Biden administration announces new EV investments, including from Uber, Zipcar

Written by ABC AUDIO on April 17, 2023

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration on Monday plans to announce a new round public and private commitments aimed at accelerating electric vehicle use throughout United States.

The commitments to be rolled out on Monday, which include investment pledges from Uber, Zipcar and other tech companies, build on the White House’s February announcement that Tesla plans to open thousands of its charging stations to the public.

“These commitments are part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to spur domestic manufacturing, strengthen supply chains, boost U.S. competitiveness and create good-paying jobs,” the administration said on Monday.

The administration set a goal of having 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030. It also plans to add more than 100,000 public EV chargers to the more than 135,000 now available throughout the country.

City officials in Madison, Wisconsin, have committed to converting its entire fleet of about 900 vehicles to EVs by 2030, the White House said on Monday.

And private companies have also made commitments to the White House to boost electric vehicle use in the years ahead.

Zipcar, a vehicle-sharing company, said it would “allocate 25% of its electric vehicles to disadvantaged communities in 2023,” the administration said in a release.

And the White House said on Monday that Uber, the ride-hailing company, had agreed to commit to driving 400 million EV miles on its platform by the end of 2023.

Uber will also “help hundreds of thousands of drivers transition to EVs and through its partnerships with automakers, rental companies, and charging companies,” officials said.

Bowie, Maryland-based Blink Charging committed to investing $49 million to increase its manufacturing capacity, growing it from 10,000 to 40,000 chargers per year by 2024.