Govt to ask Ola, Uber to convert 40% of fleet cars into electric by 2026

To push the adoption of electric vehicles widespread, the Indian government has asked ride-hailing firms Uber and Ola to convert 40% of their cars into electric by April 2026.

The EV adoption proposal for cars and taxis aggregators has been taken with keeping in line with government aims to complete transition towards electric fleet by 2030, according to Reuters report.

All cars sold for commercial use to be electric from April 2026, it added.

The development comes a week after inter-ministerial committee recommendation to electrifying most motorbikes and scooters for private use. Last week, the govt reportedly mandate sales of only electric 3-wheelers and two-wheelers from four and seven years respectively.

In a series of proposals, the govt has also said that all scooters, motorbikes sold for commercial use to be electric from April 2023.

For ride-hailing firms, Ola and Uber, they need to be fast and kick off electrification by this year end to achieve the target set by the govt, which is 40%.

Earlier Ola had piloted electric vehicle project in Nagpur for the use of electric vehicles in public and shared mobility a couple of years ago. But that had a little success for the ride-hailing firm.

A few months ago, it launched a separate entity Ola Electric Mobility, through which it plans to put a million electric vehicles on road by 2021.

In March, it has also raised Rs 400 crore from Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, and Sarin Family India LLC. Last month, Ratan Tata also backed Ola’s electric wing.

Uber also has tied up with Mahindra in April to deploy electric car in its fleet.

The govt is primarily working to push the clean mobility policy to bring down its oil imports and curb pollution. Indian govt looks to ape China, which has been leading the world in electrification by encouraging and pushing stakeholders. China electric cars sales witness over 60% rise last year to 13 lakh vehicles.

In India, till March, EV sales grew only three-fold and accounts for 0.1% of diesel and gasoline cars sold in the country.