Rivian is one of the highly regarded EV makers from the US which has focused its efforts on the electric pickup trucks and more recently SUVs segments.
It has also been heavily involved in the development of a delivery van which it calls the Rivian commercial van (RCV). This electric delivery van was designed in collaboration with the delivery giant, Amazon.
As part of the collaboration, Amazon had placed an order for 100,000 of the RCV which Rivian aims to deliver by 2030. Initially, the deal was of exclusive supply to Amazon but that has since been amended.
Now the company has announced at its Q3 earnings call that it will make the RCV available to other customers in the market to make the switch to an all-electric delivery van.
“Today, Rivian announced that it will enable other companies to purchase its custom-designed Rivian Commercial Van (“RCV”),” it said.
“This move provides companies all around the world more opportunity to electrify their delivery fleets with a state-of-the-art vehicle, which will help to further reduce CO2 emissions.”
According to Rivian, the RCV is made for driver comfort and safety with features including:
- Automatic emergency braking
- Collision warnings
- 360-degree visibility
Rivian has so far delivered over 10,000 EDVs and are currently being used by Amazon to deliver millions of packages in US and the German markets.
The RCV is available in two variants with gross vehicle weight ratings and lengths of:
- 4,240 kg available in 6.3 m or 7.0 m length
- 6,400 kg available in 8.2 m length
These vans are equipped with a 135 kWh battery pack and have the ability to charge up to 150 kW of DC charging speeds.
The uptake of electric last-mile delivery services in the US and Europe by delivery giants has been gradually increasing and with millions of delivery vehicles needing to be transitioned in the coming years, there is no shortage of demand for vehicles like the RCV.
Locally, electric delivery trucks are starting to emerge in Australia as well with supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths coming on board.
With more commercial delivery businesses looking at improving their emissions and offering drivers a more purpose-built vehicle electric delivery van would fit their requirements quite well.
On top of that, it would help decarbonise road transport sooner, ultimately improving air quality in our densely populated cities.
