Bolt has launched a fleet of Tesla ride-hailing vehicles across 10 cities in Europe to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.
In 2024, Bolt is co-financing an initial fleet of 350 Tesla vehicles in partnership with local fleet owners. It then plans to significantly scale up the programme in 2025.
The electric cars are already operational in Tallinn, Warsaw and Lisbon, and will extend to 7 additional cities including Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin and Brussels.
This initiative follows an extensive driver survey, which revealed that only two out of ten non-EV ride-hailing drivers plan to switch to an EV in the next two years.
The main barriers to this transition were cited to include the purchase cost of the vehicles, as well as the price and availability of public fast charging.
Bolt’s co-financing programmes therefore aim to address some of these barriers.
Paddy Partridge, Bolt’s Senior Vice President - Rides, said:Bolt is committed to adding more electric vehicles to our platform across Europe as part of a longer-term investment in transitioning to zero-emission vehicles. Our surveys indicate that the transition remains difficult for both self-employed drivers and fleet operators, as EVs are still up to 30% more expensive than comparable ICE vehicles. Our partnership with fleet companies marks the first step towards accelerating the adoption in key regions. The feedback from Warsaw and Lisbon, the initial cities launched, shows keen interest from fleet owners and we are confident in scaling up further through 2025.
Bolt’s long-term environmental commitment is to become a carbon net-zero company by 2040.
Its latest announcement follows the company’s recent expansion of partnerships with public charging network developers in France and across the Baltics.
