Moove partners with Uber UK to bring electric vehicles to London
Nigerian fintech moblity startup Moove has announced its launch in London as part of its global expansion through a new partnership with Uber.
Moove has launched in Europe with a 100% EV rent-to-buy model that provides access to brand new, zero-emissions vehicles for a flat weekly fee. The startup aims to be the largest EV partner on Uber’s platform in London with plans to scale to up to 10,000 vehicles by the end of 2025, creating sustainable earnings opportunities and contributing to the city’s net zero carbon emissions goals.
London is the global leader for Uber’s electrification efforts with over 6,000 EVs on the platform – the most of any Uber city. Moove says its London launch will enable Uber to progress towards its goal of becoming an all-electric platform in the capital by 2025. Moove customers can apply to use Uber’s £145 million Clean Air Plan to reduce the cost of their vehicle.
Founded by British-born Nigerian entrepreneurs Ladi Delano and Jide Odunsi, Moove was launched in Lagos, Nigeria in 2020 to democratise access to vehicle ownership. Having now scaled to nine markets across sub-Saharan Africa and India, Moove is leading the charge in the ‘mobility fintech sector’, a white space it created and which is solving the challenge of limited access to vehicle financing for millions of gig workers across ride-hailing, logistics, and instant delivery sectors, of which there are around 4.5 million in the UK alone.
Its alternative credit scoring technology provides access to vehicle financing to gig worker customers who may have previously been excluded from financial services. Over the past two years, Moove has enabled sustainable job creation and a path to asset ownership with its customers having completed over 7 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles.
The company is now bringing its impact-led model to the UK, its first expansion into Europe and on the heels of its recent India launch, as part of its mission to close the finance gap for mobility gig workers globally.
In London, Moove’s innovative approach to vehicle financing is designed to empower its customers with access to brand new, zero-emission vehicles with an easy sign-up process as well as no credit checks, upfront costs, or deposit needed. Value-added services include regular maintenance, MOT and vehicle insurance as part of Moove’s dedication to improving safety standards through ongoing training and vehicle serving. The weekly fee also covers health insurance and Moove customers have access to a dedicated customer success team, a product offering not matched by any other company partnered with Uber’s Clean Air Plan.
In addition, Moove customers driving with Uber can reduce their weekly payments by using funds raised through Uber’s Clean Air Plan to help them meet the cost of switching to an EV. Uber’s Clean Air Plan has raised over £145 million, equating to approximately £3,000 per driver. Moove estimates that the 10,000 EVs it plans to finance by 2025 in London will contribute a reduction of around 63,000 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
Ladi Delano, co-founder and co-CEO at Moove, said: “We are proud to have built a business in Africa to now be able to scale our model here in Europe, which is something that no other African fintech company has done before. This also marks a milestone of firsts for us; as we are excited to be launching with our first 100% EV fleet. We are thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Uber to drive our commitments towards the electrification of mobility.”
Andrew Brem, general manager at Uber UK, said: “Our aim at Uber is to become a 100% electric platform in London by 2025 and we understand that drivers need access to financing if they want to make the transition to an electric vehicle. Moove’s model will help more Uber drivers switch to pure electric faster, to reduce their running costs and help clean up London’s air. With demand from riders higher than ever, our partnership with Moove will benefit drivers and riders alike.”
Earlier this year, Uber expanded its EV-only product Uber Green to the whole of London allowing millions of riders in the capital to book an EV on-demand for the same price as an UberX. EV drivers also benefit from a 15% boost in earnings for Uber Green trips, as well as savings on fees and running costs compared to petrol and hybrid vehicles.
Moove aims to solve many of the pain points facing its customers when switching to an electric car over a petrol or diesel-powered vehicle. One of the key barriers to buying an EV, aside from price, is concerns about charging infrastructure and fear of not being able to access charge points.
To simplify the charging experience, Moove has launched the first end-to-end charge experience and complete EV charging network app specifically for ride-hailing drivers called Moove Charge™. Moove Charge enables Moove customers to locate, control, and pay for charging across one of the largest roaming networks in London, covering over 6,600 slow, fast and rapid charge points.
The app, which comes with an RFID electric car charging card, is a seamless all-in-one solution that aggregates charge points from 15 charge point network partners providing a cost saving of approx. 12% of average annual EV charging costs. Additional functionalities include the ability to search for charge points by vehicle compatibility, speed and availability and a dynamic spending cap feature, which helps Moove customers to better control their costs and cash flow. Altogether, this provides a better and easier experience for drivers as well as riders as it enables more electric cars to be on the road and reduced wait times for Uber’s growing customer base.
