How London Sparked Uber’s Electric Future
We Mean Business Coalition, Uber, Chapter Zero, & The B Team
This case study was produced in collaboration with Chapter Zero and The B Team. It is inspired by and draws upon an in-depth case study produced by Stanford Doerr School and Susan Hooper, supported by Chapter Zero – the original case study can be accessed via the links at the bottom of this page.
Uber’s collaboration with London turned the company into a global electric vehicle frontrunner.
Uber today is heavily invested in the transition to electric vehicles. It is the world’s most widely available platform for electric trips, with 339,000 monthly active EV drivers on its platform as of the beginning of 2026, and its drivers are switching to electric vehicles (EVs) up to five times faster than the average motorist in Canada, Europe and the U.S.
Today EVs are at the core of the multinational’s strategy to ensure long-term business viability, and this shift originated in one city. Uber’s experience in London offers an example of how companies and policymakers can work together to deliver the wide-ranging benefits of electrification.
“With the EV program in London, the company was not only supporting regulations but leading on them and making the city visibly better,” said Susan Hooper, non executive director at Uber.
As a worldwide shift to electric transportation becomes inevitable, Uber’s London EV program showed how to futureproof the business in a rapidly evolving context without hurting profitability or growth.
From market disruptor to government partner
In April 2019, London Mayor Sadiq Khan set about tackling air pollution by introducing an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) at the heart of the U.K. capital. To enter central districts, drivers of cars, vans and motorcycles that did not meet minimum emissions standards had to pay a daily fee of £12.50.
Furthermore, a longstanding exemption for private-hire vehicles to enter the Congestion Charge Zone (£11.50 at the time) was removed. Under the new policy, EVs would continue to be exempt. These combined fees would apply to many drivers using Uber’s platform.
Given Uber’s business model at the time of this shift, this was a huge challenge, and the company needed to re-think their business strategy accordingly. At the same time, Uber wanted to demonstrate how it could act as a responsible partner in accelerating the adoption of low-emission vehicles in London.
By being part of the solution, the company could also avoid a scenario whereby the new charges cut into drivers’ incomes or were passed on to customers, lowering demand for Uber’s services.
“Uber’s current strategy of electrifying globally would not have happened without ULEZ in London,” said Hooper. “Now electrification is so much a part of the business that it’s transformed everything.”
How to persuade self-employed drivers to invest in EVs
As they are not direct company employees – although in the U.K. they enjoy workers’ rights – Uber drivers own or lease their vehicles themselves. The central problem was how to enable these drivers to swap their conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) cars for EVs when it meant shouldering the costs.
Back in 2019, the total cost of EV ownership – including vehicle price, charging costs and maintenance costs – was still higher than for a petrol- or diesel-fueled car. Plus, there were few opportunities to buy more affordable second-hand EVs. Moreover, London’s charging infrastructure remained limited, and public concerns about EV range were high.
In this context, Uber drivers were skeptical about the affordability and practicality of EV ownership. They also had few role models to follow, as EV ownership remained a rarity among their peers.
Indeed, at the time ULEZ came into force, only around 100 Uber drivers in London drove low-emission vehicles. To align with London’s sustainability goals, Uber needed a plan to allay their drivers’ concerns and facilitate their purchase of EVs – all without hurting the wider business.
Solutions: Help drivers save through a surcharge, negotiate EV discounts and scale charging infrastructure
Uber came up with a range of ways to help its drivers bridge the gap between the high upfront cost of purchasing an EV at that time and the long-term savings associated with the lower running and maintenance costs.
First, Uber helped them raise enough funds by implementing a Clean Air Fee program. This involved placing a 3% surcharge on all Uber trips starting in London, which created a saving pot for each driver for the purchasing or leasing of an EV. This extra charge was still small enough to keep Uber journeys affordable, while protecting the company’s overall profitability and growth.
Uber also used its scale to negotiate exclusive EV discounts for its drivers from brands like Nissan, Kia and Hyundai. For example, the company secured a significant discount on 2,000 Nissan Leaf cars made at the Japanese carmaker’s Sunderland plant – simultaneously boosting its corporate electrification strategy and supporting British manufacturing. Such discounts and programs have not only reduced the upfront cost of buying an EV — they’ve also allowed new EV drivers to save money at the pump and avoid the volatility of gas prices.
The next step was to address the lack of public EV charging infrastructure in London, as most of the city’s Uber drivers live in apartments – rather than houses with driveways and the space for their own charging points. Through a partnership with bp pulse, Uber offered its drivers discounts across the company’s network of EV charging points.
Uber itself invested £5 million to install more than 700 fast chargers in three such London boroughs – Brent, Newham and Redbridge – working closely with the authorities to ensure that they were suitably located near where drivers lived.
By 2022, Uber London had raised £145 million through its Clean Air Fee program, so it stopped collecting the fee and shifted it into the program’s “spend” phase, encouraging drivers to cash in their pots of surcharge savings to invest in the purchase or lease of EVs. Already, the company’s efforts were generating tangible results, with drivers adopting EVs at a much faster rate than the wider public: Over 10% of vehicles on Uber were fully electric, compared with only 2% in the mass market.
In the years since, Uber has continued to help its drivers electrify. In 2024, the business launched a “Power Up Package,” combining vehicle grants with discounts of up to £17,000 on selected Kia EV models. By the end of 2025, 40% of all miles driven via Uber’s London platform were powered by electricity.
EV success in London paved the way for global EV leadership
In its response to ULEZ, Uber created an inadvertent pilot project for EV adoption across all its territories. Today, Uber is the world’s most widely available platform for electric taxis.
“Uber is now working more closely with cities around the world, sharing our digital data about traffic flow, the times of need for additional transportation and locations where EV chargers are needed,” said Hooper. “This data is invaluable to city authorities.”
Becoming an electrification frontrunner and collaborating with regulators duly became Uber strategy worldwide.
As early as the fall of 2020, the company announced an initial U.S. $800 million commitment to EV adoption, alongside a goal to become a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040.
“[Electrification] is not a standalone project anymore,” said Hooper. “It’s the core of strategy, product development and operations.”
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