Here’s why your next Uber ride will be in a BYD

The world’s leading ride-hailing service has placed a great order for electric cars, at a negotiated price, with the Chinese giant BYD.

100,000 electric cars. This is the deal contracted between the ride-hailing platform Uber and the Chinese manufacturer BYD through a multi-year strategic partnership. The details are quite the opposite of widely known, as it is understood that Uber is not buying the cars in its name, but will offer privileged purchasing conditions for its drivers. A nuance!

BYD emphasizes that the prices will be heavily discounted, seeing this deal as an opportunity to make its cars more visible on the streets of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand to start. No Japan, United States, or Canada for now, where administrations are busy putting obstacles in the way of BYD to slow its invasion.

Turn towards electric for the image?

For CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) reasons, Uber wants to green its image by encouraging its independent drivers to switch from diesel or gasoline to electric. To support this, BYD will provide them with advantageous financing, as well as preferential policies on insurance and maintenance.

No timetable has been communicated regarding the rollout of these offers, but BYD has dropped a final bombshell that will not please Uber drivers: in the medium term, the idea is also to deliver autonomous cars. In summary, a Trojan horse to then take power from within.

What a wonderful era we live in…

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