The electrification of cars on the road is sweeping the auto industry as pressure mounts to reverse the impact of climate change and now the Big Apple is getting in on the action.
New York City is proposing requirements for ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to have 100 percent electric vehicle fleets by the year 2030. Mayor Eric Adams made the announcement and expects the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission to oversee the regulatory changes.
The move garnered some initial support from executives at both Uber and Lyft.
"We are excited to partner with New York City on our journey," Paul Augustine, director of sustainability at Lyft, said in a statement. "New York's commitment will accelerate an equitable city-wide transition to electric, and we're eager to collaborate with TLC on an ambitious plan for rideshare clean mile standard."
The announcement already aligns with Lyft's intentions for electrification. In 2020, the service shared plans to have a fully electric fleet — in more places than New York City — by 2030.
Two years ago Uber announced plans to electrify its entire global fleet by 2040 and by 2030 in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
"We applaud the Mayor's ambition for reducing emissions, an important goal we share," Josh Gold, senior director of policy at Uber, said in a statement. "Uber has been making real progress to become the first zero-emissions mobility platform in North America, and there's much more to do."
As both Lyft and Uber operate through independent contractors, the difficulty of getting drivers to switch to electric would be addressed with incentives such as bonuses offered by the companies and infrastructure investments by the city.
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Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
