Accelerating the Electric Vehicle Transition

The race is on to deploy well over 50 million electric vehicles in United States over the next 10 years—putting the US transportation sector on the path to limit global warming to 1.5°C. To achieve this scale of deployment, we must seize opportunities to accelerate the rapid decarbonization of the transportation sector.

Electrifying transportation network company (TNC) ridehailing vehicles, such as Uber and Lyft, is critical to accelerating the electric vehicle transition and provides key catalytic opportunities: increasing the availability of low-cost, efficient charging infrastructure; lowering EV operational cost; and spreading awareness and education.

To electrify ridehailing vehicles at scale, key industry stakeholders must collaborate. Analyzing 100 million miles of actual electric and gasoline ridehailing vehicle data, this report offers actionable recommendations for stakeholders to address three key barriers to implementation:

• Technological Capability—EVs must be technologically capable of replacing internal combustion engine vehicles in TNC applications. Our research shows that EV technology has advanced to the point where this is generally viable.
• Financial Competitiveness—Steps must be taken to improve the financial competitiveness of EVs for ridehailing such as lowering the price and increasing access to charging, implementing enabling EV leasing and rental models, and leveraging the used EV market.
• Charging Infrastructure—Robust infrastructure is essential and can be made viable through coordinated stakeholder action and further focused research.

This report was made possible with support from ClimateWorks Foundation.