Working Paper
Charging infrastructure requirements to support electric ride-hailing in U.S. cities
This working paper assesses the charging infrastructure needs to support the growth of electric ride-hailing in U.S. cities. The analysis quantifies the amount and type of infrastructure needed and specifically analyzes the extent to which electric ride-hailing fleets can take advantage of underutilized public charging infrastructure capacity.
The analysis finds that approximately 28% of a California-wide 600,000-vehicle ride-hailing fleet could transition to electric and be supported on the public fast-charging system by 2025. Fast-charging needs for 23 to 77 ride-hail drivers could be accommodated per fast charger in 2025. Because peak usage hours for ride-hail drivers and the general public are at different times of day, combined usage can increase utilization of a charger by up to 20% on average over a public-only charger.
Increasing the combined public-and-ride-hailing usage of public chargers could increase the electric ride-hailing vehicles supported from 165,000 to more than 300,000. This would become increasingly possible by the general public and ride-hail drivers having improved information on chargers in operation, in use, and queuing. Public-private partnerships could allow selective data sharing between applicable charging providers, ride-hailing companies, and city government leaders to expedite permitting and provide incentives for deployment of chargers in areas where there is charger congestion. In addition, strategically placed dedicated ride-hail chargers could serve 4 to 10 times the number of ride-hail vehicles as public fast chargers.
