Bolt launches fund to help its London drivers transition to electric vehicles
Bolt, London’s second biggest taxi service, is launching a Zero Emission Transition fund to move its London-based drivers over to electric vehicles.
The fund will be worth around £250,000 and will come at no extra cost to riders or drivers.
The money will be used to pay for four main things: Installing charging points, developing a tool which calculates the total cost of owning an electric vehicle, removing the need for drivers to pay a deposit when they buy a new electric vehicle and donating to sustainability initiatives across the UK.
The upfront cost of purchasing an electric vehicle is often the biggest barrier to stopping drivers switching to an electric vehicle.
”We’re confident that the groundwork being laid by our Zero Emission Transition pilot will help identify the mechanics that are most efficient at getting Bolt drivers into electric vehicles, and are excited at the potential benefit this could have for our drivers and the wider city,” said Sam Raciti, general manager.
The move will bring Bolt’s operations in London in-line with is operations in the rest of Europe, where all of its trips are already carbon-neutral.
Ubitricity
In order to carry out this transition, Bolt has hired charging solutions firm Ubitricity to increase charging infrastructure in the city for the taxi community.
”For the UK to meet its carbon emission and air quality ambitions, we need a rapid transition to electric vehicles. When you compare driving patterns, a taxi covers five times more mileage per year than the average car. So helping taxi drivers switch to EVs sooner by solving their charging worries around cost and convenience, delivers a large and quick gain against local authorities’ climate change and air quality goal,” said Daniel Bentham, managing director of Ubitricity.