| Advertisement |
April 17 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has announced new partnerships with two of nation's most popular ride-sharing companies in an effort to boost electric vehicle usage throughout the United States. The private-sector initiative, announced by the White House in March, is part of President Joe Biden's ambitious plan to transition the country from gas-powered vehicles by 50% through the next decade.
Advertisement
Uber and Zipcar joined the effort Monday to allocate ride-sharing resources in economically challenged communities and to use a larger percentage of drivers with clean-energy vehicles.
As part of the plan, Uber has pledged to log at least 400 million EV miles on its platform before the end of the year, which will "help hundreds of thousands of drivers transition to EVs and through its partnerships with automakers, rental companies, and charging companies," the Biden administration said in a statement.
Zipcar will make efforts to increase its presence in disadvantaged communities by 25% this year, Blink Charging -- a leading supplier of charging ports across the country -- plans to invest $49 million to increase production to 40,000 chargers per year by 2024.
The National Automobile Dealers Association and Pacific Gas & Electric were also expected to join a number of major corporations and nonprofits that have already signed on with the Biden strategy, including Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Prologis, Hertz, Amazon, Google, Wells Fargo, and Consumer Reports, among others -- who have committed to expand EV fleets, boost the current number of charging stations, and promote national clean energy efforts.
The White House also gave credit Monday to officials in Madison, Wis., for recently agreeing to convert the city's entire fleet of 900 vehicles to EVs by 2030.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed strict new limits on tailpipe emissions and a requirement that more than half of new vehicles manufactured in the United States be fully electric by 2032.
"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.
So far, Biden's legislative agenda has invested nearly $25 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support clean transportation, the White House said.
Federal agencies have already acquired 13,000 light- and medium-duty zero-emission vehicles in the 2023 fiscal year, about four times the number it acquired last year.
Biden's plan also seeks to expand the number of EVs in the federal government fleet, and allow only zero-emission vehicles to be purchased by 2027.
Over the next year, the administration plans to install an additional 24,000 charging stations at federal facilities nationwide, the White House said previously.
Since Biden took office in 2021, electric vehicle sales have tripled -- with more than 3 million EVs currently on the road -- and the number of public charging ports across the country has grown by more than 40% to about 132,000 total outlets, the White House said.
