Filling Micro-Mobility Gaps: Mopeds as the Medium Range Solution

2018 was the year of the electric scooter. They appeared unexpectedly, lined up on sidewalks, often without enough time for city regulators and officials to prepare for their arrival. Their spontaneous presence and practically unregulated use provoked outrage from consumers, city councils, and sidewalk users everywhere.

If 2018 was the year of the electric scooter, 2020 might be the year of the electric moped. Revel, the New York-based electric moped start-up, has placed more than 1,400 mopeds across Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn and Queens, New York, with plans to expand to 10 cities by mid-2020.

Revel’s mopeds operate in much the same manner as the many electric scooters offered by companies like Spin, Lime, and Bird. Riders sign up, pay for, and lock/unlock the vehicles through an app. But where scooters are suitable for last-mile travel, mopeds may fill a medium-trip sized gap in micro-mobility. Mopeds are better for longer trips where being able to sit down and travel at faster speeds is desirable. They are a good compliment, not a rival, to other micro mobility services. The more mobility services available to the public, the more comfortable people will be using them. Overcoming the threshold is important to increasing the use of alternative transportation services.

However, in stark contrast to the drop and run business method initially employed by many electric scooter companies, Revel differentiates itself by emphasizing safety and garnering regulatory approval before deploying. When Washington D.C. announced in August that the city was launching a demonstration pilot for “motor-driven cycles” (“mopeds”), Revel CEO Frank Reig expressed immediate interest in participation:

“We share their goals of providing new, reliable transportation options that work seamlessly in the city’s current regulatory, transportation, and parking systems and help the District meet its aggressive carbon emissions goals.”

Revel’s policy is not just to work with regulators when required; they seek to foster a cooperative environment that sets the company up for long term success and partnership with the cities where the mopeds eventually deploy. Whereas many cities have banned scooters, temporarily or permanently, working upfront with city officials may benefit Revel in the long-term — potentially protecting them from being required to pull their vehicles from city streets.

The cooperative method should provide an example of conduct to other micro-mobility companies seeking to expand their operations; sometimes, it is better to ask permission rather than forgiveness. The goodwill from the city may pay off in the long run if local governments decide to limit how many companies may operate in the city. They also avoid the potential regulatory gap that electric scooter fall into; mopeds are definitely a motor vehicle, CEO Reig has made sure to emphasize:

These mopeds are motor vehicles. This means there is no regulatory gray area: you have to have a license plate. To get that license plate, you have to register each vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles in each state and show third-party auto liability insurance. And then because it’s a motor vehicle, it’s clear that it rides in the street, so we’re completely off sidewalks.

Another area of differentiation is safety and employment. Revel’s mopeds are limited to riders aged 21 and older, capped at speeds of 30 miles-per-hour, provide riders with two helmets, and require riders to submit their driver’s license for a safe history driving check. Moreover, unlike electric scooter companies that rely on people working in the so-called “gig-economy” to charge their scooters, Revel relies on full-time employees to swap out batteries on the vehicles. This employment structure is another selling point for cities: full-time jobs and payroll taxes. The company is making an investment that other mobility companies that operate on an independent contractor model do not make. The relationship provides benefits for the cities and Revel, according to CEO Reig:

Our biggest lesson from New York and Washington is that Revel works for cities as they exist today. They work for our riders. They work for our regulators who are seeking ways to enhance their transportation networks, not disrupt them.

After receiving nearly $27 million in Series A funding, including an investment by Toyota AI Ventures, Revel could potentially increase its vehicle fleet 10-fold, aiding them in meeting their ambitious expansion plans by the middle of next year.