An Uber driver says she more than doubled her monthly tips to $2,600 after swapping her Toyota Camry for a Tesla Model 3

• An Uber driver who swapped her Toyota Camry for a Tesla Model 3 said she'd doubled her tips as a result.
• Heidi Barnes told Bloomberg that customers were "a lot more generous" now she's in a Model 3.

An Uber driver who swapped her Toyota Camry for a Tesla Model 3 said she'd more than doubled her monthly tips as a result.

"Usually I'm lucky to get $1 to $3 tips but it's now $10 or $15, sometimes consecutively," the driver, Heidi Barnes, told Bloomberg.

Barnes said she made $2,600 in tips during a 25-day period of driving the Tesla. She usually made around $800 to $1,000 over the same period in her Camry, she said.

"They're a lot more generous," Barnes said of her customers, per Bloomberg.

Barnes, who drives mostly around Los Angeles, is one of nearly 15,000 Uber drivers to have leased a Tesla since the company signed a deal with the car rental firm Hertz in October 2021, per Bloomberg. Uber also offers drivers a $1-per-ride zero-emissions incentive if they opt for an electric car.

The Tesla promotion has coincided with a time when gas prices have reached record levels, fueled by a combination of the war in Ukraine, lower oil production in the US, and supply chain challenges.

In June, a gallon of gas cost more than $5 on average across the US. It has since fallen to around $4.80, but is well above the $3.10 average at same point last year, per the American Automobile Association. California has seen some of the highest price increases, with some gas stations charging $6.20 a gallon.

Barnes told Bloomberg she swapped her Toyota for the Tesla because the cost of filling up the Toyota jumped from around $60 to $100.

She said it costs her around $450 a month to run the Tesla, including lease costs and charging, compared with around $600 for fueling the Toyota alone, per Bloomberg.