While transportation network companies (TNCs) represent only a small portion of yearly miles traveled in the United States, RMI identified three main reasons to focus on ride-hailing electrification.
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The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) released a report last week detailing the obstacles and need to electrify ride-hailing vehicles.
While transportation network companies (TNCs) represent only a small portion of yearly miles traveled in the United States, RMI identified three main reasons to focus on ride-hailing electrification:
- full-time ride-hailing drivers travel about three times as many miles per year as the average American and therefore has a lot to gain from lower battery electric vehicle (EV) operating costs.
- Concentrated fleets of electric ride-hailing vehicles can serve as critical anchor tenants for much-needed high-speed public charging, helping to enable broader deployment in more diverse parts of cities.
- Each vehicle serves many passengers, which, if electric, provides a valuable public education and awareness opportunity.
"Electrification of TNCs, such as Didi Chuxing, Lyft, Ola, and Uber, presents a unique opportunity to significantly reduce global transportation emissions," the report says. "By converting conventional gasoline ride-hailing vehicles to electric, we simultaneously eliminate dangerous tailpipe emissions and leverage the rapidly decarbonizing power sector to reduce overall vehicle carbon emissions."
However, getting ride-hailing drivers in to EVs is a problem. Some TNCs like Lyft and Uber have partnerships with rental agencies and mobility firms to incentivize and help drivers transfer to EVs.
To read the full report, click here.
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