Arrival, the electric vehicle maker trying to get rid of the assembly line in favor of highly automated microfactories, is partnering with Uber to develop an electric vehicle for hail drivers.
The arrival is expected to announce the final vehicle design before the end of the year and production will begin in the third quarter of 2023. Uber drivers have been invited to contribute to the design process to ensure the vehicles are built according to their needs.
Uber is trying to keep its promise made last year to become an all-electric mobility platform by 2025 in London, 2030 in North America and Europe, and platform-wide by 2040. The company recently launched Uber Green, which gives passengers the option of choosing an EV at no additional cost and giving drivers the option to pay a lower service fee, part of a $ 800 million initiative to attract more electric vehicle drivers.
To meet its goals of doubling the number of EV drivers by the end of 2021, Uber is launching its incentives for drivers by helping them buy or finance new vehicles. The Arrival Cars may be among those recommended to Uber drivers looking to switch to electric, especially drivers in London who are eligible for “EV Assistance” through the company Clean air plan, which launched in 2018, but an Uber spokesperson declined to confirm how the Arrival Cars will be made available. Last September, Uber partnered with General Motors in a similar deal to offer discounted prices for the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt to drivers in the US and Canada.
“Uber is committed to helping every driver in London switch to an electric vehicle by 2025. Our Clean Air plan has raised more than £ 135 million to help us achieve this,” said Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe in a statement. “We are now focused on encouraging drivers to use that money to upgrade to an electric vehicle. Our partnership with Arrival will help us achieve that goal.”
London, where Arrival is based, aims to have its entire transport system zero-emissions by 2050 and will create zero-emission zones in central London and the city center from 2025, outward to central London by 2040 and to the Expanding Entire City Uber drivers want to be able to work in the hottest parts of the city; they have no choice but to drive electrically.
The partnership with Uber marks Arrival’s first foray into electric car development. As Arrival is more focused on commercial rather than commercial sales, the existing vehicle models are vans and buses. The UK EV company already has an order from UPS for 10,000 specially built vehicles.
Arrival aims to change the way commercial electric vehicles are designed and manufactured. By developing its own batteries and other components in-house and building vehicles through multiple micro-factories that are much smaller than conventional production facilities, Arrival produces vehicles faster, cheaper and with far lower environmental costs.
The company began public trading in March following a SPAC merger with CIIG, one of many EV companies that entered the market via the SPAC route as opposed to the traditional and slower IPO route.