UPS orders 10,000 electric delivery vans from startup Arrival

UPS announced today that they are investing in UK-based EV startup Arrival and ordering 10,000 electric delivery vans from them in order to electrify their fleet.

We have previously reported on Arrival when they unveiled a neat-looking all-electric delivery truck and scored contracts with the Royal Mail and UPS.

When first unveiling the vehicle in 2017, Arrival talked about “revolutionary ultra-lightweight composite materials that significantly reduce the weight of the vehicle, and by combining this technology with Arrival’s custom-built hardware, including power electronics and motors, the cost of operating has been reduced by more than 50%.”

They say that they optimized the maximum range to weight ratio for inner-city deliveries with battery packs enabling up to 100 miles of range on 3.5, 6, and 7.5-tonne trucks.

For the UPS trucks, Arrival said that they will have “a battery range of more than 150 miles (240 kilometers).”

Earlier this month, the startup took a $100 million investment from Hyundai and now they are quickly following it up with this new UPS deal.

UPS seemed to have liked their original collaboration with Arrival since they announced today that they are investing in the company and placing a large new order with them.

The investment is of an undisclosed amount, but the order is for 10,000 electric vehicles and the option for 10,000 more:

“UPS have announced an order of 10,000 purpose built electric vehicles from UK based Arrival. The initial 10,000 vehicles will be rolled out in the UK, Europe and North America from 2020 to 2024 worth hundreds of millions of euros each year. UPS have the option to purchase a further order of 10,000 vehicles during this period. UPS venture capital arm also announced an investment in Arrival of an undisclosed amount.”

Here’s the Gen 2 Arrival delivery van made for UPS:

Denis Sverdlov, Founder and CEO at Arrival, commented on today’s announcement:

UPS has been a strong strategic partner of Arrival, providing valuable insight to how electric delivery vans are used on the road and how they can be optimised for drivers. Together our teams have been creating bespoke electric vehicles, based on our flexible skateboard platforms, that meet the end-to-end needs of UPS from driving, loading/unloading, depot and back office operations. We are pleased that today’s investment and vehicle order creates even closer ties between our two companies.

Our investment and partnership with Arrival is directly aligned with UPS’s transformation strategy, led by the deployment of cutting-edge technologies.These vehicles will be among the world’s most advanced package delivery vehicles, redefining industry standards for electric, connected and intelligent vehicle solutions.