NYC's EV revolution is riding on Uber and Lyft drivers

On one Upper West Side side street, you can hear the quiet hum of electric vehicles almost all day and night.

Manhattan isn't known for its plentiful parking. But this street has something even rarer: two public spots reserved for EV charging. Often, vehicles linger for hours.

On a recent weekday, one licensed ride-hailing driver had been charging for more than 12 hours. Another EV sat for more than five hours at the neighboring plug. For the ride-hailing driver, that's 12 hours they didn't work. For other EV owners, it's one less charger to plug in to. A Tesla slowed as it drove by in hopes the spaces weren't occupied.

This snapshot in time comes as New York City aims to convert almost its entire ride-hailing industry to EVs by 2030, with the exception of wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Mayor Eric Adams' Green Rides Initiative affects the city's more than 84,000 Uber and Lyft drivers — among the largest markets in the world. It's an ambitious target, given that under 10% of rides were taken in an EV in March, according to city data.

The biggest hurdle is building enough public chargers, especially in such a densely packed city with an old power grid and lengthy bureaucratic delays. For Uber and Lyft drivers, time is money, so widely accessible charging is key to the EV switch. The majority live in NYC's outer boroughs, such as Queens, and park on the street, where chargers are sparse. A study by the US Department of Energy found that 1,000 fast chargers were needed for every 20,000 EV drivers on the road. Currently, there are fewer than 200 across NYC. Plus, building thousands of new chargers requires billions of dollars of investment.

City officials and ride-hailing companies told Business Insider that electrifying the sector could unlock a broader EV revolution because it could solve a crucial conundrum: Companies won't build charging stations if there aren't enough drivers, but drivers won't buy an EV if charging isn't widely accessible.

"This is the industry that's going to get this infrastructure off the ground because a ride-share driver is a great customer for a charging station," said Bobby Familiar, a spokesperson for Revel, an all-electric ride-hailing service that operates three public fast-charging stations in NYC. "They have to charge every single day that they do a shift. They want fast charging because every minute spent at the charger is time they could be on the road earning a fare."

Electrifying the ride-hailing industry also has big returns for the environment, Michael Replogle, a former deputy commissioner for policy at NYC's Department of Transportation, said.

"If you can electrify Ubers, Lyfts, and taxis that drive several hundred miles a day, it will really reduce the city's carbon footprint and clean up the air," he said.

Given the stakes, a lot has to go right in the coming years. The city has to strike a balance between the number of EV drivers and charging sites. Long wait times risk turning off drivers from making the switch, but if there isn't enough demand, the economics could fall apart for stations run by the government or private entities. Chargers also must be in neighborhoods with a history of underinvestment.

A mad dash for EV licenses

The transition is getting an early test this year now that thousands more ride-hailing drivers have licenses.

In October, the Taxi & Limousine Commission opened applications for this gig work for the first time in five years — but for EV drivers only. A cap had been in place since 2018 to stabilize drivers' wages and decrease traffic congestion.

The TLC approved about 8,400 EV licenses. That brought the total to more than 11,000, a huge jump compared with several years ago.

The program is on hold because of a lawsuit filed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. The program is on hold because of a lawsuit filed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. It represents Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as yellow-cab drivers who aren't under the EV mandate but can voluntarily make the switch to certain models. The alliance argued that the market would become oversaturated.

TLC Commissioner David Do said many of those who applied were ride-hailing drivers already and the total number of drivers in NYC was still lower than pre-pandemic levels.

A lot of ride-hailing drivers are excited about the EV push because it's a pathway to owning their own car, rather than renting from fleet owners, according to Aeraj Qazi, the owner of Primetime Brokerage, which helps drivers through the TLC licensing process.

"Rentals are like handcuffs for drivers, so EVs provide an opportunity for drivers to own their own plates," Qazi said.

Weekly rental rates average between $450 and $600, several drivers told BI. That's more than a typical monthly car payment.

Qazi said he and other brokerages helped file thousands of EV applications before the court-ordered injunction took effect late last year.

"We didn't realize how crazy it would get. The charging infrastructure isn't there right now," Qazi said.

Guillermo Fondeur, an Uber driver who bought a Tesla in 2021, charges at home. He said the switch had saved him money on gas and maintenance, and he earns some perks from Uber, including an extra $1 on every ride.

But he's heard complaints from other EV owners about the lack of public charging infrastructure.

"It's very inconvenient to find chargers," Fondeur said. "There are one- to two-hour waits to plug in some places."

He added: "Drivers want to charge on the block where they live. The city could put chargers in the parking spaces. There's also a lot of parking lots."

NYC's most valuable asset

Today, there are nearly 200 fast chargers in NYC and more than 1,900 Level 2 chargers. The Adams administration wants to grow the network this decade to 6,000 fast chargers and 40,000 Level 2 plugs.

"We need every space we can find," Do said.

In general, EVs can get up to 30 miles of range for every hour they're plugged in to a Level 2 charger. That makes them ideal for overnight street parking, or for several hours during the day while drivers run errands or go to work. Fast chargers, such as those in Tesla's Supercharger network, can add up to 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes, helping ease range anxiety among road trippers and ride-hailing drivers who need a quick refill but don't want to lose too much time.