• Nissan and Uber sign deal for up to 2,000 all-electric LEAFs, manufactured in Sunderland, to be made available for drivers who use the app
  • Uber’s vision is for every car on the app in the capital – around 45,000 drivers – to be fully electric from 2025 
  • Uber has raised more than £80million to support drivers transitioning to electric vehicles, with almost 900,000 zero emission journeys taking place in the last year 

Nissan and Uber have signed a deal to support the introduction of 2,000 all-electric Nissan LEAFs for drivers who use the Uber app.

The 40kWh Nissan LEAFs, which can travel up to 168 miles on a single charge and are manufactured in Sunderland, will be offered to drivers as part of Uber’s Clean Air Plan. 

Nissan will provide Uber with an EV education programme, transaction price and dedicated marketing plan to drive uptake of the zero emission vehicles. This deal will help to deliver Uber’s vision for every car on the app in London to be fully electric from 2025. 

Launched in January 2019, Uber’s Clean Air Plan aims to tackle air pollution by helping drivers upgrade to an electric vehicle through the introduction of a Clean Air Fee – 15p a mile is added on to all London journeys, with all money going to drivers to support the cost of moving to an electric vehicle. In the first year, Uber has raised £80million to support the transition to electric vehicles, with more than £200m expected to be raised over the next few years. 

Through the Clean Air Plan, drivers can on average save £4,500, depending on the miles they’ve driven, off the cost of switching to an electric car. Once a driver has adopted a fully electric vehicle, the Clean Air Fee is used to support ongoing vehicle costs. 

In the first year of Uber’s Clean Air Plan, almost 900,000 Uber journeys have taken place in electric vehicles, an increase of more than 350 per cent on the previous year. Over 500 drivers every week are now using zero emission electric vehicles.

Jamie Heywood, Regional General Manager for Northern and Eastern Europe, Uber, said: “Our bold vision for London is for every driver on the Uber app to use an all electric vehicle by 2025. The partnership with Nissan is a hugely significant step towards meeting this goal. The Mayor of London has shown strong leadership on measures relating to air quality and we’re proud to support him in delivering his vision.”

To meet the increasing demand for electric vehicles in the capital, Transport for London has installed more than 1,000 electric vehicles charge points in the last year alone. A recent review of London boroughs found that Westminster council had installed 375 public chargers by the end of August 2019 – more than any other local authority in the UK.

In 2010 Nissan launched the first mass-market electric vehicle – the LEAF – and has since sold more than 450,000 models globally, making Nissan the world’s best-selling electric vehicle manufacturer.

In 2016, Nissan supplied  20 all-electric LEAFs to Uber as part of an extensive electric vehicles trial in the capital. It was the first time pure EVs had been available for hire through the Uber app in London. The trial was run in partnership with the Energy Savings Trust (EST), to look into the feasibility of running large numbers of electric private hire vehicles in the UK.

In 2018 Nissan launched the all-new second-generation LEAF in the UK, which is currently offered with two battery capacities – a 40kWh model (168 mile range WLTP combined) and a 62kWh e+ version (239 mile range WLTP combined). The Nissan LEAF range starts from £26,345, including a £3,500 Government Plug-in Car Grant.