San Francisco’s ongoing drug crisis has shifted from previously cleaned-up hotspots to new streets and alleys, according to frustrated residents and business owners. Despite recent efforts by Mayor Daniel Lurie and the SFPD, many say the chaos is simply moving around the city, affecting their neighborhoods and daily lives.

Brooklyn-based electric vehicle charging infrastructure startup Revel on Monday launched its first fast-charging station in San Francisco, kicking off its plans to expand across the Bay Area over the next year. 

“For years, Revel has operated the largest, fastest, and most reliable fast-charging network in New York City,” Frank Reig, co-founder and CEO of Revel, said in a statement. “Now we’re bringing our model to the number one EV market in North America.”

The Bay Area has some of the highest rates of EV ownership in the country. In 2024, more than 35% of new vehicle sales in San Francisco were electric, compared to the national average of around 8%.

Revel’s first West Coast charging station is in the city’s Mission District, and it features 12 chargers with 320 kW capacity, built by EV charging company Kempower. Like Revel’s stations across New York City, these will be publicly accessible 24/7 to any make and model of EV. 

The company said it has plans to add more than 125 chargers to the urban centers of San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and South Francisco over the next year. 

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who cut the ribbon at Revel’s opening Monday, said the new chargers will make it easier for residents to make the switch to EVs. 

Revel’s San Francisco launch comes a week after the startup opened 24 new chargers at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, located within the airport’s for-hire vehicle hold lot. 

Last month, Revel secured a $60 million loan from New York’s clean energy investment fund NY Green Bank to more than triple its fast-charging network in the city. The company said it hopes to expand to 300 chargers in New York by the end of this year, including a 60-stall site in Maspeth, Queens and a 48-stall site outside of LaGuardia Airport. 

“Our mission at Revel is to bring reliable fast-charging to dense urban areas where EVs can have the biggest impact on quality of life, but where charging is hardest to come by,” Paul Suhey, co-founder and COO of Revel, said in a statement.

More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on Sunday evening, protesting a performance by the Israel Philharmonic. The protest, which had dispersed by the concert’s conclusion, called for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel.