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Revel Co-Founder: ‘The goal is 100% electrification’

Paul Suhey, Revel Co-Founder joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the company launching an all-employee ride-sharing service in NY.

Video transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- As we wait to look at Uber earnings, there's a new competitor in New York City that's all-electric and, unlike the gig model, treats its drivers as full-time employees. That's right, a fleet made up only of Teslas and drivers with guaranteed wages and health care benefits. And for more on the break from that norm, happy to bring that company back on. Revel's co-founder, Paul Suhey, joins us now.

And Paul, I mean, you started out Revel with the moped kind of side of the business, scooters around the city. Now a very different direction here, with 50 Tesla Model Y's essentially licensed as a company-- as company-owned taxis now, serving everybody out there. So why is this model going to be better for not just New York City and the riders, but the drivers, as well?

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PAUL SUHEY: Yeah, thanks for having me on, guys. I think just to start, and maybe you had this question of why go into this, why are we going into electric rideshare. And really, our goal in everything that we try to do as a company is to lead cities into a zero carbon future. That's what we're thinking about. And we think that the most impactful, important thing that we can do right now is integrate an electric rideshare service with a buildout of charging infrastructure. We think that that will really bring demand that is needed for a massive buildout of infrastructure that's just going to drive the electrification of a city like New York that we need today, and we don't need it in 2030 or 2040.

- It's been interesting to see the pivot here from, as Zack said, from a moped company to a larger infrastructure play. At least, that's what it looks like. You started by establishing the charging stations first. Now you've got, as I understand, about 150 drivers out there here in New York City. How do you plan to scale the operation?

PAUL SUHEY: Yeah, so we're going to take it one step at a time. I think that's one thing that we've always done as a company. We've always started small, learned from initial operations, proven demand, and then grown responsibly. If you look at the history of the company with our moped business, we did the exact same thing. We always said that our goal was to serve the entire city, to serve all of New York with that service, but we started small.

We started in Brooklyn, but we eventually expanded over the years into more of Brooklyn, into Queens, into Manhattan and the Bronx. We're doing the same thing here-- starting with an initial fleet, starting small, proving demand. But we really-- our goal as we're launching the service is how can we serve more of New York, how can we build this service out. But we really just need to take it one step at a time.

- Yeah, sure there's going to be bumps along the way, too, I mean, as you roll this out. When you think about demand, though, obviously people know Lyft and Uber quite a bit, but when you think about your guys' demand and what you're expecting or hoping to see maybe six months, a year down the line, I mean, talk to me about how you expect to meet that demand and what the waitlist looks like now.

PAUL SUHEY: Yeah, so we're seeing crazy demand. Even with a fleet of 50 cars, we already have over 50,000 people on a waitlist waiting to try to service. And I think a big reason for that, people are just excited to get in a Tesla. And you have to realize that, for the vast majority of people that are trying Revel rideshare for the first time, it's not only the first time they're getting in a Tesla, it's the first time that they're getting in an electric vehicle, in general. So just the exposure that we're giving people to EVs is great.

And I also think people are just excited for a new experience, that the wow factor that really-- that rideshare came to market with about 10 years ago of being able to call a ride on your phone for the first time has just deteriorated over time. And now, we're bringing that wow factor back with a fleet of baby blue Teslas, with a passenger seat removed, with a professional driver, giving riders the potential and ability to control their ride, to control music, to control temperature. And I think we have just a lot of people that are excited to give it a try.

- Yeah, Paul, I should point out I saw three Revels already yesterday just within one block of my place here, just near East Village. So you've already got a lot of riders, at least in my neighborhood. But I want to get back to what you said earlier about what the underlying driver here is for the company, which you say is to sort of move towards this goal of a lower carbon future. Is the idea by launching this service to try and make a dent and eat into the market share of Uber and Lyft? Or is it about that experience that you pointed to, hoping to try and convert potential drivers who may not necessarily be customers, but through the experience in Revel, into EVs?

PAUL SUHEY: Yeah, the goal 100% is electrification. That's what we're focused on. So to do that, and we are the first integrated mobility company. And the reason why we're doing that is the major challenge that we see in cities, if cities are going to electrify on any reasonable time frame, is infrastructure. The problem is it simply just does not exist. It doesn't exist.

And what we're doing by integrating, we're bringing captive demand, we're bringing demand to the buildout to power a quicker buildout of charging infrastructure. And we're doing that not only to serve our own fleet, but we're making that infrastructure that we're building completely publicly accessible. And we hope, in doing that, it helps to not only electrify our rideshare service, but other rideshare services, the taxi fleet, the general public of consumers that are using EVs. That is what we're after, and that's why we're going this direction.

- Yeah, it's a kind of interesting full-circle moment, I suppose, right, when I think about how New York had taxis, and then you had Uber and Lyft come in, you had a bunch of taxi drivers not so pleased about it, then you had workers who were gig workers not so pleased they didn't have benefits. Now you guys come around, and basically create this kind of opportunity. So I mean, talk to me about-- talk to me about what you've heard from drivers who have now signed up to work with you guys, and what that looks like as you work kind of in a similar, I guess, taxi model.

PAUL SUHEY: Yeah. I think one thing for us-- our goal here is broad electrification, and one thing that we're already seeing, even with just one fast charging superhub in the ground, we have drivers coming up to us from other rideshare services that made the decision to go electric because a superhub finally exists, and they feel confident they have access to charging. But when it comes to just demand for drivers for our new service, we've had well over 1,000 applications from existing drivers looking to make the switch to our service. So drivers that are looking for a guaranteed hourly wage, access to paid time off, access to health care, looking to drive an EV, and honestly looking to make a living without having to shoulder the burden of vehicle expenses. Because we own and operate the fleet, we cover all expenses. So drivers are able to make a living without having to burden that cost.

- It's an interesting shift away from that. And as you said, a lot of the times, first time riders are riding in a Tesla, maybe the first time drivers are driving one, as well. But Paul Suhey, Revel cofounder, appreciate you coming back on here to chat with us today.