EV startup Rivian reveals key specifications of new electric delivery vans

Amazon-backed EV start-up Rivian promised to begin selling its commercial van to non-Amazon companies this year, but until a keen-eyed Twitter user took a stroll through the company’s recent IPO documents, we had very little idea about what exactly the vans would look like.

Rivian promised back in November that it’s Rivian Commercial Van (RCV) – which was already in use by online shopping giant Amazon – would be available to non-Amazon customers this year, with deliveries expected to start for those customers in 2023.

Amazon gained early access to Rivian’s electric delivery van after heavily investing in the in the EV maker leading a $US700 million ($A920 million) investment round in 2019 and placing an order for 100,000 RCVs through 2024.

But we haven’t known a lot about the specifics for the RCV, until Twitter user Reilly Brennan posted information about the RCV taken from Rivian’s IPO filing.

Reilly, who is a founding general partner at seed-stage VC fund Trucks and a lecturer at Stanford’s School of Engineering, posted an image of two Rivian ‘EDV 500’ vans en route from assembly in Illinois to Amazon, and followed it up with the above image of the three RCV models.

Both the EDV 500 and EDV 700 boast an all-electric range of up to 240-kilometres and storage of 500-cubic-feet for the 500, and 660-cubic-feet for the 700. The EDV 900, which boasts storage of 840-cubic-feet, suffers an unsurprising small drop in mileage, with all-electric range of up to 190-kilometres.

However, given general delivery travel distances in major cities and suburban areas, these ranges probably offer more than enough for most company’s needs.

Details of Rivian’s commercial delivery van were taken from the company’s IPO filing, which led to an IPO that ranked the company as the sixth most valuable carmaker, closing its opening day of trading in November at just under $US100 billion.

On the company’s website, the Rivian Commercial Van is said to set “new standards for safety, performance and longevity in fleet vehicles” and boasts increased driver comfort and ergonomics and will be available with all-wheel drive and ADAS technologies and CCS1 charging.

Built on Rivian’s proprietary electric platform housing the drivetrain, braking, chassis, suspension, thermal, and battery systems, the RCV is built specifically for commercial use.

Featuring double-wishbone front suspension and twist-beam with trailing arm rear suspension, the RCV sports a 54.8-foot curb-to-curb turning radius. The RCV motor is designed to handle the stress of frequent stopping and also comes with regenerative braking while also reducing brake wear.

Charging speeds of up to 150kW provide for the various needs of delivery companies and the range of payload capacity will make the RCV a potential game-changer for the last-mile transport sector.