Current:Home > NewsElectric Vehicles for Uber and Lyft? Los Angeles Might Require It, Mayor Says. -TradeStation
Electric Vehicles for Uber and Lyft? Los Angeles Might Require It, Mayor Says.
View
Date:2025-04-12 15:40:23
Los Angeles is considering forcing rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft to use electric vehicles in what would be a first for any city as LA seeks to cut emissions and get more electric vehicles on the streets, the mayor said.
Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles, told the Financial Times that the electric-vehicle requirement was one step being contemplated to cut the city’s greenhouse gas emissions and become carbon neutral by 2050.
“We have the power to regulate car share,” he said in a phone interview. “We can mandate, and are looking closely at mandating, that any of those vehicles in the future be electric.”
Garcetti, mayor since 2013, has made environmental issues a central part of his platform. Earlier this month, he became head of C40, a network of the world’s biggest cities that are trying to fight climate change.
Calling the next 10 years “the climate decade,” he said: “It has to be the decade of action. It is the decade that makes us or breaks us.”
As part of Los Angeles’ “Green New Deal,” published in April, the city aims to draw 80 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2036, and recycle 100 percent of its wastewater by 2035.
The plan also includes purchasing more electric buses and electric vehicles for the city’s municipal fleet, including America’s first electric fire engine.
Los Angeles has not yet begun formal public consultation about whether to require rideshare services to use electric vehicles, but Garcetti said the city was considering the step.
The Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee has been seeking greater powers to monitor and track rideshare services, including through a possible driver registration program.
Radically Altering the Economics of Rideshare
Any policy to require electric vehicles would radically alter the economics of the rideshare business, in which the drivers own or rent their own vehicles, because electric vehicles are typically more expensive than their petrol-burning counterparts.
Uber and Lyft already face protests over low driver pay. In California, Uber has pushed back on a state labor law, signed this fall, that was created to address when independent contractors must instead be treated as employees, with pay and benefits requirements. Uber has argued that it is a technology platform and drivers’ work is outside its usual course of business, one of the tests for classifying workers under the newly approved law.
At present, rideshare services in California are regulated by the state’s Public Utilities Commission and face additional rules in certain cities.
Uber declined to comment.
Can Cities ‘Save the Planet’?
Garcetti said that, as President Donald Trump prepares to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate accord, it is up to cities and states to take action against climate change.
“Local actors, no matter who is in power, are the most critical elements of whether or not we win the fight against climate change,” he said. “It is local governments and regional governments that regulate or directly control building codes, transportation networks and electricity generation, which together are 80 percent of our emissions.”
Read more about the progress U.S. cities and states are making in their effort to meet the country’s Paris pledge.
Garcetti who took over the chair of the C40 group from Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, is supporting a “Global Green New Deal” intended to help mayors cut emissions in their cities. He also founded the “Climate Mayors” group in the U.S., which includes 438 mayors dedicated to addressing climate change.
“Cities have never been more powerful in the modern era,” Garcetti said. “We make laws, we make business deals, we create jobs, we have to clean air and water, we run ports and airports, we attract investment and we often finance infrastructure.
“Cities will either succeed in saving this planet, or cities will fail, and I intend that it be the former.”
© The Financial Times Limited 2019. All Rights Reserved. Not to be further redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
veryGood! (22299)
Related
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Former Bengals, Buccaneers RB Giovani Bernard announces death of newborn son
- Here's Your Fabulous First Look at The Real Housewives of Dubai Season 2
- A Guide to Hailey Bieber's Complicated Family Tree
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Iowa's Caitlin Clark entering WNBA draft, skipping final season of NCAA eligibility
- A Firm Planning a Drilling Spree in New York’s Southern Tier Goes Silent as Lawmakers Seek to Ban Use of CO2 in Quest for Gas
- Don Henley says he never gifted lyrics to Hotel California and other Eagles songs
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- With salacious testimony finished, legal arguments to begin over Fani Willis’ future in Trump case
Ranking
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Kool-Aid McKinstry, Alabama star DB, has Jones fracture, won't work out at NFL combine, per report
- Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Reveals He Privately Got Married
- Leaked gameplans? Jets tear into former teammate Mecole Hardman after podcast appearance
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- Eva Longoria, director, producer, champion for Latino community, is Woman of the Year honoree
- Staggering action sequences can't help 'Dune: Part Two' sustain a sense of awe
- Escaped murder suspect who drove off in sheriff's vehicle arrested at New Orleans hotel, authorities say
Recommendation
Travis Hunter, the 2
Kings of Leon talk upcoming tour and album, 'Sex on Fire' rise to fame: 'We got shots'
Watch: Tom Brady runs faster 40-yard dash 24 years after his NFL combine performance
Pat McAfee says comments calling out ESPN executive were a 'warning shot'
Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
Missouri is suing Planned Parenthood based on a conservative group’s sting video
50 years ago, 'Blazing Saddles' broke wind — and box office expectations
Watch Live: Biden and Trump hold dueling events at the southern border today