Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric vehicle manufacturer that counts Amazon as its core customer, says it will be expanding the availability of its electric van to the wider delivery fleet market.
The Rivian van is the platform on which Amazon’s custom electric delivery van is based. More than 3,000 of these EVs are already operating in Amazon’s U.S. fleet. Amazon says it intends to have 100,000 Rivian electric vans in service by 2020.
“Rivian and Amazon share a mission to decarbonize last-mile delivery and have been working together since 2019 to make that a reality,” says Udit Madan, vice president of transportation at Amazon. “This has been part of our plan with Rivian from the beginning – we’ve always said that we want others to benefit from their technology in the long run because having more electric delivery vehicles on the road is good for our communities and our planet.”
“We’re excited to open sales of our electric commercial van to more businesses,” adds RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian. “Amazon is, and will remain, a key partner for us, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the Amazon team as we help them to achieve their Climate Pledge goal.”
With the two available vehicle sizes, the vans have a payload of up to 2,734 lb. and up to a GVWR of up to 9,500 lb. Rivian’s in-house software gives fleets easy access to critical information, including real-time data and remote commands, driver and vehicle insights, alerts and analytics. These tools streamline fleet ownership and minimize costs while increasing safety and productivity, the company says.
Rivian says it plans to prioritize larger fleet requests and begin small-scale deployments in 2024, prior to scaling deliveries in 2025.
Fleets can learn more here.