The Mayor of London announced that they are providing capital to vehicle-as-a-service provider Breathe to purchase 100 Tesla Model 3s.
Breathe will then provide private hire drivers with the ability to subscribe to rent or own a Tesla Model 3 for their work.
The vehicle-as-a-service model is fast becoming a popular option for those who drive for a living. It allows Uber, Lyft or other private hire drivers to have a single payment per week as a cost of doing their job.
As per the announcement, Breathe is offering three subscriptions for potential users in London.
All options include insurance, super fast service, maintenance, and repairs on the vehicles.
It will be interesting to see if this service will help the private hire side of the sector electrify quicker.
Uber launched their ‘clean air fee’ back in 2017 to incentivize drivers to switch over to EVs.
However, since the launch, only 4,000 Uber drivers have gone electric by the end of 2021. This number may increase as Uber did add Tesla vehicles to the scheme late in November 2021.
Either way, this is an interesting initiative for public investment in a private space.
Neither the City of London nor Breathe confirmed the exact dollar figures of the investment yet.
