Emissions benefits of electric vehicles in Uber and Lyft ride-hailing services
Source abstract
Abstract
The use of plug-in electric vehicles in ride-hailing services is expected to have substantial emission reduction benefits. However, these benefits depend on the energy fuel mix in the grid and vehicle usage. Here we employ high-resolution data from Uber and Lyft in California to provide insights into the use of electric vehicles in ride-hailing. The growth in electric vehicle use has been rapid in the past two years and a proportionally small number of electric vehicles are already using a large share of electricity provided by the public charging infrastructure. Concerns about the ability of electric vehicles to provide the same level of service as gasoline vehicles has been overstated: we found no statistical difference between the two technologies for services provided to ride-hailing companies. Lastly, the potential environmental and emission reduction benefits are approximately three times higher for electric vehicles being used in ride-hailing compared with those of regular vehicle usage in California. Use of electric vehicles in ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft is rising but their impact on environment and emissions remains difficult to assess. Using data from more than 100,000 rides, Alan Jenn shows the substantial emission reduction potential of electric vehicle use in ride-hailing in California.
Source: openaire · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Transportation and Mobility Innovations · Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure · Transportation Planning and Optimization
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (29)
Show source-provided references
1. Pavlenko, N., Slowik, P. & Lutsey, N. When Does Electrifying Shared Mobility Make Economic Sense? Working Paper 2019-01 (International Council on Clean Transportation, 2019).
2. Kley, F., Lerch, C. & Dallinger, D. New business models for electric cars—a holistic approach. Energy Policy 39, 3392–3403 (2011).10.1016/j.enpol.2011.03.036 ↗
3. Luè, A., Colorni, A., Nocerino, R. & Paruscio, V. Green move: an innovative electric vehicle-sharing system. Procd Soc. Behav. Sci. 48, 2978–2987 (2012).10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.1265 ↗
4. Becker, H., Ciari, F. & Axhausen, K. W. Measuring the car ownership impact of free-floating car-sharing—a case study in Basel, Switzerland. Transp. Res. D 65, 51–62 (2018).10.1016/j.trd.2018.08.003 ↗
5. Jacquillat, A. & Zoepf, S. Deployment and utilization of plug-in electric vehicles in round-trip carsharing systems. Int. J. Sustain. Transp. 12, 75–91 (2018).10.1080/15568318.2017.1328624 ↗
6. Mounce, R. & Nelson, J. D. On the potential for one-way electric vehicle car-sharing in future mobility systems. Transp. Res. A 120, 17–30 (2019).
7. Xu, M., Meng, Q. & Liu, Z. Electric vehicle fleet size and trip pricing for one-way carsharing services considering vehicle relocation and personnel assignment. Transp. Res. B 111, 60–82 (2018).10.1016/j.trb.2018.03.001 ↗
8. Brendel, A. B., Lichtenberg, S., Brauer, B., Nastjuk, I. & Kolbe, L. M. Improving electric vehicle utilization in carsharing: a framework and simulation of an e-carsharing vehicle utilization management system. Transp. Res. D 64, 230–245 (2018).10.1016/j.trd.2018.01.024 ↗
9. Ai, N., Zheng, J. & Chen, X. Electric vehicle park-charge-ride programs: a planning framework and case study in Chicago. Transp. Res. D 59, 433–450 (2018).10.1016/j.trd.2018.01.021 ↗
10. Burghard, U. & Dütschke, E. Who wants shared mobility? Lessons from early adopters and mainstream drivers on electric carsharing in Germany. Transp. Res. D 71, 96–109 (2019).10.1016/j.trd.2018.11.011 ↗
11. Yang, Y., Zhang, W., Niu, L. & Jiang, J. Coordinated charging strategy for electric taxis in temporal and spatial scale. Energies 8, 1256–1272 (2015).10.3390/en8021256 ↗
12. Rao, R., Cai, H. & Xu, M. Modeling electric taxis’ charging behavior using real-world data. Int. J. Sustain. Transp. 12, 452–460 (2018).10.1080/15568318.2017.1388887 ↗
13. Tian, Z. et al. Understanding operational and charging patterns of electric vehicle taxis using GPS records. In 17th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems 2472–2479 (IEEE, 2014).
14. Zou, Y., Wei, S., Sun, F., Hu, X. & Shiao, Y. Large-scale deployment of electric taxis in Beijing: a real-world analysis. Energy 100, 25–39 (2016).10.1016/j.energy.2016.01.062 ↗
15. Yang, J., Dong, J., Lin, Z. & Hu, L. Predicting market potential and environmental benefits of deploying electric taxis in Nanjing, China. Transp. Res. D 49, 68–81 (2016).10.1016/j.trd.2016.08.037 ↗
16. Teixeira, A. C. R. & Sodré, J. R. Simulation of the impacts on carbon dioxide emissions from replacement of a conventional Brazilian taxi fleet by electric vehicles. Energy 115, 1617–1622 (2016).10.1016/j.energy.2016.07.095 ↗
17. Clewlow, R. R. & Mishra, G. S. Disruptive Transportation: The Adoption, Utilization, and Impacts of Ride-hailing in the United States Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-17-07 (Institute of Transportation Studies, 2017).
18. Jenn, A., Laberteaux, K. & Clewlow, R. New mobility service users’ perceptions on electric vehicle adoption. Int. J. Sustain. Transp. 12, 526–540 (2018).10.1080/15568318.2017.1402973 ↗
19. Cassetta, E., Marra, A., Pozzi, C. & Antonelli, P. Emerging technological trajectories and new mobility solutions. A largescale investigation on transport-related innovative start-ups and implications for policy. Transp. Res. A 106, 1–11 (2017).10.1016/j.trb.2017.11.001 ↗
20. Jittrapirom, P. et al. Mobility as a service: a critical review of definitions, assessments of schemes, and key challenges. Urban Plan. 2, 13–25 (2017).10.17645/up.v2i2.931 ↗
21. Jalali, R., Koohi-Fayegh, S., El-Khatib, K., Hoornweg, D. & Li, H. Investigating the potential of ridesharing to reduce vehicle emissions. Urban Plann. 2, 26–40 (2017).10.17645/up.v2i2.937 ↗
22. Sarasini, S. & Linder, M. Integrating a business model perspective into transition theory: the example of new mobility services. Environ. Innov. Societal Transit. 27, 16–31 (2018).10.1016/j.eist.2017.09.004 ↗
23. Barth, M. & Shaheen, S. A. Shared-use vehicle systems: framework for classifying carsharing, station cars, and combined approaches. Transp. Res. Rec. 1791, 105–112 (2002).10.3141/1791-16 ↗
24. Sprei, F. Disrupting mobility. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 37, 238–242 (2018).10.1016/j.erss.2017.10.029 ↗
25. Gessner, K. Uber vs. Lyft: Who’s Tops in the Battle of U.S. Rideshare Companies (Second Measures, accessed 1 January 2020); https://secondmeasure.com/datapoints/rideshare-industry-overview/
26. NuStats 2010–2012 California Household Travel Survey Final Report (California Department of Transportation, 2013).
27. Jenn, A., Lee, J. H., Hardman, S. & Tal, G. An in-depth examination of electric vehicle incentives: consumer heterogeneity and changing response over time. Transp. Res. A 132, 97–109 (2020).
28. Tal, G. & Nicholas, M. A. Studying the PEV market in California: comparing the PEV, PHEV and hybrid markets. In 2013 World Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition 1–10 (IEEE, 2013).10.1109/EVS.2013.6914965 ↗
29. Tal, G., Nicholas, M. A., Davies, J. & Woodjack, J. Charging behavior impacts on electric vehicle miles traveled: who is not plugging in? Transp. Res. Rec. 2454, 53–60 (2014).10.3141/2454-07 ↗