1,000 electric mopeds are taking over NYC and you can rent them by the minute

Revel has just dropped 1,000 new electric mopeds in New York City as part of its growing scooter-share program. But these aren’t your standard Lime and Bird scooters. They’re much bigger — and faster.

Of course, we’re not talking breakneck speeds here.

Revel’s electric mopeds are limited to a top speed of 30 mph (48 km/h). That’s plenty of speed for urban applications, but not enough to venture out on larger roads, bridges or tunnels.

For that reason, Revel’s electric mopeds are currently only limited to the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.

Revel’s shared electric mopeds

Riders can rent the scooters by the minute, where they cost $1 to activate and 25 cents per minute. Rides can also be paused for 10 cents per minute.

Similarly to Bird and Lime scooters, riders use an app to locate a nearby electric moped, then scan the moped on their phone to activate.

Unlike Bird and Lime, rider’s don’t have to remember to bring a helmet. The electric mopeds come with a helmet already stored inside of the cargo hold.

Revel’s area of operations map

Revel also offers free 30-minute riding classes after registering for anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable riding an electric moped without personal instruction. However, if you are comfortable on a bicycle, you’ll probably be able to handle an electric scooter, which generally feels like a heavier version of a bicycle — though one you won’t need to pedal.

Revel initially rolled out the NYC-based electric moped sharing program last summer. The trial began with 68 electric mopeds during the trial run. Now that the company is adding 1,000 scooters, it would appear that the first trial was declared a success.

The electric mopeds in the trial run were MUVI scooters manufactured by the Spanish company Torrot. The scooters featured front hydraulic telescopic and rear single monoshock suspension, hydraulic brakes, a 4″ LCD display on the handlebars, CANBUS and Bluetooth communications, GPS connectivity, keyless ignition, two 1.2 kWh 48V Li-ion batteries for a total of 2.4 kWh of battery capacity, and a peppy 3 kW mid-drive motor with belt drive.

The new batch of 1,000 electric mopeds are N-sharing scooters made by the Chinese company NIU. A world leader in electric scooters, NIU’s similarly-styled NGT is their latest model and features both a high powered mid-drive motor and 4.2 kWh of battery. The scooters can actually reach speeds of around 43 mph (70 km/h), but the N-sharing models are speed limited to just 30 mph (48 km/h) as part of Revel’s program.

Revel isn’t the first electric moped sharing service in the US. Others include Scoot in San Francisco and Scoobi in Pittsburgh. But they do join a growing trend of larger shared electric vehicles replacing small electric kick scooters.

Electrek’s Take

I’m all for these electric moped sharing programs. I started riding my own electric moped, a GenZe 2.0f, nearly a year ago. The experience has been life-changing. I can go everywhere in the city on it and rarely end up waiting in traffic. I don’t have to worry about parking, insurance, motorcycle license, etc.

Not every state has all of those benefits, but you can’t deny how useful these vehicles are in urban areas. And with so many inexpensive options for electric mopeds these days, I can see them becoming quite popular.

The one major problem with these electric moped sharing services though is that most new riders are hopping on one for the first time. While it feels somewhat similar to a bicycle, it can still be tricky to do your first test ride while mixing it up with cars in city traffic. So I definitely recommend taking Revel up on their free riding class offer, if you don’t feel 100% comfortable on one of these electric mopeds.

And before I go, a quick message to the pedants who are foaming at the mouth right now because I called these “mopeds”.  Just relax, my dudes. Mopeds don’t require pedals to be mopeds. Words change. Check your state laws. Many have “moped” vehicle classes that don’t require pedals. Ok, rant over.

What do you think of Revel’s electric moped sharing service? Let us know in the comments below!