Revel—the startup that pivoted to EV rideshare after encountering a hang-up or two trying to rent mopeds—has been tapped as the latest partner in Uber’s urgent quest to hit zero emissions for trips in certain regions. Both companies announced Wednesday that they’ve formed an exclusive partnership to optimize New York City’s dismal EV-charging infrastructure.
The multiyear deal gives Uber—which has vowed to make all rides in North America electric by 2030, and will actually face fines in New York starting that year if it fails to do so—access to Revel’s network of 54 fast-charging stations. Eligible Uber Pro drivers will get a 25% discount on Revel charges, which the company says average less than $20.
Uber, meanwhile, has pledged a “utilization guarantee” at Revel stations. It’s also sharing anonymized ride data, a move Revel says will help it expand its network more strategically into so-called urban charging deserts.
Their announcement follows reports that since at least mid-February, Revel has been seeking to raise $200 million to expand its charging-station footprint in New York, with an eye toward further expansion outside the city.
To meet its goal of being emission-free by 2030 in the U.S., and globally by 2040, Uber must get nearly 7 million independent-contractor drivers to voluntarily switch from gas-guzzling cars to EVs. So far, drivers aren’t doing this at the speed Uber needs them to, likely because it’s unclear whether the cities they drive in—or even their own employer—are willing to invest enough resources into developing the necessary infrastructure for drivers to charge EVs fast, conveniently, and without eating into their valuable work hours.
Prior to this week’s partnership, Uber had tried offering some incentives, including paying higher rates to drivers who use an EV and even offering $2,000 toward the purchase of a Tesla (whose lowest-priced model starts at $38,990). Recruiting Revel is Uber’s latest attempt to resolve this problem.
Revel argues it’s focused on expanding into neighborhoods where New York’s EV-charging system is inadequate. Currently, it operates just three public fast-charging stations citywide. These “superhubs” just so happen to be New York’s largest, but they aren’t massive (25 chargers, 15 chargers, and 14 chargers per station, respectively)—and they’re all clustered in a couple-mile radius from north Brooklyn to the south tip of Queens. Presumably, another 500 chargers are in Revel’s pipeline, due out by 2025—though that number includes a tentative Bay Area expansion. It also includes plans to install 48 chargers at LaGuardia Airport, near the rideshare waiting area.
Over the past months, Revel has become known around New York for the fleet of sky-blue Tesla Model Ys roaming the streets. It says the Uber partnership will help build a blueprint for expanding into other domestic markets—San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, and Boston, for example.
The only real hang-up could be that the name “Revel” already has a solid brand reputation for many consumers. Since emerging in 2018 as the electric-scooter rental service that would essentially give a moped to anyone with the app, Revel has dealt with some doozies of a headline: “Revel sued by cyclist who was hit by one of its many untrained scooter drivers”; “Revel mopeds 69 times deadlier than Citi Bikes, officials say”; “Revel shuts down service in New York City after 2nd scooter death in a week”; “Revel, after disrupting cities with moped chaos, is just another Uber clone now” to name a few.
However, its CEO Frank Reig has labored since then to explain the company’s pivot toward not just EVs, and not just EV rideshare, but specifically EV infrastructure. After his startup began renting scooters in late 2018, Reig was eager to park mopeds on the curbs of more major cities. He says what they couldn’t figure out was where to find power inside of dense urban cores to charge Revel’s tiny scooters, to say nothing of much larger EVs.
“Everyone is talking about an [electric vehicle] transition where in 10 years every bus, truck, and car is going to be electric,” Reig explained last July to Time. “And I can’t find power to charge moped batteries.” He warns that “whoever wakes up two years from now” will find that Revel has “already picked over an entire city.”
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