Uber is expanding its all-electric premium ridesharing service to its largest market yet, New York City. The launch will coincide with the introduction of new product features targeted at encouraging users to make greener choices while using Uber.

Highlights:

• Uber launched an all-electric premium ridesharing service, Uber Comfort Electric, in New York City to promote sustainability.
• Service expands to 41 cities after city lifts EV rider hail permit restrictions.
• Uber invests $800 million to transition drivers to battery EVs, aiming for zero emissions by 2030 despite challenges.

Uber initially introduced its Comfort Electric service in May 2022, allowing clients to hail journeys in high-end EVs such as Tesla, Polestar, and Ford Mustang Mach-E. Since then, the service has expanded to 41 cities, including New York.

The city put a restriction on the number of EV ridehail permits issued by the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which is why Uber had not started its luxury EV service in the Big Apple before today. 

However, the restriction has now been removed, allowing for additional electric Uber vehicles.

Uber Comfort Electric is an expansion of Uber Comfort, allowing users to request greater legroom, quiet vehicles, and other luxuries traditionally associated with Uber Black, the company's most expensive service. It complements the company's other EV offering, Uber Green, which charges drivers an additional price (often $1) to utilize electric vehicles.

Charging access is one of the most significant barriers to more rideshare drivers utilizing electric vehicles. To that purpose, Uber recently established a partnership with rival ridesharing service Revel (which formerly operated a fleet of electric mopeds but has now switched to Tesla Model Ys). 

Uber drivers who earn awards through the company's Uber Pro program can save up to 25% on charging expenses while utilizing Revel's big charging hub in Brooklyn.

The business is also releasing a number of new features that were previously mentioned during its annual product event last summer. The first is Emissions Savings, which is similar to Uber's well-known five-star passenger and driver rating system, but for carbon emissions. When consumers open the app, they will see how much pollution they avoided by utilizing Uber's EV ridesharing services.

Additionally, Uber Green and Comfort Electric are now available to teens with valid Uber accounts. 

Uber announced last year that it will create a new account procedure for adolescents who ride without their parents or guardians. In some places, teenagers may now hail an electric automobile rather than a polluting one.

Uber has set a goal of becoming a "zero-emissions platform" in the United States, Europe, and Canada by 2030, a tough objective given that the firm characterizes its drivers as independent contractors and so cannot force them all to use EVs. 

The firm has stated that it will invest $800 million of its own money to help "hundreds of thousands of drivers in the US, Canada, and Europe transition to battery EVs by 2025."

The recent slowdown in EV sales increase, as well as a reduction in expenses via a few important automakers, have thrown every other wrench into Uber's efforts to go emissions-unfastened. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently wrote an op-ed for Fast Company urging authorities and automakers to boost up the transition to electric powered vehicles. Otherwise, Uber won't meet its 2030 objective.