The companies said the plan would help accelerate the switch to EVs and that they also plan to collaborate in introducing autonomous-capable EVs on the Uber platform. BYD, China’s largest EV maker, has fast been expanding its reach into world markets after switching entirely to production of EVs and hybrids in 2022.
The rapid emergence of low-priced EVs from China is shaking up the global auto industry in ways not seen since Japanese makers arrived during the oil crises of the 1970s.
With such a program and BYD’s building many international EV factories throughout the world; it appears to me that BYD is in the forefront of converting ICE vehicles to EVs.
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I was unable to find good comprehensive data, but it appears that in 2018 Uber had over a million drivers in Latin America. If BYD splits the 100,000 cars between Europe and Latin America that is about 5 percent of the old UBER driving force.
This will not disrupt the world by itself. However, if the economics work out, in 5 years the entire Latin American ride share industry could be electric. As not all of Latin America has good cheap electricity grids, it would drive solar and fixed battery storage (Providing that the economics of electric cars can fund solar plus storage) This would be disruptive.
Cheers
Qazulight
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But it is likely that the number of miles & trips isn’t evenly distributed among all those drivers. So if the 5% skewed toward drivers that take more trips and drive longer hours it could be 2x or even more than 5% of the Uber miles driven.
Mike
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