Mayor Declares All NYC Uber and Lyft Cars Must Be Electric by 2030

By Mindy Cohn

During his State of the City address last week, Mayor Eric Adams declared all of the City's 100,000 Uber and Lyft vehicles must run on electric power by 2030.

The new regulation only applies to for-hire vehicle services that meet the City's high volume criteria, the definition of which only matches Uber and Lyft.

At present, about four percent of the rides covered by Uber drivers in North America are done in zero-emission vehicles. Uber claims this number is more than eight times higher than among the general US car owner population.

Both Uber and Lyft state that their companies are on-board with the new policy and will work with the City to meet the carbon emissions-reducing goal.

A press release by the mayor's office noted that the one hundred electrifications of the vehicles "will be achieved with no new costs for individual drivers."

But the drivers want to know who will be footing that bill to guarantee no new costs. The concern stems from the fact that both Uber and Lyft pass on all charges of doing business to their drivers, including purchasing their cars, fuel, and maintenance.

photo credit: Flickr