Lyft Vows To Use 100% Electric Vehicles By 2030

Ride-hailing company Lyft has vowed an ambitious goal: it will transition to 100-percent electric vehicles by 2030. The commitment was announced on June 17, with Lyft explaining that it is collaborating with the Environmental Defense Fund on this effort. The news comes amid reports that transportation is driving greenhouse gas pollution in the US and is a big source of pollution elsewhere in the world.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US at 28-percent, with electricity coming in second at 27-percent and industrial processes at 22-percent. Personal vehicles play a large role in transportation emissions, with single cars often being used to transport only one or two people.

Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have been criticized for contributing to this problem, with critics pointing out that drivers often have their vehicles running while waiting for a new order, plus there's the extra fuel use when driving the vehicle to the person, who then needs to be driven to their destination.

Electric vehicles are a promising solution to this, assuming the electricity itself comes from clean energy sources. These EVs are zero-emission and are quite silent, as well, cutting the greenhouse gas emissions that come from typical gasoline vehicles. Lyft acknowledged this in its new blog post, stating that it will do its part to reduce these emissions by switching to an entirely electric vehicle fleet.

How will the company pull this off? The transition will, obviously, require drivers of personal cars to make the switch from gasoline or diesel models to something that is zero-emission. Lyft will end its carbon offsets program to focus on its new EV goal and will work with various groups and companies to push toward an entirely EV-based transportation future.

Lyft mentions helping drivers make the switch, though specifics aren't provided, with the company stating:

But at the end of the day, meeting our commitment is on us, not on drivers. By working with policymakers and partners, and harnessing the power of the driver community, we can drive down the cost of EVs, expand EV incentives and infrastructure, and help drivers switch to electric over time in a way that is cost-effective, sustainable and profitable.