Uber drops 2030 all-electric ambition as ADCU says drivers left ‘paying heavy price’
- Perry Richardson
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Uber’s decision to step back from its pledge to run an all-electric fleet across major markets by 2030 has triggered a sharp response from the App Drivers’ and Couriers’ Union (ADCU), which called the move a “hammer blow” for drivers who switched to electric vehicles in expectation of long-term platform support.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, the union said many members entered expensive Personal Contract Purchase agreements in good faith after Uber encouraged drivers to help deliver its electrification plans, only for the company to now concede it will not meet the deadline. The ADCU said drivers were asked to take on enormous financial risk and were now being left to pay the price.
Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi publicly acknowledged the 2030 goal is off track, telling audiences at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the shift to a fully electric fleet by the end of the decade was “just not going to happen”, according to reports.
The reversal cuts across Uber’s published sustainability targets, which still include a goal of 100% zero-emission rides in Canada, Europe and the US by the end of 2030, alongside a broader ambition to become a zero-emissions mobility platform by 2040. Uber’s own electrification update has also warned that, based on current trends, it cannot meet all of its interim targets, while showing EV uptake in Europe below a majority share of mileage.
The ADCU says Uber’s retreat from its 2030 EV pledge leaves thousands of private hire drivers exposed after investing in electric cars on the back of the platform’s targets
Transport for London (TfL) ended the 100% Cleaner Vehicle Discount on 25 December 2025 and, from 2 January 2026, introduced a discounted Congestion Charge for EVs only if vehicles are on Auto Pay, with electric cars paying £13.50 a day against the new £18 standard rate. The ADCU said the policy shift has increased daily running costs for drivers who moved to electric.
The union also linked the fallout to broader pressure on earnings and work continuity. It said Uber’s updated terms introduced on 5 January have further reduced pay transparency, and claimed delays to private hire licence renewals have left some drivers unable to work long enough to keep up with vehicle finance payments.
The ADCU has called a 24-hour national strike on 3 February 2026, with a picket planned outside Uber’s UK headquarters at Aldgate Tower in London.
Cristina-Georgiana Ioanitescu, ADCU President, said: “We warned Uber from the start that its 2030 EV target was unattainable. They knew it too. But as is always the case with Uber, it is drivers – not the app company itself – who are now paying the price for bad decisions made in corporate boardrooms.
“Uber has cynically used drivers to make itself look like an environmentally conscious company, and pushing drivers into expensive EV contracts to deliver its PR strategy. Now that strategy has collapsed, and it is drivers who are left carrying the debt, the risk and the consequences.
“This is the harshest environment in living memory for PHV drivers: low pay, high commissions, algorithmic wage cuts, congestion charges, licensing chaos and soaring vehicle costs. Dropping the EV target is the latest hammer blow. Drivers are paying a heavy price for Uber’s failures.”
