Amazon recently partnered with a developing company named Rivian to make strides in accomplishing their goal of becoming fully carbon neutral. The exclusive partnership between Amazon and Rivian will allow Amazon to have a personal fleet of fully-electric delivery vans. Amazon, in expectation that some of the vans will be completed by 2021, has placed 100,000 orders of the Rivian vans. The vans will be solely for Amazon and, according to a Rivian representative, will not be released to the public. Despite the large volume of new vans that will need to be produced, Rivian will continue to manufacture their current vans in full capacity.
Rivian
Rivian is an American startup company that currently produces two vehicle models, the Rivian R1T and Rivian R1S. The two Rivian models are not on the road yet but will begin deliveries in 2020. Rivian designs electric vehicles that are emissions-free, vehicles that they describe as Electric Adventure Vehicles. The brand is not only focused on provided consumers with vehicles that are environmentally friendly but also on creating an environment that drivers can have an adventure in. With operations around California, Illinois, and the United Kingdom, Rivian is slowly broadening their horizons.
Rivian challenges the current automotive by offering freshly-engineered solutions in their vehicles. Through innovations, such as a chassis-design inspired by the design of a skateboard, Rivian is continuing to develop vehicles that are highly capable.
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Though Rivian expects for the first few vans to be available by 2021, Amazon’s 100,000 electric van order won’t be complete by 2021. The company has mentioned that they would like to have 10,000 vans in use by the latter months of 2022. On par with Amazon’s carbon dioxide goal, the vans are expected to prevent about 4 million metric tons of the harmful gas from being emitted into the atmosphere as a result of the increasing demand for Amazon’s services.
Ford Motors and Amazon are both invested in Rivian. The investment made by Amazon prior to the 100,000 vehicle order was $700 million. Ford has invested $500 million and would like to use the technology that Rivian developed to build a completely new electric vehicle model alongside its current vehicle lineup.