New York-based Revel has taken a number of spins since it originally launched in 2018 as an offline e-scooter sharing service. The BlackRock-backed startup briefly got into the e-bike subscription business. A handful of electric vehicle charging stations in the five boroughs are now up and running. And it launched a ride-hailing service, exclusively for all Tesla employees, in part so that its charging infrastructure is guaranteed usage.
After exiting its ride-hail business in 2023, Revel is once again pivoting to abandon one of the main things that made the ride-hail service unique: The startup is laying off its 1,000+ drivers and embracing a gig-worker model similar to with that of competitors Lyft and Uber.
The move comes after Revel successfully piloted the model in late February with 100 Revel drivers and has since brought on another 100.
“The reason we ran this pilot in the first place was simply to increase feedback from our driver group, as well as our recruiting efforts,” Haley Rubinson, Revel’s vice president of corporate affairs, told TechCrunch. “The main reason people didn’t want to join Revel was the lack of flexibility.”
Rubinson, who was Revel’s first hire, said drivers were initially drawn to the platform because they didn’t want to deal with the hassle of owning or leasing their own vehicles, buying insurance, dealing with 1099 taxes and managing their own expenses. But now, he says, Revel is having trouble recruiting drivers to its platform.
“We have to respond to what the industry is telling us,” Rubinson said.
In the email sent to employees seen by TechCrunch and Bloomberg Keith Williams, the ride-share’s vice president, said four out of five drivers who piloted the gig worker model would recommend the program.
The issue of flexibility has been at the heart of the debate over whether drivers should be classified as gig workers or employees. If salaried workers are in fact asking to become contractors, Revel’s change could lend credence to Uber and Lyft’s arguments as companies across the country scramble to maintain current employee models.
“Now there’s really an opportunity to serve more of the city’s rental vehicle population,” said Rubinson.
Current drivers on Revel’s payroll will have the option to remain with the company as independent contractors after Sept. 12, when the change takes effect. Drivers can sign up to rent Revel’s fleet of Teslas for $10 an hour, which includes car liability insurance, vehicle cleaning and maintenance, and a full day of battery charging.
In 2025, Revel will open the platform to drivers with their own EVs, giving the startup a simple way to grow the business and offer riders better services. Revel has taken more than 2.5 million rides with its fleet of 550 Teslas, but customer wait times have been an issue with such a small fleet. Especially compared to Uber and Lyft, whose driver numbers are at hundreds of thousands in New York.
That said, Rubinson says that Revel’s business segment recently posted a gross margin and was on track to be EBITDA positive by the end of the year.
Increased fleets may also help Revel with its real long-term bet — EV charging infrastructure. In 2022, Frank Reig, CEO of Revel, told TechCrunch that over 90% of charging hub usage came from Revel’s fleet. That number has since shifted to about 50 percent as EV adoption increases, according to Robert Familiar, Revel’s senior director of corporate affairs.
Revel has three active EV charging hubs in New York — two in Brooklyn (Bed Stuy and South Williamsburg) and one in Long Island City, Queens. The startup aims to launch another hub this summer at Pier 36 in Lower Manhattan just off the FDR Drive, a freeway that runs along the East River. Rubinson said Revel also plans to launch three more: One near LaGuardia Airport. Another in Maspeth, Queens, this will be the largest site with 60 plugs. and another in the Bronx.
Outside of New York, Revel is eyeing San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In total, Revel has raised approximately $214 million since launch, per Crunchbase data. TechCrunch reached out to backers BlackRock, Toyota Ventures, and Maniv to find out how investors view the startup’s latest turnaround but didn’t know back in time.
