Uber, Lyft Must Go Electric In NYC By 2030

NEW YORK CITY — All for-hire vehicles in New York City that aren't yellow soon must go green, officials said.

The city's new "Green Rides" program will require all rideshare trips to be either zero-emission or wheelchair-accessible by 2030, announced Mayor Eric Adams Wednesday.

Roughly 80,000 vehicles for Uber and Lyft alone will be affected by the green mandate, which was unanimously approved by the Taxi and Limousine Commission Wednesday.

"This is, as you hear all the time, the first city in the United States to get this done,” said Mayor Eric Adams.

The taxi commission will also supercharge its green goal by opening license applications to any and all electric vehicle owners starting Thursday morning, Adams said.

"That means anyone with an electric vehicle can put in an application to be a rideshare driver," he said.

The green rideshare mandate is one of a growing spate of New York City goals and programs designed to mitigate climate change and transition to new energy sources.

City officials, for example, have set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Switching the bulk of New York City's rideshare fleet to zero-emission vehicles will remove 600,000 metric tons of carbon emissions from air that city dwellers breathe, said David Do, chair and commissioner for the Taxi and Limousin Commission.

Do stressed that the program calls to gradually increase the percentage of zero-emission and wheelchair-accessible vehicles year-by-year.

Rideshare companies have already achieved the first benchmark of 5 percent of trips fitting the new rule, officials said. The next benchmark — 15 percent — will be by the end of 2025, with yearly increases until the 2030.

"No ride-share vehicle and owner will be required to run out and buy an EV or wheelchair-accessible vehicle tomorrow, next week or even next month," Do said.