Uber calls on EU to ban combustion engines on ridesharing cars by 2030

Ride-hailing company Uber has asked the EU to ban the use of internal combustion engine cars for corporate fleets by 2030 and for the bloc to deliver mandatory targets to place electric vehicles (EVs) in the market to boost demand and slash car emissions, the company announced on Wednesday.

Corporate fleets, including leasing, rental companies and taxi services, account for 71% of all new car emissions, according to Uber, which argued that electrification would accelerate the EU’s 2050 net-zero targets and proposed a 100% target to be reached by 2035 at the latest.

Citing the latest Draghi report, Uber is calling on policymakers to deliver “consistent policies” designed to unlock “considerable investments” needed for the climate transition, adding the company alone is unable to reach zero-emission goals.

Anabel Diaz, vice president of Uber EMEA, said corporate fleets must be targeted due to their oversize impact on the climate and should act as a catalyst for widespread electrification.

“Crucially for Uber drivers and many other Europeans, the European Commission must help reduce the cost of transitioning to EVs in its upcoming ‘Clean Industrial Plan’ to facilitate a swift and just transition,” Diaz said, referring to Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen pledge to launch a “prosperity and competitiveness” package within the first 100 days of the new mandate.

The multinational transport company also asked the Commission to couple binding targets with appropriate incentives, citing existing subsidies for low-income households in France and Italy or affordable public charging in Amsterdam and Lisbon.

“In Amsterdam, anyone who purchases an EV has the right to request a charger be installed near their home, while in Lisbon the VAT has been reduced on public charging points to bring it closer to parity with home charging,” read Uber’s statement.

Uber’s call goes a step ahead from EU legislation adopted last year, which requires all new cars to have zero CO2 emissions from 2035, effectively banning diesel and petrol vehicles.

But the implementation of this law has been dubbed an “ideological madness” by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“The road map of the Green Deal, as it was designed, has already demonstrated its contradictions with the collapse of the European electric vehicle market and the grave crisis of European carmakers,” Italian Minister of Economic Development Adolfo Urso said in an interview quoted by the Financial Times. “The data speaks for itself. It’s already clear the roadmap…is not sustainable.”

Urso is expected to raise the topic in Brussels during a meeting of economy ministers. 

Battery manufacturers and electricity power companies penned a letter to EU lawmakers after the European elections in June urging them not to withdraw the ban on combustion cars by 2035 following a European People’s Party (EPP) draft document which touted revising the rules for new cars and vans to “allow for the use of alternative zero-emission fuels” beyond 2035.