Uber's EV drivers need more spots to plug in
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Illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios
The push to electrify urban taxi and rideshare fleets has created a new issue: not enough charging infrastructure in cities like New York and San Francisco.
Why it matters: While government funding is directed primarily to highway charging spots, dense urban centers stand to benefit the most from the shift to electric cars, trucks and buses — provided they have a place to charge.
- In many of those cities, every square inch of land is precious and skyscrapers suck up power.
The big picture: Rideshare drivers are going electric five times faster than the general public, according to Uber, whether due to government mandates or commercial incentives.
- In China, for example, 87% of new taxis and ride-share vehicles last year were EVs, according to BloombergNEF research — one reason it's far ahead of the U.S. in EV adoption.
- In London, more than 20% of Uber miles driven are electric. In California, where rideshare platforms must be 90% electric by 2030, it's 15% and growing.
- An electric Uber or Lyft saves three times the carbon emissions of a personally owned EV because they rack up more miles, one study found.
Yes, but: Charging is an issue for urban rideshare drivers, many of whom live in multifamily housing and don't have access to charging at home.
- While many cities, like San Francisco, Boston and New York, are rolling out curbside charging, it's relatively slow and best for overnight charging.
- More fast-chargers are needed so rideshare drivers can maximize their trip availability.
- In San Francisco — where about 25% of new cars sold are EVs — there are roughly 1,000 public EV chargers, but only 174 of them are fast-chargers. Mayor London Breed wants to double the number of fast-chargers by 2030.
Between the lines: Between land acquisition, permitting and utility upgrades, it can take several years for a fast-charging station to open.
- And the upfront capital costs are daunting: a single fast-charging stall can cost as much as $150,000.
- So there's a classic chicken-egg problem: Charging networks won't invest without enough EV customers and people won't buy EVs without reliable charging options.
- "I think that egg finally hatched," says Frank Reig, CEO and co-founder of Revel, a New York-based electric mobility and infrastructure company aiming to accelerate EV adoption in America's densest cities.
Driving the news: With help from Uber and New York's electric utility, ConEdison, Revel is opening its first fast-charging hub in Manhattan Thursday — a project nearly two years in the making.
- The 10 charging posts, each capable of dispensing 320 kW of power, occupy a paved corner of Pier 36 on the Lower East Side, tucked under the FDR Drive.
- ConEd helped pay for the project, which required a power upgrade, through its PowerReady incentives program.
- And Uber, which aims to be a zero-emissions platform in U.S cities by 2030, financially guaranteed a minimum level of utilization across Revel's network in exchange for 25% charging discounts for drivers.
- Such partnerships help make charging networks viable in New York, Reig tells Axios.
- If the Pier 36 location is anything like Revel's existing charging hubs in Brooklyn and Queens, those plugs will be in high demand — particularly by taxi and rideshare drivers.
Zoom in: In late 2023, New York established the Green Rides Initiative, which requires all rideshare vehicles to be electric or wheelchair accessible by 2030.
- In response, the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission issued approximately 10,000 new licenses exclusively for EVs.
- The coveted medallions were snapped up in a flash, with the number of electric rideshare vehicles soaring in a matter of months from 2,000 to 10,000 — or roughly 10% of the city's rideshare fleet.
- Demand for Revel's charging sites in Brooklyn and Queens skyrocketed as well, with the number of public sessions growing from 50 per day to 500 per day — most of them Uber and Lyft EVs.
- Google Ventures-backed Gravity Technologies is also seeing high utilization by rideshare drivers at its public charging site, which opened last spring in a midtown Manhattan garage.
The intrigue: As electric rideshare grows, Uber is sharing heat maps about where rideshare drivers live and work to identify charging deserts where more plugs are needed.
What's next: Revel is in expansion mode with plans to leap from its current 64 fast-charging plugs in New York to 300 by the end of 2025, including nearly 50 at LaGuardia Airport.
- It's also developing charging sites across the San Francisco Bay Area and in downtown Los Angeles.
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