Courtesy Revel
Electric car charging ‘Superhub’ coming to Brooklyn
With its first new product launch since 2018, Revel aims to expand its electric vehicle charging hub model to other cities
Revel: Charged up
Moped-share company Revel is bringing a charging hub for electric vehicles to Brooklyn. The fast-charging DC “Superhub” will open this spring at the former Pfizer building, and would make Bed-Stuy home to the largest universal fast-charging depot in North America.
This will be the first in a network of Superhubs opened by Revel across the country, the company said.
The hub’s 30 chargers will each provide 100 miles of power in 20 minutes. The stations will be available 24/7 to owners of any electric vehicle, regardless of brand.
Revel’s announcement is timely as the world moves towards alternative forms of energy: Just last week, General Motors announced they plan to transition their vehicles to all-electric by 2035. Ford and VW Group are also adding more electric vehicles to their fleets.
But Revel’s been on the electric train for a while, even though this is its first new product line since launching in 2018 in Brooklyn. The plan to “electrify cities like New York” began with a fleet of shared moped scooters. Currently, Revel operates 5,000 mopeds across the country.
Still, shared mopeds haven’t been a universal success. Last summer, Revel suspended operations in New York City after two accidents involving its scooters proved fatal. And Revel pulled out of Austin in December, citing the city’s overall car culture as well as the pandemic’s impact on local travel.
“Revel is building the infrastructure of the future and we’re building it now—our planet can’t wait,” said Frank Reig, cofounder and CEO, in a press release. “We couldn’t be more excited to bring fast-charging to our home borough of Brooklyn and get to work on the first of many Superhubs to come in 2021.”
