Uber Dubai Is Going Electric with uberONE Tesla Model X

Today, on October 10th, 2017, Uber has started uberONE in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is a premium all-electric shuttle service offered by the US-based company that invented the app-based taxi alternative. It is identical to uberBlack, but is equipped with Tesla Model S or Model X vehicles, the only premium fully electric vehicles that are available on the market right now.

Experience with uberONE

To check out how it works in Dubai, I ordered an uberONE this morning at around 8:05am. Initially, the availability was very limited due to the low number of vehicles and the high demand around that time. If I remember correctly, they are using 50 vehicles at the moment. It took about 20 minutes for the vehicle to arrive, as it was finishing up a previous ride near my location. Pickup was straightforward, with the falcon wing doors on the rear opening up to let me inside being a very cool way to be greeted.

The vehicle was clean, had an almost fully charged battery and a friendly driver. However, the driver's knowledge about the vehicle wasn't quite there yet. He tried to do something on the touchscreen, but seemed lost and unsure how to achieve what he wanted to do. Being a Tesla owner myself, I know it is a vehicle that requires a little better training and understanding to be fully proficient in its operation. The driver also explained how they deal with the challenge of charging the battery. They do not use a Supercharger, so they park the cars and charge, usually while switching shifts among drivers.

Pricing

The pricing is identical to uberBlack. The total cost for a 9.61km and 28:55 minute long trip was 58.39 AED. I think this is very good pricing for such a service, especially considering it was a busy and generally more expensive time. Overall it was a nice experience and I will certainly go with uberONE over uberBlack in the future. If you'd like to give it a try, you can sign up for Uber at uber.com.