The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) released a report last week detailing the obstacles and need to electrify ride-hailing vehicles.

While transportation network companies (TNCs) represent only a small portion of yearly miles traveled in the United States, RMI identified three main reasons to focus on ride-hailing electrification:

• full-time ride-hailing drivers travel about three times as many miles per year as the average American and therefore has a lot to gain from lower battery electric vehicle (EV) operating costs.

• Concentrated fleets of electric ride-hailing vehicles can serve as critical anchor tenants for much-needed high-speed public charging, helping to enable broader deployment in more diverse parts of cities.

• Each vehicle serves many passengers, which, if electric, provides a valuable public education and awareness opportunity.

"Electrification of TNCs, such as Didi Chuxing, Lyft, Ola, and Uber, presents a unique opportunity to significantly reduce global transportation emissions," the report says. "By converting conventional gasoline ride-hailing vehicles to electric, we simultaneously eliminate dangerous tailpipe emissions and leverage the rapidly decarbonizing power sector to reduce overall vehicle carbon emissions."

However, getting ride-hailing drivers in to EVs is a problem. Some TNCs like Lyft and Uber have partnerships with rental agencies and mobility firms to incentivize and help drivers transfer to EVs.

To read the full report, click here.