Uber says it will let London customers request a fully electric car so they can “play their part in cleaning up urban transport”.
The ride-hailing app said its Uber Green option in central London will mean passenger fares will match those made in petrol, diesel and hybrid Uber vehicles, while drivers will be charged a reduced service fee.
Journeys must begin within London’s Zone 1 area but destinations are unrestricted.
The company began adding a 15p per mile clean air fee in London in January 2019 to help drivers with the cost of switching to greener cars.
This has raised £125m and the number of fully electric Uber cars in the capital has increased from 100 to 1,600.
But this still leaves only a small percentage of the firm’s 45,000 London vehicles that are eligible for the Uber Green scheme.
Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, said: “With cities beginning to open up once again, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive a green recovery by ensuring that every car on the Uber app in London is fully electric.
“We continue to partner with drivers to help them make the switch to electric and today we are excited to start offering riders the option to select an electric vehicle at no extra cost, allowing everyone using Uber to play their part in cleaning up urban transport.”