Revel Stock

According to an email to its users (which was posted on X, formerly Twitter), Revel is looking to build “large networks of public EV fast charging stations in New York and the Bay Area so more people can go electric.” Just recently, the company announced plans to develop and open five new of its so-called ‘Superhubs’ in New York City, adding a total of 136 public charging stalls to New York’s EV infrastructure.

Revel announced on Friday that it is discontinuing its electric moped-sharing service in San Francisco and New York. Frank Reig, the CEO of the Brooklyn-based transportation company, informed employees via email about the decision, revealing the company’s strategic shift toward focusing exclusively on its electric ride-hailing and EV charging ventures. “Revel is currently developing large public fast-charging networks in America’s two densest metros, New York and the Bay Area,” spokesperson Robert Familiar said.

An as-yet-unreported deal in the car-rental space is angling to bring New York City into the electric vehicle era. Hertz is providing Revel – the all-electric ride-sharing company that started out as a scooter app five years ago – with electric cars in a lease agreement and is considering a broader partnership, sources told On The Money.

Frank Reig had a problem back in 2019. The CEO of Revel, a New York City-based electric moped-share startup, was trying to expand the concept to other cities, but he was having trouble finding places where he could access enough power to charge his scooters. The real issue, he soon realized, though, was much bigger. In order to phase out gasoline vehicles in America’s dense urban centers, hundreds of fast charging sites, the electric equivalent of gas stations, would be needed. Those sites would draw huge amounts of power, and it wasn’t clear where they would get it. “Everyone's talking about an [electric vehicle] transition where in 10 years every bus, truck, and car is going to be electric,” Reig says. “And I can't find power to charge moped batteries.”