Uber India president says Tata Motors EV deal biggest for any ride-hailing platform

US-based urban mobility company Uber has signed a deal with Tata Motors to induct 25,000 electric vehicles (EVs) into its fleet, and Prabhjeet Singh, president of Uber India and South Asia, told ET that this is the biggest ever EV agreement in the ride-hailing segment.

“This is the largest four-wheeler EV memorandum of understanding (MoU) and this will likely catalyse further acceleration of the EV ecosystem,” Singh told ET in an interaction.

The US-based firm will deploy Tata Motors’ Xpres-T EVs by partnering with fleet operators in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, the company said on Monday.


Tata Motors will begin deliveries of the cars to Uber’s fleet partners in phases beginning later this month.

“We are going to start the delivery shortly,” Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, told ET. “I think shared mobility is the most effective way of making more people experience the premium nature of EV rides. For fleet operators, it is a no-brainer because the payback period is very less given their running costs, and the support of the Indian government's FAME-II incentive is also there.”

There has been increased interest by ride-hailing companies to convert their fleets from conventional fuel to those running on batteries.

Gurugram-based all-electric cab company BluSmart is reportedly close to raising $250 million from various investors.

ET was the first to report that Uber’s rival Ola was planning to deploy about 1,000 cars as part of its Bengaluru EV cab pilot project.

Partnership with fleet operators

Singh said the electrification of its fleet will be a long-term process and the company will partner with fleet operators like Mumbai-based Everest Fleets, among others. This is different from competitor BluSmart, which manages its own drivers and fleets.

By signing a deal with Tata Motors directly, Singh said the company is “bringing different stakeholders together.

Buying electric cars has been a challenge for small fleet companies as only a limited number of electric cars are manufactured in a year. The MoU with Tata Motors will help small fleet operators buy electric cars more easily.

“If you look at the space right now, there are a very few individual fleet operators and Uber is coming in and creating access,” he said. “We are able to fast-track access for these fleet operators in multiple cities and create a unified framework for fleets to work with Uber and for Tata Motors to work with Uber. The EV market is still nascent and large players with strong commitments and long-term views can add value.”

Unlike diesel cars, electric cars on ride-hailing platforms are owned and operated by individual drivers as the high upfront costs and the downtime when the vehicle needs to be charged make it difficult for individual drivers to make money. A fleet operator buys and manages multiple cars and drivers.

Singh said the company will work with fleet operators in multiple ways to instil confidence in the economic viability of running electric vehicles on Uber.

The company will provide clear visibility into demand patterns which will ensure economic break even faster as and when the vehicles get deployed.

“We give confidence and clarity on where to put the vehicles, like multimodal hubs like the airports, which will then lead to higher utilisation,” he said. “We work with them to also make sure that there are deeper technology benefits which are very specific to EVs; for example, we are able to truly figure out over a period of time how the marketplace dispatch works in a way that reflects the range of the vehicle over a period of time."

Singh said that the service would be a mix of planned and on-demand rides for customers and it will initially be available under Uber's premium categories like Uber Premier, Reserve and Rentals.

It might later list the EV cab service as a separate category once there are enough EVs in the fleet.

The company, he said, will also make use of the algorithm it has developed in other markets where EVs have already been deployed, like the United States, Europe and Latin America.

“We have the benefit of leveraging what is working globally, not just in the US, in London, Europe and Latin America and combine them with a unique situation locally. We can expect a combination of the two being deployed,” he said.

Uber is already in talks with multiple EV charging companies in the country for using their network, he added.