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Pour one out for the big blue Teslas: Revel, the all-electric rideshare that promised to make getting around New York cleaner (and sometimes cheaper), has officially pulled the plug on its car-hailing service as of Monday, August 11. The company says it’s ditching passengers for plug-in stations, shifting its focus to building electric vehicle charging hubs in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The decision ends a short but memorable chapter in New York City transit. Launched in 2021 with just 50 cars, Revel quickly became known for its sky-blue Model Ys and 30-percent-off promo codes that made the long wait times easier to swallow. For a certain slice of New Yorkers, the service was a go-to for clean interiors, courteous drivers and an occasional cheaper airport run. For others, it was the app they opened, saw a 40-minute wait, and closed again.
CEO Frank Reig called the move bittersweet but necessary. “The best way we can keep the EV transition moving forward is by ending our rideshare service and focusing on building the fast-charging infrastructure our biggest cities need,” he said in a statement. Revel currently operates 100 chargers across New York City and one in San Francisco, with another 100 under construction and plans to hit 2,000 by 2030.
It’s not Revel’s first pivot. The company’s original claim to fame was its rentable navy-blue mopeds, which zipped around the city until safety issues, insurance costs and several high-profile crashes ended that business in 2023. The rideshare service, while praised for paying drivers better than many competitors (at least early on), faced uphill battles against Uber and Lyft’s scale, New York’s tight licensing rules and the brutal economics of VC-funded transit startups.
In recent months, Revel ended its Hertz rental car deal, moved drivers from employee status to contractors and, according to industry chatter, may be looking to sell its 100-plus corporate TLC plates. Most of its 500 leased vehicles will head back to owners and drivers say they got little notice of the shutdown.
For riders, the loss means one fewer option in a city where “choice” usually means picking which surge price hurts less. For Revel, it’s a bet that the future (and the money) is in powering the cars, not driving them. Whether that future arrives before your next Uber surge hits $75 remains to be seen.