General Motors Canada is offering special discounts to Uber drivers who purchase a new electric vehicle from the automaker.
General Motors didn’t disclose the monetary value of the incentive Tuesday, only that it’s “the same discount it offers employees” on the purchase of a new 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV.
“Improving access to EVs for on-demand service providers can help reduce overall tailpipe emissions in cities across the country and help accelerate widespread EV adoption,” Sigal Cordeiro, GM executive director of sales and marketing for global innovation, said in a statement Tuesday. “Our collaboration with Uber will facilitate drivers’ switch to an EV, empowering these drivers, their passengers and communities to experience electric vehicles and accelerate the transition to zero emission electric vehicles in our cities.”
In the same statement, GM said its own data suggests ride-hailing drivers can “experience significantly lower maintenance costs when using a Bolt EV compared to traditional gas-powered vehicles.”
The announcement came just as Uber outlined its own plan for a greener Canada.
The San Francisco-based ride-hailing giant said Tuesday that it will encourage the use of electric and hybrid vehicles by offering rewards and savings for riders and earnings for drivers who use them and allocating $800 million in resources to the cause.
The company said its new and targeted approach to sustainability will help it reach two goals it has set: Getting 100 per cent of rides in Canada, the U.S. and Europe completed on battery EVs by 2030 and ensuring all trips on the platform globally are emission-free by 2040.
