Rivian Has Become a Top Dog in the Electric Vehicle Battle
Amazon will drive 10,000 Rivian vans in 2022, 100,000 in 2030
While Tesla holds a massive lead in consumer electric vehicle sales, another company has a firm grip on the delivery market: Rivian.
If you’ve never heard of Rivian, that’s OK: they’re rather lowkey. Founded in 2009, the company didn’t reveal its first two products — an electric pickup truck and SUV — until 2017.
In 2019, Rivian received $1.55 billion in funding from three companies: Cox Automotive ($350 million), Ford ($500 million), and Amazon ($700 million). Due to factors relating to COVID-19, Ford terminated its contract with Rivian.
Amazon didn’t leave, however, and will start seeing returns on its investment quite soon.
Not long after Cox’s investment in September 2019, Amazon announced a purchase of 100,000 Rivian vans for its delivery fleet — the largest delivery EV order to date.
Amazon plans to run on 100% renewable energy by 2030, and the Rivian fleet will play a large role in that. The company initially planned to have all 100,000 EV delivery vans on the road by 2024, with some hitting the roads in 2020, which is now unlikely with COVID-related delays.
