Ford is partnering with Uber to offer flexible electric vehicle leases to drivers that are part of driving.
Uber is under pressure from governments around the world to get more of its drivers into electric cars to reduce exhaust pollution and combat climate change. And Ford is eager to get more of its Mustang Mach-Es on the road as it pours billions of dollars into electric vehicle production while suffer huge losses.
Under the new Ford Drive program, Uber drivers could lease a Mustang Mach-E for flexible terms, one or four months, depending on location. And there are other benefits. According to Ford:
The vehicle is delivered to the driver within two weeks and they use the Ford Drive app to manage payments and service. In each city, the Ford Drive team works with local dealers to procure a fleet of Mach-Es. Service and maintenance of those vehicles is also carried out through dealers.
But the lease program will not be rolled out widely yet. To begin with, the companies are testing the program in three cities: San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Ford Drive has actually already launched in San Diego, with Ford renting 150 EVs to Uber drivers by 2022. California is the largest EV market in the US and the largest market for EVs running on Uber’s ridehail platform.
Uber has had its own EV ridehail service in dozens of cities since last year. Only premium EVs, such as Tesla, Polestar and of course the Ford Mustang Mach-E, are eligible for Comfort Electric rides. It will sit alongside the company’s other EV product, Uber Green, which gives drivers an additional fee (usually $1) to use electric vehicles.
This is the second major partnership Ford has announced in recent days. Last week, the automaker said it would adopt Tesla’s EV charging standard in the interest of opening up Elon Musk’s reliable and widespread charging network to Ford EV owners.
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