Amazon’s new electric delivery vans will hit the road in more than a dozen cities starting this year, the company announced on Wednesday. The vans, which are being designed and built by EV Rivian’s vibrant startup, are already delivering to customers in Los Angeles. Amazon plans to expand its tests to 15 more cities this year, while continuing to build a fleet of 10,000 vehicles by 2022. The companies have not said which cities they would choose.
In a brief video published today, Amazon highlights the fact that the vans were designed, built and are now being tested within a year. “We are loving the enthusiasm of customers so far – from the photos we see online to car fans who stop our drivers to have a first-hand look at the vehicle,” said Ross Rachey, director of Fleet and Global Products at Amazon, said in communicated. “From what we’ve seen, this is one of the fastest and most modern commercial electrification programs, and we are extremely proud of it.”
Rivian is a relatively new name in the electric vehicle industry, having launched its pickup and SUV only in late November 2018 – despite operating in secrecy since 2009. Originally founded to do something that competed with Tesla’s first car, the Roadster , Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe ended up taking the company to a customer segment with more action and adventure in SUVs and pickups.
Since leaving stealth, Rivian has made a series of huge investments from several important players. Amazon led a $ 700 million round in February 2019, followed by $ 500 million from Ford in April 2019. More recently, Rivian raised $ 2.65 billion from T. Rowe Price and the Amazon Climate Guarantee Fund . (Jeff Bezos recently announced that he would step down as CEO to devote more attention to the initiative.)
Rivian has displayed two vehicles so far: the R1T pickup and the R1S SUV. Built on the same architecture as the delivery van, Rivian says his vehicles – which will cost about $ 70,000 – will be able to travel up to about 400 miles on a single charge, reach 60 miles per hour in less than three seconds, and eventually , be able to drive in some capacity.
Amazon originally announced the new delivery van as part of its climate promise to become a carbon neutral company by 2040.
It’s funny that Amazon’s Rachey mentions the photos of the delivery van posted online. Curious passersby also picked up, say, the unique external sound that emanates from the van while parked or traveling at low speed. Electric vehicles can be remarkably quiet compared to their internal combustion engine counterparts, so regulators require them to produce an artificial sound when traveling at low speeds to alert pedestrians and other road users who would not otherwise hear the vehicle approaching.
Based on the space sci-fi-ish sound that was selected, it looks like Rivian was going for something that could best be described as “chill / lo-fi beats to relax / study for the playlist”. According The Drive citing a post from Drive Tesla Canada, the artificial sound of Rivian vans is so loud that it can be heard from inside someone’s home.
It is unclear whether this will be the final sound used for the entire Amazon delivery fleet. In other words, there is still time to change. Please change.