Uber expands electric-only option to all customers, free rides in Kia EVs to Australian Open

Uber will expand its Comfort Electric service across Australia from later this month, allowing all passengers to directly choose an all-electric ride.

This move follows the launch of the Uber Green service for both hybrid and all-electric vehicles in 2023, which has become the second most-popular option in Australia – behind the mainstream UberX service.

“Uber Green has been the fastest growing product I’ve ever been involved in, with Aussies notching up more than half a million trips across hybrid and electric vehicles in one week last year alone,” said Uber Australia and New Zealand managing director Dom Taylor.

The expansion of the Comfort Electric service to all customers forms part of Uber’s commitment to becoming a "zero-emissions platform" in Australia by 2040.

Comfort Electric was first launched for business customers in 2023. It is limited to selected electric cars, including certain Tesla, Audi, BMW, BYD, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Polestar and Volvo vehicles.

Following a substantial multi-year investment to increase the number of electric vehicles in its fleet, Comfort Electric will be available first for Uber One subscribers from January 11, before expanding to all Uber personal account holders across Australia from January 29.

Kia Australia and Uber have also partnered to offer complimentary rides in the Korean brand’s electric vehicles to and from the Australian Open from January 14 until the tournament’s conclusion, exclusively for Uber One members.

The complimentary rides, supported by 30 examples of the EV6 and EV9, are capped at AU$100 within five kilometres of Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne’s CBD, and will only appear if there is a vehicle available.

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“Riders will not be charged for the trip (up to $100 AUD) but the driver partners will receive one hundred per cent of the fare with Kia covering the cost of the ride,” said Uber Australia.

“We’ve chosen Melbourne to launch this experience because despite doing thousands of EV trips nationally every day, the adoption of EVs on our platform has been slower than we’d hoped in Australia’s unofficial sporting capital,” added Taylor.

To boost EV uptake in Victoria, Uber has added additional places to its service fee reduction program for all-electric driver partners in the state. This initiative sees service fees reduced by 50 per cent, up to $3500 per financial year, until June 2025.