Revel on Thursday opened what the company says is New York City's first 24-hour, seven-day-a-week electric car fast-charging station.
Located at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York, the facility has 10 320-kw DC fast chargers from the Finnish company Kempower, according to a press release from Revel. The site, which brings Revel's total number of fast chargers in New York City to 64, is off FDR Drive, a thoroughfare that runs along Manhattan's east side.
Revel says the 320-kw chargers will “provide the fastest charging experience in New York City,” but the Manhattan site that Gravity opened earlier this year west of the Revel site says it offers up to 500 kw of charging.
Revel DC's fast-charging site at New York City's Pier 36
While the Gravity site may see mixed use, Revel's fast-charging site at Pier 36 will likely be used primarily by ride-hailing drivers, both from Revel's service and Uber. Earlier this year, Revel and Uber formed a partnership that gives Uber drivers a 25% discount on Revel chargers, while Uber guarantees a minimum usage rate at existing and future Revel charging sites.
Revel has had a confusing trajectory, going from electric mopeds under its original iteration five years ago to rideshare a few years ago and now earlier this year charging. The company now aims to expand its New York City charging network to 300 chargers by the end of 2025, including a 60-charge site in the Queens area and a 48-charge site at LaGuardia Airport, also in Queens.
Enjoy the rideshare service
Revel claims usage of charging stations has increased tenfold in the past year thanks to New York City's Green Rides program, which aims to make the city's rideshare fleet fully electric by 2030. Uber is also targeting all-electric rides wherever it operates. a year.
The opening of Revel's new fast-charging site follows New York's largest parking operator's announcement last month of plans to equip 5,000 parking spaces with Level 2 charging. These slow chargers will prove more useful for residents' private cars than rideshare vehicles, however.
New York City had electric taxis in the '90s — the 1890s, that is — but with last decade's future taxi pushing EVs, it's been an incredibly long curve to get one in one of America's most congested cities. Many public fast chargers can lay the groundwork for turning yellow cabs into green.