Electrifying Ride-sharing: Transitioning to a Cleaner Future
Authored by Alan Jenn, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis
Incentives for plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are typically designed to encourage broad consumer adoption of the new technology. However, maximizing electrification of the transportation sector also requires incentives targeted at stakeholders with high travel intensity, i.e., those exhibiting particularly high passenger occupancy and/or vehicle-miles traveled (VMT). This policy brief focuses on one such class of stakeholders: transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft. It examines empirical data of electric vehicle use in TNCs and discusses research findings on the potential impacts of electrifying TNCs. It also raises important considerations for the development of future policy.