Rivian is unveiling the first picture of its new
electric delivery van as it already has over US$ 4 billion in orders from
Amazon for it. Earlier today, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced that Rivian, an
electric vehicle startup that took a US$ 700 million investment from the online
retailer, is going to make 100,000 electric delivery vans for them. It was surprising because Rivian
hadn’t announced that they even planned on making electric vans.
The company came out of stealth mode last year and
unveiled their electric R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV, which are passenger
electric vehicles with a focus on “adventure”. It looks like Amazon got excited
and announced the startup’s third vehicle for them.
Rivian hasn’t released any other images or specs for
their electric delivery van, but we are told that more details are going to
come out next week. In this particular picture, the delivery van as an ‘Amazon Prime’
decal and at the bottom, there’s a sign that says “powered by Rivian.”
It’s not clear if Rivian is building the new vehicle
just for Amazon, which si an important investor in the company, or if it will
be available to other commercial or individual costumers. Either way, Rivan would have to
build it over years in order to complete this order, which could be worth US$ 4
billion alone at an estimated price of US$ 40,000 per van.
