The electric moped-sharing startup Revel is venturing in new directions and plans to launch its own hail service in New York City using only Tesla electric vehicles, The Verge reported.
The three-year-old startup operates in cities across the United States. As it grew, it launched an electric bike subscription service and announced plans to build the largest EV charging station in New York City.
The move could affect the city’s struggling yellow cab drivers than Lyft or Uber, the news agency said. Although Revel could expand the hail service to other neighborhoods and districts as needed, it will initially only be offered in Manhattan and just below 42nd Street.
This is a lucrative area for taxi drivers who are already injured by an 80 to 90 percent drop in drivers.
There is also the question of Revel’s license. Like Uber, the company announced plans to offer ride hail before the city approved its license. The city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) says Revel is not yet licensed. Revel says it will complete the process.
New York’s cap on the number of hail vehicles a company can operate doesn’t apply to electric vehicles, which can give Revel a loophole, The Verge said. Wheelchair accessible vehicles are also exempt from the upper limit.
“TLC has cut rental vehicles because the supply already exceeds the demand,” TLC Commissioner Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk told The Verge. “The electric battery exemption is to encourage cars that are already licensed to go green, not flood an already saturated market, or disenfranchise the yellow taxi sector in Manhattan. This carpooling departs from the spirit of these rules and TLC will not compromise in the exercise of its full diligence. “
Tesla was already the vehicle of choice for another ride-sharing service, Envoy. The California-based company said in an interview with PYMNTS in January that it is expanding nationwide.
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