Uber had launched a pilot program in Chicago, according to which BYD electric cars will be made available for leasing or purchase for Uber drivers through Green Wheels USA.
As per the terms of partnership, company’s electric e6 wagon will be engaged for this purpose.
The vehicle gets up to 186 miles per charge and is already used in some taxi fleets around the world.
At present, Uber is operating a pilot program with 25 electric cars for a few weeks in Chicago.
Uber, an American international company headquartered in San Francisco, California was founded in 2009.
The Uber app allows consumers to submit a trip request, which is routed to crowd-sourced taxi driver.
According to Green Wheels estimates, by the end of the year the number of cars may reach 200.
The program is designed to be at low-cost for Uber X drivers, offering leases as well as a US $200 per week rental, that lets drivers, use the vehicle during their Uber shifts.
Green Wheels USA, which offers Uber drivers a number of payment options, including traditional lease-to-own programs.
In future, the program may be expanded to other cities in US also.
Back home in China also the company eyes leading car rental services to initiate similar partnership.
With an aim to challenge Telsa as well as other green-vehicle firms, the company has stepped into electric car segment after establishing themselves in car-rental business.
For BYD, US has been one of its major overseas market and has already sold buses and fleet vehicles to various cities and firms.
However, in competition with Tesla, BYD aims to triple its EV battery production establishing its own gigafactory.
The company will add 6 GWh of global production per year within the next three years.
The BYD e6 is a long-range, pure-electric utility vehicle as well as a cross between a sedan and an SUV.
With over 800 operating as public e-Taxis, the e6 fleets have an accumulated range of over 45 million miles.
The e6 operates two shifts for nearly 24 hours with one mid-day supplemental charge.
Sabeena Wahid
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