Your next Uber could be electric. Ride-hail and taxi drivers are transitioning to electric vehicles (EVs), inspired by their more cost-effective operations and the increasing availability of incentives.
In Massachusetts, ride-hailing drivers on platforms such as Uber and Lyft can get up to $14,000 toward a new EV, or $6,500 for a used EV, Grecia Mayya, program manager for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, said. The center oversees the Ride Clean Mass program, which provides rebates to transportation network company (TNC) drivers to purchase a new or used EV.
“We really wanted to focus on TNC drivers, because they’re more likely to be low to moderate income … and they drive more miles than the average driver,” Mayya said during a recent webinar hosted by the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA) Education Fund.
For regions wanting to transition vehicle miles traveled (VMT) — a key metric for evaluating traffic congestion and intensity — to zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), electrified ride-hailing is a natural area to focus, advocates and experts said. These vehicles tend to log more miles than personally-owned vehicles.
“Electrifying even just one ride-share vehicle can bring about much bigger emissions reductions than electrifying a personal vehicle,” Mayya said.
The incentives in Massachusetts are not just for ride-hailing. Drivers serving the taxi and livery sector are eligible for up to $17,500 to be applied to a new EV, or $12,500 for a used EV. Drivers who want to enter into EV rental agreements can apply for $200 per week rebates for up to eight weeks. Incentive recipients must use the vehicle for ride-hailing for 12 months following the award.
Uber’s first-quarter 2026 electrification report shows that more than 339,000 ZEV drivers globally were active on the platform, which represents a 47 percent increase from a year earlier, Andrew Cornelia, Uber global head of electrification and sustainability, said.
The company offers $4,000 to Uber drivers to transition to an EV. The incentive can go toward the purchase or lease of a new or used ZEV.
“Upfront cost is still a barrier in many markets, and many use cases,” Cornelia said during a Veloz Executive Spotlight panel in June. Veloz is an EV advocacy and policy organization based in Sacramento, Calif.
“Uber, as a company does see the future as electric autonomous. And in many ways, autonomous being electric is a tailwind for electrification,” he said. “So if that’s sort of the objective statement, our team is tasked with figuring out, how do we accelerate the transition to electrification, through Uber’s involvement in the ecosystem, or in the marketplace.”
Uber ZEV trips have been trending up. In early 2021, only a small fraction of its trips were via a ZEV. Five years later, there were more than 150 million ZEV trips taken on the Uber platform worldwide, Corey Cantor, research director at ZETA, said.
“EVs didn’t have much of a presence in ride-hailing five years ago. At that point even global EV share-of-sale was not too bad, close to around 5 percent,” Cantor said during the ZETA event.
The headwinds the U.S. EV industry faces are being felt by the ride-hailing industry as well. Uber recently noted “a decline in our share of EV miles in the U.S. and Canada, mirroring wide sector trends and coinciding with the phase-out of US federal tax credits for EV purchases,” according to an April update Cornelia posted to the company’s website.
In Massachusetts, state incentives have helped to push EV sales following a slump when the federal EV tax credit was phased out last year, Mayya said, noting the program is set to sunset in summer 2027.
“When the federal incentive went away it was important to continue providing continuity for applicants,” she said. When the program launched in March it was partially structured to re-establish the same base of incentives prior to the loss of federal stimuli.
Still, if the upfront cost of the vehicles is but one barrier, another is access to charging infrastructure. Uber has been involved with setting up partnerships with charging networks to negotiate favorable charging rates, Cornelia said.
“We’re saying, we will help guide our drivers to your station, in exchange for discounts, as well as we’ll influence when they’ll show up,” he said. “We are being both sophisticated and intelligent with how we manage our fleet, and how we think about influencing and recommending [to] our drivers where they should charge.”
Uber is also helping to underwrite new charging infrastructure, largely in urban core areas, “to put charging where our drivers need them the most,” Cornelia said.
Electric ride-hailing also has a way of introducing EVs to consumers who may not have given them much thought, advocates said, as they serve to educate their passengers on features such as comfort, quiet operation and spirited acceleration.
“It helps bring more visibility,” Mayya said. “This is a way for passengers to experience that EVs are quiet, they’re responsive … and they can comfortably handle everyday transportation.”