By: Benyamin Davidsons
Revel, the scooter startup, plans to launch its fleet of Tesla taxis in Manhattan next week following a fiery clash with New York City regulators.
As reported by the NY Post, next Monday 50 Model Y Teslas will launch taxi in Manhattan south of 42nd Street. Revel— whose blue scooters attracted controversy last year after three fatal accidents in New York — had first announced plans for the Tesla taxis fleet in April under an exemption to the city’s limit on for-hire vehicles allowing new licenses for electric taxis. After that though, on June 22, New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission had made an emergency rule change abolishing that exemption. Thankfully for Revel, the company had already sent its Tesla taxi paperwork for TLC approval in March, prior to the rule change. The TLC ultimately has decided to approve the company’s electric car plates, a Revel spokesperson told The Post. “The truth is we didn’t know whether these licenses were going to be approved by the TLC,” the spokesperson admitted.
As of Monday morning, 49 out of 50 of Revel’s Model Y Teslas had received plates, and 15 or more have already passed inspections, a Revel spokesperson said. The plan is for the vehicles to be charged at Revel’s new Bed-Stuy charging facility, which opened last month.
Revel expects at least 15 Teslas to be in service next Monday and all 50 to be on the streets within three weeks. In a statement to The Post, TLC spokesperson Allan Fromberg confirmed, “Revel is currently operating 15 cars because they submitted and completed applications prior to the June 22 Commission Meeting and vote.” Asked if it’s true that Revel will have 50 cars on the road within three weeks, Fromberg responded, “The TLC cannot comment on applications that are in progress.”
Should Revel wish to add more vehicles than the 50 applied for in March, they will be subject to the new cap. “Any expansion will require working in concert with the TLC,” Revel’s spokesperson said.
Revel CEO Frank Reig had spoken out against the TLC in June, when the change of law came out. Reig had accused the TLC of protecting Uber and Lyft’s control over New York’s ride-share market by limiting the electric vehicles. On Monday, however, the CEO seemed to have forgotten all the bad blood. “We’d like to thank Commissioner Jarmoszuk and the TLC for supporting New York City’s climate goals, and working with us to get the city’s first all-electric, all-employee driven fleet on the road,” Reig said.
