EVs for Everyone: Balanced Adoption of a Maturing Technology
by Rainer Lempert, Senior Policy Scientist, and Adam Gromis, Global Lead on Electrification Policy
At Uber, we’re racing to electrify every ride, to reduce emissions in the communities we serve, and to accelerate drivers’ participation in the EV transition. We know we can only be successful at scale if all drivers are included in this journey. Platforms like ours, plus governments and advocacy groups, must regularly provide transparency on the progress of the EV transition and make sure that all drivers, regardless of what community they hail from, have the option to flip the EV switch.
In September 2022, we posted an analysis of our partnership with Hertz, which enables drivers to rent ZEVs (zero-emission vehicles) for use on the Uber platform.¹ We found that our partnership led to a significant uptick in platform utilization of ZEVs. In particular, ZEV adoption among Uber drivers renting from Hertz was more balanced across neighborhood demographics when compared with ZEV registrations in the general population, which were highly skewed to wealthier neighborhoods.
Fast-forward to today, and we’ve made significant progress globally. In the United States and Canada, the percentage of on-trip miles completed by ZEVs has grown 29-fold since we announced our electrification goals, from 0.3% during Q1 2021 to 8.8% during Q3 2024. While ZEV rentals from Hertz and other partners supported much of this growth during 2022, independently operated ZEVs (with the driver leasing or owning their car directly) rose sharply in 2023–2024. We were eager to know if these increases in ZEV uptake were demographically balanced across our driver population.
Balanced ZEV adoption
For this analysis, in contrast with the September 2022 study, we broadened the scope to include all drivers on Uber, not just those driving with a rental vehicle from Hertz. Like the previous study, we focused on ZEV adoption in California, which provides publicly available vehicle registration data.
We first examined ZEV adoption among the general population. Much like in the 2022 analysis, we find that in California, EV adoption is highly skewed toward wealthier neighborhoods. For instance, ZCTAs (Zip Code Tabulation Areas) within the 2 lowest-income quintiles (median below $73,000 annually) contain 36% of all registered vehicles but only 15% of ZEVs. ZCTAs within the 2 highest-income quintiles (above $91,000) contain 42% of all vehicles but 68% of all EVs (Figure 1, left table).
In contrast to the general-population data, we find that the distribution of ZEV drivers on Uber, relative to all drivers who use the Uber platform, is more balanced, skewing only slightly to higher-income quintiles compared with all drivers using the app.² Forty percent of all California drivers live in the 2 lowest-income quintiles, versus 35% of ZEV drivers (Figure 1, right table). That means ZEV drivers using Uber in California are more than twice as likely to represent the lowest income areas when compared to the general public.
It’s critical to note that at Uber, we did not set out to solve the historically intractable problem of unequal EV access and distribution as a primary goal, but we have been conscious of the barriers facing all drivers, including those in lower-income areas and those who may face other barriers to charging. Real solutions will come only through concerted efforts by civil society, policymakers, and businesses at all levels. We are encouraged, however, by these results and want to continue to do more to measure progress and find real solutions that contribute to broader efforts that expand EV access and charging for all drivers, whether on Uber or not.
That’s why Uber is continuing to invest toward $800 million in resources to help hundreds of thousands of drivers be at the front of the line for the EV transition. As of the end of 2023, we have already set aside or invested more than $439 million. We’re also using Uber’s product innovation experience to launch a suite of features in the apps for drivers and riders to make access to an all-electric future possible today, at the tap of a button.
Widening the front door to the EV revolution for more drivers isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s crucial for Uber as we continue to embrace advancing transportation technology, for high-mileage drivers looking for operational cost savings, and for local urban economies expanding transportation options.
[1]: “Zero-emission vehicles,” or ZEVs, refers to those vehicles using engine technology that results in zero tailpipe emissions, including fully battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs). To learn more about what we mean by “zero-emission vehicle,” please go to the frequently asked questions in our Climate Assessment and Performance Report.
[2]: We do not regularly collect demographics for drivers who use the Uber platform. As a proxy, income levels are imputed by their home addresses (obtained from their driver’s licenses). Addresses are aggregated by ZCTA. For each ZCTA, we calculated the number of distinct drivers who have completed trips in a ZEV and the total number of drivers, during August 2024. We then compared this information with ZCTA demographic data from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
