Lyft has big plans to run its entire business electrically by the end of the decade.
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Hail services were originally touted to get people out of their own cars and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, although studies in recent years have shown that this is not the case.
To reverse this, according to a Lyft blog post from Wednesday, Lyft is committed to using only electric vehicles by 2030. Well, 2030 is 10 years away, but there is still a lot to do in today’s electric car market to make this change feasible.
“Now we have to work together more than ever to create cleaner, healthier and fairer communities,” said John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft, in a statement. “Success creates success, and if we do it right, it creates a path for others. If other carpooling and delivery companies, car manufacturers, and rental car companies make this shift, it can be the catalyst for the transformation of the entire transportation system.”
Lyft’s plan (PDF) is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 16 million tonnes and to increase the acceptance of electric vehicles in California by 22 times compared to the California Air Resources Board’s estimates for 2030.
To achieve its goal, Lyft is working on a multi-stage plan that will involve working with automakers, the Environmental Defense Fund, and lawmakers to make electric vehicles more affordable and accessible to more people. This in and of itself will require a Herculean effort, but given Lyft’s considerable financial clout, it could make a difference.
Next, the company will have to hand these newly affordable electric vehicles into the hands of its drivers. That means overtaking his Express Drive Program that provides rental cars for drivers who either do not have suitable vehicles or do not want to use their own cars (understandable, barf smell does not come out). Lyft plans to do this within the next five years, but given driver complaints about the program, it’s hard to say how it would work with potentially more expensive cars, even if gasoline costs are removed from the equation.
Lyft already has Electric vehicles provided for rental on Express Drive in Seattle, Denver, and Atlanta, and Lyft says they are before COVID-19 Crisis, but we couldn’t find user accounts about how this pilot program works on the popular subreddits, so it’s hard to say how far they’re currently being taken over.
We were also excited to see what role the coronavirus pandemic played in Lyft’s electrification plans, to which a Lyft representative replied:
2020 was already a crucial year for Lyft – for our progress towards profitability and also for climate change, since the Paris Agreement assumes that 2020 will be the top year for carbon, an important milestone for a 50% reduction by 2030 to reach. The COVID crisis brought both of these issues into focus – pushing us to rethink our priorities and focus on low-cost investments. The COVID crisis gave us the choice to squat or “grow better” by accelerating the transition to electric vehicles.
Look at that:
The end of the beginning of the electric car
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