The transition to sustainable mobility is gathering pace. The oil group Total recently materialised its energy transformation, focusing on less oil and more electricity and gas, by renaming itself TotalEnergies. On his side, Uber had already set high targets in this area: zero diesel vehicles by 2024, 50% electric vehicles which will be added to its Uber Green fleet by 2025, before reaching 100 % of electric vehicle journeys in Europe and North America by 2030. To this end, Uber will invest 75 million euros to encourage the purchase of these vehicles.
These two parallel ambitions are now coming together in a partnership aimed at developing the key point of electric urban mobility, which is currently holding back its wider development: recharging stations.. The Total group intends to develop 20,000 recharging points in France by the end of 2021and more than 75,000 by 2025. To this end, in addition to the charging points installed at its existing service stations, Total will convert 300 of them to 100 % electric by 2023, with almost 200 to be located mainly on the motorways and the hundred or so others in peri-urban area.
The first example of this future network was unveiled in the district of La Défensewith the conversion in less than two months of a 100% station, which has been entirely dedicated to electric power since the end of May.. A station where Uber drivers - as well as local employees - can find six locations with high-power charging stations - 43kW/50kW - which can recharge the battery in 45 minutes, compared with 1.5 hours for the slowest. More importantly, the station also has 175kW charging points for fast charging, up to 80 % from the battery in 15 minutes. What's more, all these kiosks are equipped with the full range of connectors available on the market - Type 2, CHAdeMO, Combo CCS - and the station is also equipped with a 24/7 shop and two WASH lanes.
To take this a step further, TotalEnergies and Uber will be working together to identify locations for future hubs and recharging sites, based on the usage and journeys of Uber drivers. In reality, most of the charging stations are currently located in Paris and its inner suburbs, 40 % of Uber drivers live in the inner suburbs. This makes it impossible for them to recharge their vehicles overnight. " Our commitment is to provide them with services that live up to their expectations, with guaranteeing an adequate recharging network" said Guillaume Larroque, Managing Director of TotalEnergies Marketing France.
As well as ad hoc stations and terminals, this partnership also intends to facilitating the installation of home terminals or close to the driver's home. All this takes the form of free administrative support, designed to encourage the installation of an electric charging point, whether in a condominium or a detached house.
" In order to promote the adoption of electric vehicles more widely and with greater peace of mind, we want to limit the obstacles for drivers on the Uber platform.said Jonathan Lévy, Uber's Business Development Director for Southern and Western Europe. It's a broad ecosystem that we want to put in place, with on-street charging points, but also assistance in installing charging points at home. This will enable drivers to recharge their vehicles overnight or during their lunch break. This will ensure that they don't have to refuse a journey because they only have a small amount of battery power left."
Finally, to complete this partnership, Uber drivers will have a card issued by TotalEnergies giving them access to charging their vehicles on preferential terms in the TotalEnergies network of service stations and electric charging points.
