of switching to electric vehicles in its upcoming 'Clean Industry Plan' to facilitate a quick and fair transition," Diaz said.

The multinational transport company also asked the Commission to combine binding targets with appropriate incentives, citing existing subsidies for low-income households in France and Italy or affordable public charging in Amsterdam and Lisbon.

"In Amsterdam, anyone who buys an EV has the right to ask for a charger to be installed near their home, while in Lisbon, VAT has been reduced on public charging points to bring it closer to parity with home charging," Uber's statement read. .

Uber's call is a step up from EU legislation passed last year requiring all new cars to have zero CO2 emissions from 2035, effectively banning diesel and petrol vehicles.

Resistance

The implementation of this law was called "ideological madness" by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“The Green Deal roadmap as designed has already shown its contradictions with the collapse of the European electric vehicle market and the severe crisis of European car manufacturers. The data speaks for itself. It is now clear that the roadmap is not sustainable," said Italian Economic Development Minister Adolfo Urso.

Urso is expected to raise the issue in Brussels during a meeting of economy ministers.

Battery makers and power companies wrote to EU lawmakers after June's European elections, urging them not to lift the ban on internal combustion cars until 2035.

It comes after a draft document from the European People's Party (EPP) emerged promising to overhaul rules for new cars and vans to use zero-emissions alternative fuels after 2035.