Reve is pulling the plug on its New York City rideshare business after four years. The company announced it will shift its focus entirely to building out fast-charging infrastructure for EVs, citing stiff competition and the challenging economics of ride-hailing as key factors behind the decision.
“We’ve made the difficult decision that the best way to keep the EV transition moving forward is to end our rideshare service and focus on building the fast-charging infrastructure our largest cities need to keep going electric,” said Revel co-founder and CEO Frank Reig. (via TechCrunch)
The company’s website was also updated with a message that reads,” Revel’s Rideshare service has ended. Moving forward, Revel will continue to grow our Fast Charging business with more sites and cities opening soon.”
Revel first launched in 2018 as an electric moped rental service before expanding into ride-hailing in 2021 with a fully electric fleet of Teslas and Kias. While the rideshare service offered a zero-emissions alternative to Uber and Lyft, it struggled to compete with the scale of those established giants.
Over the past several months, Revel’s 500-vehicle fleet averaged about 45,000 monthly active riders, 670 drivers, and 100,000 rides. By contrast, Uber and Lyft completed nearly 20 million trips in New York City in June alone, with more than 80,000 active drivers, according to the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.
With the wind-down, Revel is seeking buyers for its 165 for-hire vehicle license plates. The company will also sell or return its fleet of bright blue Teslas and Kias.
Revel’s next chapter will center on expanding its public fast-charging network, which it first introduced in 2021 to support its own rideshare operations. Today, the company operates 100 chargers across five sites in New York City and one in San Francisco. These chargers have increasingly been used by Uber and Lyft drivers, who are rapidly electrifying their fleets.
That trend accelerated in 2024 when Revel struck a deal with Uber to guarantee station usage in New York. In return, Uber drivers receive charging discounts, boosting utilization rates to 45% in early 2025—up from just 18% a year earlier.
Revel aims to operate more than 400 charging stalls across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York by the end of 2026. The company’s long-term goal is to reach as many as 2,000 stalls nationwide by 2030.
