Revel is adding to its electric vehicle charging empire in New York City. The startup said on Wednesday that it has broken ground on the installation of 24 EV fast chargers at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The installation doubles the airport’s existing EV charging capacity.
This is the second time Revel has partnered with New York’s Port Authority, which acts as the landlord and regulator for the city’s ports, to install fast chargers. The two are also building out 48 fast charging ports near LaGuardia Airport. Both airport projects are expected to be completed in 2025.
Revel and the NY Port Authority plan to place the chargers — which will support both the Combined Charging System and the North American Charging Standard — at JFK Airport’s west cell phone lot, which is where drivers, including Revel’s ride-hail drivers, often wait for passengers to arrive.
The ports promise to charge an EV from 20% to 80% within 15 to 20 minutes.
Revel, which began as an e-moped sharing service before launching an all-electric ride-hail platform and building NY’s first EV charging hub, currently runs four public 24/7 fast charging stations. These feature a total of 64 ports in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, and the company plans to add five more across the city, including the two at the JFK and LaGuardia airports.
The startup’s playbook has been to roll out ride-hail services alongside charging stations so that the chargers see maximum utilization. Revel says its stations are used roughly 50-50 by its ride-hail drivers and by other EV owners.
A Revel spokesperson told TechCrunch that the majority of those EV owners are ride-hail drivers for competing platforms — the company gives Uber drivers a 25% discount at its sites as part of a partnership with the ride-hail and delivery giant. In October, Toyota and Revel agreed to give Toyota and Lexus EV owners free access to Revel’s charging stations.
“It’s impossible to electrify rideshare without an abundance of charging near airports,” Frank Reig, co-founder and CEO of Revel, said in a statement. “Revel’s JFK site will be one of the most used fast charging stations in the country, and with the Port Authority’s support, we’re on track to open it in a matter of months.”
Revel launched its ride-hail platform in 2021, featuring an all-Tesla fleet driven by its own employees. But this September, the company laid off its employee drivers and implemented a gig work system, where it rents out its cars to the workers. Today, its fleet of 550 cars includes other EVs, like the Kia Niro.
Revel is funding the installation of the charging ports at JFK Airport. The startup has raised roughly $275 million to date, per PitchBook, from investors including BlackRock, Toyota Ventures, and Maniv, and is currently raising more capital to fund its expansion, according to the company.
Outside of New York, Revel recently broke ground at a charging station in downtown San Francisco (it plans to open the station in the first quarter of 2025), and has plans to open a site in Los Angeles in 2026. A spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch Revel has eight active leases for sites across the Bay Area, is actively acquiring other sites, and plans to open more than 100 charge ports in the region in the coming years.
