London Mayor’s fund provides 100 Tesla Model 3s for private hire use
London private hire and ride-hailing drivers will be able to rent one of 100 ULEZ- and C-Charge exempt Teslas that have been funded by the Mayor of London’s Energy Efficiency Fund.
MEEF is a £500 million investment fund designed to finance low-carbon, sustainable projects and infrastructure in London. It is providing capital to vehicle provider Breathe, which plans to deploy 100 Tesla Model 3 EVs to the private hire trade, including Uber, in London.
The scheme uses a pay-per-mile platform called Zero, developed by finance technology firm Zeti. A similar scheme has previously been used to finance black taxis in London using MEEF funds.
Breathe works like a subscription service, including insurance, maintenance and replacement tyres. Drivers can choose between an ‘Everything Included Ownership’ model giving them the option to own the vehicle after four years, or an ‘Everything Included Rental’ model in which the driver subscribes for use on a weekly basis.
Through the Zeti Zero platform, MEEF will be able to monitor real-time data on vehicle telematics, allowing it to measure the overall carbon savings of the fleet based on the total mileage.
Jeff Davis, director of Breathe, said: “Our mission is to provide large scale electric-vehicles-as-a-service offerings and we are excited to be starting with sustainable, flexible and affordable vehicle subscription options for London’s private hire market. We are seeing huge demand for electric private hire vehicles and MEEF’s funding allows us to expand our operations and help more drivers step into their first EV.”
MEEF, launched in July 2018, is supported by sustainable bank Triodos, which has committed a significant part of MEEF’s capital for the project.
This is MEEF’s fourth investment in the low carbon mobility sector. Eligible projects for MEEF include e-mobility, EV charging, alternative fuel stations and hydrogen fuel cells. Since it started, MEEF has brought about energy savings of more than 39m GWh.