Lyft is going green as the company has announced plans to exclusively offer zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
In a blog post, the company said the “COVID-19 pandemic has devastated economies around the world … and wreaked havoc on businesses large and small, including here at Lyft.” Despite the difficulties, the company says the pandemic presented them with a “unique challenge to rebuild our businesses and communities in ways that are better, cleaner and more sustainable for the future.”
As part of this effort, the company will work with drivers to transition to electric vehicles over the course of the next decade. This will apparently cover everything at Lyft including “cars in the Express Drive rental car partner program for rideshare drivers, our consumer rental car program for riders, our autonomous vehicle program, and drivers’ personal cars used on the Lyft platform.”
This is obviously a major change and one that will likely cost millions – if not billions of dollars. However, Lyft said drivers will benefit in the long run as EVs have lower ‘fuel’ and maintenance costs. The company also said electric vehicles will likely be more economical than petrol-powered models, for rideshare drivers, by the middle of this decade due to falling battery prices.
To help make EVs more affordable, Lyft said they’ll work with policymakers, partners and drivers to expand electric vehicles incentives and increase charging infrastructure. The company hopes this will make electric vehicles more affordable and lower the cost of recharging them.
If the company is successful, Lyft believes they could reduce gasoline consumption by more than a billion gallons over the next decade and prevent tons of greenhouse gasses from being released into the atmosphere.
