Just over 10,000 electric cars are now in use by Uber and Lyft in New York City, constituting twelve percent of their combined fleet. This transition to electric vehicles is happening more quickly than anticipated.
In early 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to require transportation service providers like Uber and Lyft to switch their fleets to electric or make them wheelchair accessible by 2030. This initiative became a reality in October 2023 with the introduction of the ‘Green Rides’ program. Since its inception, more than 7,500 new electric Uber and Lyft vehicles have been approved by the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) and put into service. This information was revealed in a recent court case, as the city’s taxi industry expresses concerns about its future.
With the addition of 7,532 electric vehicles, New York City’s ride-hailing electric fleet will grow to 10,090 vehicles, amounting to twelve percent of the total Uber and Lyft fleet in the city. Additionally, the Taxi and Limousine Commission has 2,224 pending applications to process, indicating that the transition is happening faster than projected.
For 2024, the requirement is that five percent of all “high-volume hire journeys,” including those by Uber and Lyft, must be serviced by zero-emission or wheelchair-accessible vehicles. This percentage is set to increase to 15 percent in 2025 and 25 percent in 2026. Subsequently, the requirement will increase by 20 percent each year, reaching 100 percent in 2030.
As of January 2023, this regulation affects more than 100,000 vehicles. Smaller providers, in particular, are feeling the pressure to comply, as industry leaders Uber and Lyft have already committed to transitioning to all-electric fleets by 2030.
The latest figures on the number of electric ride-hailing vehicles in New York City were disclosed during a court hearing related to a lawsuit filed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which is advocating for a reinstatement of a cap on ridesharing vehicles in the city. Such a cap had been in place since 2018 but was lifted in the fall of 2023 as part of the ‘Green Rides’ initiative.
