Rideshare company Lyft has announced a new partnership with a fast-charging company that will allow its employees on the West Coast to charge electric vehicles at a discounted rate, allowing them to keep more of the money they earn while incentivizing EV adoption.
The partnership with fast-charging company EVCS will be available to all Lyft employees in California, Oregon, and Washington, but those employees' status with Lyft will determine how much of a discount they get at the charging stations.
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Workers that Lyft classifies as "Pro drivers" will receive the biggest discounts, which could amount to "hundreds of dollars annually," according to an EVCS press release.
"Over the past three years, we've seen a substantial increase from drivers in making the switch to EVs," Erin Gray, Senior Director of Product at Lyft, said in the release. "However, access to fast, affordable charging continues to be a major barrier to widespread EV adoption."
"That's why this partnership with EVCS is so important and why we're excited to be able to offer it to drivers on Lyft," Gray continued. "It will allow them to save more on fuel costs while simultaneously increasing the demand needed to build more infrastructure. It's a win for drivers, riders and our broader climate goals."
More details of the program and how it works can be found on a section of the EVCS website, including how to sign up, when the chargers are open for business, and where all the EVCS chargers are located. The program is currently open for enrollment for all Lyft drivers in those three West Coast states.
EVs create significantly less planet-overheating pollution than their gas-powered counterparts — including zero tailpipe pollution — but remain, for now, prohibitively expensive for many consumers, especially in the United States. So, it is a positive development for our planet that Lyft is working to incentivize EV adoption among its chronically underpaid workforce.
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