Uber and Revel partner up to offer EV drivers exclusive charging discounts in NYC

Published

8 months ago

March 6, 2024

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Uber Technologies and charging provider Revel have announced a new strategic partnership in which the rideshare network will financially support the latter in expanding its charging infrastructure in exchange for exclusive charging discounts for its drivers. The perks will start in New York City with plans to expand Revel chargers and discounts to other major cities across the US.

Everyone already knows Uber, so we will start with a quick refresher course on Revel. The Brooklyn-based EV charging startup was founded in 2018 and is focused on all-electric taxi fleets and the charging infrastructure necessary to support them.

The company is easily recognizable by its sky blue Tesla Model Ys and Kia Niro EVs driving around the Big Apple. In November 2022, Revel shared intentions to expand its network of fast chargers outside of New York City into other major metropolitan areas in the US.

Today, the startup has announced a unique partnership with the biggest name in rideshares, Uber, to help expedite that process in exchange for charging support for its drivers.

Revel to offer Uber drivers 25% discount in multi-year deal

The new partners shared details of their multi-year strategic partnership this morning, in which Uber drivers gain access to Revels 250 fast chargers currently operating around New York City at a discount that varies based on a driver’s status in the network.

As part of this exclusive deal, Uber says it will provide a “financial commitment” to Revel as a utilization guarantee up to certain levels to support existing and future EV chargers in NYC. Furthermore, Uber will share its aggregated data to help the charging startup determine the best locations for future EV charging stations. Andrew Macdonald, Senior Vice President of Mobility and Business Operations at Uber, elaborated:

Tackling urban charging deserts is an important part of building an all-electric future. Since our earliest days, Uber has proudly served underserved communities with rides and earning opportunities and we are thrilled to continue that progress in partnership with Revel to ensure the next wave of charging infrastructure in New York City serves EV drivers and city residents alike.

With the partnership in place, Uber drivers become eligible for charging rate discounts of up to 25% on Revel’s network. Those discounts are determined by a driver’s given status in Uber Pro – the rideshare company’s rewards program for drivers. Revel says the discount will apply to its per kWh retail charging rates.

Revel’s charging sites around New York City are public and available 24/7, and the startup only charges drivers for the charging itself, with no fees for access or parking, enabling Uber drivers to get in and out more quickly and get back to making money.

Revel currently operates the three largest fast charging stations in New York City but intends to extend its reach to more neighborhoods in need. Not to mention more large cities around the US. Per Revel co-founder and CEO Frank Reig:

Together, Revel and Uber are showing how to accelerate EV infrastructure in the hardest to build places, dense cities. With Uber’s guarantee of demand at our sites, we’ll be able to expand our public charging network faster first here in New York and soon in other big rideshare markets like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and more.

Revel is currently working on a previously announced EV charging station near LaGuardia Airport, which will include 48 fast charger piles adjacent to the area’s designated “for-hire” waiting area. When complete, it will be the largest public fast charging station by any airport in the US, and we expect to see Uber drivers taking full advantage of it in the future.

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Environment

Elon Musk Tapped to Lead New ‘DOGE’ Department—Despite the Government Already Having One for Efficiency

Published

6 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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Elon Musk Tapped to Lead New ‘DOGE’ Department—Despite the Government Already Having One for Efficiency

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is to officially join Trump’s administration as the co-head of the new US Department of Government Efficiency – a second federal department with the goal of making government spending more efficient.

You can’t get more ironic than that.

Throughout the elections, Musk, who is already CEO of Tesla, and SpaceX, a well as the defacto head of X, xAI, Neuralink, and the Boring Company, has been floating the idea to add to his workload by joining the Trump’s administration to lead a new department aimed at making the federal government more efficient.

He has been calling it the “Department of Government Efficiency”, which spells out ‘DOGE’, a meme that Musk appears to enjoy.

Well, now Trump appears to want to be going through with this idea.

He announced the new department and Musk as head, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, in a statement today:

I am pleased to announce that the Great Elon Musk, working in conjunction with American Patriot Vivek Ramaswamy, will lead the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”). Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the “Save America” Movement. “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” stated Mr. Musk.

What’s most ironic is that there’s already a federal department with the goal of cutting government waste and ensuring efficiency: the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO’s main objectives are:

auditing agency operations to determine whether federal funds are being spent efficiently and effectively;
investigating allegations of illegal and improper activities;
reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting their objectives;
performing policy analyses and outlining options for congressional consideration;
issuing legal decisions and opinions;
advising Congress and the heads of executive agencies about ways to make government more efficient and effective

It sounds similar to what Musk described when talking about his DOGE, but Trump hasn’t gone into many details other than it will “cut waste.”

He also has a confusing message as he compares the initiative, which is supposed to cut government spending, to “The Manhattan project”, a massive and expensive government project.

Trump said that DOGE will help the government “drive large scale structural reform”:

It will become, potentially, “The Manhattan Project” of our time. Republican politicians have dreamed about the objectives of “DOGE” for a very long time. To drive this kind of drastic change, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice and guidance from outside of Government, and will partner with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before.

The statement also noted that DOGE will only operate until July 4, 2026.

Musk has previously claimed that he could cut at least $2 trillion dollars of the $6.5 trillion dollar US federal budget.

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Environment

Oil could plunge to $40 in 2025 if OPEC unwinds voluntary production cuts, analysts say

Published

6 hours ago

November 13, 2024

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Oil could plunge to in 2025 if OPEC unwinds voluntary production cuts, analysts say

A pump jack in Midland, Texas, US, on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.

Anthony Prieto | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Oil prices may see a drastic fall in the event that oil alliance OPEC+ unwinds its existing output cuts, said market watchers who are predicting a bearish year ahead for crude.

“There is more fear about 2025’s oil prices than there has been since years — any year I can remember, since the Arab Spring,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at OPIS, an oil price reporting agency.

“You could get down to $30 or $40 a barrel if OPEC unwound and didn’t have any kind of real agreement to rein in production. They’ve seen their market share really dwindle through the years,” Kloza added.

A decline to $40 a barrel would mean around a 40% erasure of current crude prices. Global benchmark Brent is currently trading at $72 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures are around $68 per barrel.

Oil prices year-to-date

Given that oil demand growth next year probably won’t be much more than 1 million barrels a day, a full unwinding of OPEC+ supply cuts in 2025 would “undoubtedly see a very steep slide in crude prices, possibly toward $40 a barrel,” Henning Gloystein, head of energy, climate and resources at Eurasia Group, told CNBC.

Similarly, MST Marquee’s senior energy analyst Saul Kavonic posited that should OPEC+ unwind cuts without regard to demand, it would “effectively amount to a price war over market share that could send oil to lows not seen since Covid.”

However, the alliance is more likely to opt for a gradual unwinding early next year, compared to a full scale and immediate one, the analysts said.

Should the producers group proceed with their production plan, the market surplus could nearly double.

Martoccia Francesco

Energy strategist at Citi

The oil cartel has been exercising discipline in maintaining its voluntary output cuts, to the point of extending them.

In September, OPEC+ postponed plans to begin gradually rolling back on the 2.2 million barrels per day of voluntary cuts by two months in an effort to stem the slide of oil prices. The 2.2 million bpd cut, which was implemented over the second and third quarters, had been due to expire at the end of September.

At the start of this month, the oil cartel again decided to delay the planned oil output increase by another month to the end of December.

Oil prices have been weighed by a sluggish post-Covid recovery in demand from China, the world’s second-largest economy and leading crude oil importer. In its monthly report released Tuesday, OPEC lowered its 2025 global oil demand growth forecast from 1.6 million barrels per day to 1.5 million barrels per day.

The pressured prices were also conflagrated by a perceivably oversupplied market, especially as key oil producers outside the OPEC alliance like the U.S., Canada, Guyana and Brazil are also planning to add supply, Gloystein highlighted.

Bearish year ahead for oil

The market consensus is that there’ll be a “substantial” oil stock build next year, said Citibank energy strategist Martoccia Francesco.

“Should the producers group proceed with their production plan, the market surplus could nearly double… reaching as much as 1.6 million barrels per day,” said Francesco.

Even if OPEC+ doesn’t unwind the cuts, the future ofl prices is still looking break. Citi analysts expect Brent price to average $60 per barrel next year.

Further fueling the bearish outlook is the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, whose return is associated by some with a potential trade war, said analysts who spoke to CNBC.

“If we do get a trade war — and a lot of economists think that a trade war is possible, and particularly against China — we could see much, much lower prices,” said OPIS’ Kloza.

Trump has also touted a “drill baby drill” policy for U.S. producers, vowing to cut energy prices in half.

For that to happen to retail gasoline prices, oil would need to drop to “below $40” per barrel, said Matt Smith, Kpler’s lead oil analyst.

Right now, retail gasoline prices are at a “sweet spot” at $3 per gallon, where consumers do not feel the pinch and input prices are still sufficiently high for producers, Smith added.