New York City votes to block new licenses for electric taxis, snubbing Revel’s Tesla plans

New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted to block the issuance of new for-hire vehicle licenses for electric vehicles. The move was widely perceived as a snub toward Revel, the company best known for its electric moped-sharing service, which was planning to launch a ride-hailing service using a fleet of Tesla vehicles.
Revel announced last April that it planned to launch a ride-hail service in Manhattan with a fleet of 50 Tesla Model Ys. The company had been hoping to exploit a loophole in the city’s current rules, which caps the number of new FHV licenses but exempts wheelchair-accessible and electric vehicles. The cap was originally enacted as a way to stem the tide of new Uber and Lyft vehicles that were flooding the…

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