Amazon officially starts using Rivian electric van to make customer deliveries

Amazon has officially started using the first Rivian electric vans to make customer deliveries in Los Angeles.

Rivian and Amazon

In 2019, Rivian took a $700 million round of funding led by Amazon, and at the time, they were discussing opportunities to work together.

A few months later, we learned that one of those opportunities is building an electric delivery van for the online retail giant.

Amazon announced that it will buy 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian.

The project is one of the biggest of its kind and would represent one of the largest deployment of electric vehicles in the world.

It’s also an order likely worth over $4 billion for Rivian, which is massive for a startup.

Previously, the only timeline that Amazon gave was that Rivian should start production of the electric delivery van in 2021 and have 10,000 vans on the road as early as 2022, and all 100,000 vehicles on the road by 2030.

Rivian electric delivery vans are hitting the road for Amazon

Over the last few months, a few delivery van prototypes were spotted around the Los Angeles area.

Now Amazon confirmed that they started testing the electric delivery vans there:

Amazon customer deliveries will look a little different in parts of Los Angeles. Just one year after announcing the purchase of 100,000 custom electric delivery vehicles as part of The Climate Pledge, Amazon has begun testing the new vans on delivery routes.

They released this new video about it:

Ross Rachey, director of Amazon’s Global Fleet and Products, commented:

We’re loving the enthusiasm from customers so far – from the photos we see online to the car fans who stop our drivers for a firsthand look at the vehicle. From what we’ve seen, this is one of the fastest modern commercial electrification programs, and we’re incredibly proud of that.

RJ Scaringe, Rivian Founder and CEO, added:

Rivian’s purpose is to deliver products that the world didn’t already have, to redefine expectations through the application of technology and innovation. This milestone is one example of how Rivian and Amazon are working toward the world of 2040, and we hope it inspires other companies to fundamentally change the way that they operate.

Amazon and Rivian haven’t released many details about the powertrain of the electric delivery van, but with the announcement today, they have confirmed that it has a range of up to 150 miles.

Now the online retail giant also confirmed that the new Rivian electric delivery van will make it to “up to 15 additional cities in 2021” as part of the ramp up to a fleet of 10,000 electric vans in 2022.