Volkswagen : and Uber launch pilot project with electric vehicles in Berlin

Holger B. Santel, Head of Sales and Marketing Germany for the Volkswagen Passenger Car brand, said: 'Through our cooperation with Uber, we are helping improve air quality in urban areas with our locally carbon-neutral electric vehicles. In addition, with the demanding continuous operation of battery-electric vehicles in a ride hailing service, we will gain valuable experience which we will be able to use for future vehicles.'

Christoph Weigler, General Manager Uber DACH, added: 'We are pleased to have gained Volkswagen, one of the world's leading drivers for e-mobility, as a partner for our intermediation platform. Electric vehicles from Volkswagen are a perfect match for our sustainable 'Uber Green' concept. This cooperation offers our hire car partners an economically attractive possibility of switching to zero-emission drive systems at short notice. In addition, our experience shows that people are considerably more open to the topic of e-mobility after their first ride in an all-electric vehicle.'

As part of its e-offensive, the Volkswagen brand plans to offer electric cars in all major vehicle segments by 2022. Volkswagen aims to become the world market leader in e-mobility in the coming years and is investing 33 billion euros group-wide by 2024, 11 billion of which will be invested by the Volkswagen brand alone. The Volkswagen brand expects to produce 1.5 million e-cars in 2025.

In September, Uber announced that it intends to evolve into a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040, with 100 percent of the rides offered using zero-emission vehicles, public transport or micro-mobility offerings.