In this episode, Oliver interviews Frank Reig, CEO of Revel, an e-moped sharing system in NYC/DC that has just announced a $27.6m raise to expand to 10 new cities.
It’s a fascinating interview as shared e-mopeds have a number of key operational improvements over the more popular kick scooter/electric bike shared systems that we’ve seen.
Specifically we discuss:
Their recent raise and plans for the next 12-18 months.
Their origin story from Frank’s experiences in Argentina and his background in the electric vehicle space
The financial, infrastructural and operational advantages of using e-mopeds over normal kick scooters, and how that drives them to consider themselves more like a parallel to the carshare industry than the kick scooter industry.
Their fleets in NYC and DC, and the experiences they’ve had working with regulators in both.
How they deal with parking, and why they believe that is part of Revel’s ‘special sauce’.
A deeper dive on both their vehicle longevity and their swappable battery advantages.
Why they’re able to finance all their vehicle, and how that improves the capital efficiency of the operations.
How they think about competition, especially from larger players.
How their full time labor model changes regulatory conversations with cities.
How their vehicle type lends itself to longer trips, and the role that they play as a transport option in a suburb with relatively low connectivity options.
How they’re able to end up being a cheaper operator than both Bird and Lime in some markets.
How they were able to learn from Scoot and it’s lessons from San Francisco
Reflections on their safety and insurance practices
Thanks to this week’s sponsor Particle. Particle provides an end-to-end IoT platform, from device management to connectivity to hardware for connecting micromobility vehicles to networks and reducing complexity as operations scale. For operators that I’ve talked to, they’re a godsend in the world of highly complex and competitive operations.
Visit Particle.io/micromobility to learn more and request a free IoT development kit. All podcast listeners will also receive a free consultation. Visit Particle.io/micromobility today.