Electric vehicle startup Rivian has just taken an order from e-commerce retailer Amazon for 100,000 battery-powered delivery vans, with delivery of the first such vehicles to start 2021, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said September 19.By 2022, Rivian hopes to have shipped the first 10,000 of the vans to Amazon, a spokesperson told The Drive, will the full fleet of 100,000 operational by 2024.While the vehicles will be based on the Michigan-based automakers R1 platform and employ the same powertrain and battery, the suspension, application software and interior and exterior, all designed to Amazons specs, will be unique to that companys fleet. Rivian plans to optimize manufacturing by rolling out the vans on a separate assembly line in its Normal, Illinois plant so that it wont have to push back the late 2020 launch of its upcoming R1S and R1T SUV and
Origin: Rivian gets order from Amazon for 100,000 electric delivery vans
Rivian
Amazon orders 100,000 electric vans from start-up Rivian
Internet shopping giant Amazon has given a further boost to EV start-up Rivian by placing an order with the company for 100,000 electric delivery vehicles. The fledging manufacturer is aiming to produce a range of go-anywhere 4×4 EVs built on its own bespoke platform, showcasing the R1 SUV and R1T pick-up at last year’s Los Angeles motor show. Rivian has attracted high profile investments from firms including Ford, with which it is working on future vehicle development, and Amazon. The internet retailer invested $440 million (£350 million) to lead a $700 million (£544 million) investment round in Rivian earlier this year, and has now furthered those links with the massive order, which it says is the largest ever made in an electric delivery vehicle. Amazon says that the first Rivan-built vans will go into service in 2021, with the plan to have 10,000 on the road by 2022 and all 100,000 in operation by 2030. The order was announced by Amazon as it unveiled the Climate Pledge, calling on signatories to reach net zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the targets set by the Paris Accord. Amazon said that the investment and vehicle order in Rivian would “accelerate the production of electric vehicles critical to reducing emissions from transportation”. While no details of the technical specifications of the van, preview images released by Amazon showed it badged with the firm’s Prime delivery service, and ‘powered by Rivian’ on the side sill. That suggests they could be made on Rivian’s bespoke EV platform to a body design specified by Amazon. The retailer has long been looking for ways to reduce costs and improve the efficiency of its delivery operation, particularly in terms of ‘last mile’ deliveries to customers in cities. Switching to electric vans would both cut fuel costs and ensure Amazon vehicles were not affected by low emissions zones increasingly being established in cities. There is no indication where the vans will be deployed, although they are likely to focus on major cities in the USA. The order is a huge boost to Rivian as it gears up to start production at a plant in Illinois, in a facility previously used by Mitsubishi. The plant has a capacity to produce 350,000 units per year, with Rivian’s initial goal to sell 50,000-60,000 of its premium electric off-roaders per year by 2025. With an increasing focus on car pollution in cities, and the costs of fuelling large van fleets, an increasing number of car firms are developing electric vans. Nissan has the e-NV200, Vauxhall is developing an electric Vivaro, and Mercedes-Benz is working on a new version of its e-Vito. Volkswagen is also planning a cargo version of its ID Buzz
Origin: Amazon orders 100,000 electric vans from start-up Rivian
News Roundup: Boat on highway causes waves of puns, 2020 Shelby GT500 gets priced, and Rivian keeps on poaching
Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.A police photo of a boat blocking a Toronto highway has turned into a national caption contestCaption? This boat ended up on #Hwy407 at Dixie Rd tonight. No one hurt. #HappyCanadaDay pic.twitter.com/rDU3sePzJ7 Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) July 2, 2019When Ontario police got a call about a boat blocking a lane-and-a-half of traffic on the GTA’s 407 ETR Highway on Canada Day, they knew just what to do: Snap a photo and post it to Twitter, obviously. The OPP’s official Twitter account shipped out a photo of the mid-size motorboat beached in the left lane, calling for the public to caption it. And the public, Driving.ca’s commenters included, did not disappoint. There were a ship-ton of boat puns, some fun Photoshop work, and a few solid references to Gilligan’s Island, which it turns out is still the most relevant piece of nautically-themed pop culture. The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500’s price tag nears six digitsFord has released pricing for the upcoming Mustang Shelby GT500, the most powerful Mustang ever made. The 2020 Shelby GT500 will go for $94,675 in Canada, which isn’t what the kids would call ‘el cheapo’. However, it’s a lot of car, with “the most torque-dense V8 ever,” according to the brand, good for 625 lb.-ft. of torque alongside 760 horses. Should you care to spend even more on mechanized muscle, Ford is happy to accommodate. There’s the Carbon Fibre Track Package that adds bare carbon-fibre 20-inch wheels and racing tires, a GT4 adjustable wing and more; or, for a little less, the Handling Package with a Gurney flap rear spoiler and front splitters. A hearse driver with a corpse in back argues right to use HOV laneA headline out of Nevada is serving as a reminder to funeral employees that if you’re going to use the HOV lane, your passenger has to have a pulse. When Nevada highway patrol pulled over a Dodge Grand Caravan traveling in the HOV lane with what appeared to be a sole occupant in the vehicle, they were met with an interesting argument by its driver. There was a passenger, the local funeral home employee told the officer—they just weren’t in a seat, rather in a casket in the back. Clever, but not technically legal. The driver was let off with a warning.What do truck nuts really say about a driver? There are many offensive and unnecessary ways to decorate your car, from the classic bumper sticker to gawd-awful accessories like headlight eyelashes, but king among them in terms of outrageousness are the truck testicles, a.k.a. TruckNutz. Now, columnist Lorraine Sommerfeld isn’t a fan of most car decorations, believing decor should be saved for the home, but she’s especially turned off by the dropping sacks that adorn the rear hitch of some of the world’s least discerning driver’s vehicles. So, if you own a set of TruckNutz and have an actual good reason why you feel the need to set them swinging from your F-150 – other than “balls, tee hee” – she wants to hear from you. We all do. Rivian can’t stop, won’t stop poaching employeesThe race to the world’s first long-range electric pickup truck is a hungry one. In an attempt to fight to the top of the pile, EV startup Rivian has been steadily leeching employees from automotive and tech competitors like Tesla, Ford, McLaren and especially Faraday Future. Since last spring, the Michigan-based company has doubled its number of staff, with nearly 50 engineers and other staff coming over from the struggling EV brand Faraday Future, many of whom had been furloughed by the company. The latest big hire made by Rivian, however, was of an Apple employee. Mike Bell, who helped bring the first-gen iPhone to market, will serve as Rivian’s first CTO. The 2019 Mazda MX-5 is the same old Miata we love, only now with more powerFun. That’s the Mazda MX-5 Miata’s modus operandi. Always has been. That’s why, when the previous-gen MX-5 (aka the NC) hit roads with a bigger body and a less powerful engine, some fans were… we won’t say disappointed, but confused. This year, though, Mazda has decided to clear things up with a return to the nimble nature and a boost of 26 horsepower. The 2019 MX-5 Miata once again plays to its strengths with a spirited four-cylinder engine, spot-on chassis and a host of other performance upgrades that make this generation one of the G.O.A.T.s. As reviewer Nick Tragianis notes, “On a tight, serpentine road, the Miata is more of the same, but better.”The 2019 Ford Ranger narrowly misses Top Safety Pick award at IIHS crash testsIt was the darned headlights. Thanks to a “marginal” rating given to the lamps, the 2019 Ford Ranger just missed the Top Safety Pick at this year’s IIHS safety tests. But it still did pretty well, earning a “superior” for front crash prevention, “good” for five
Origin: News Roundup: Boat on highway causes waves of puns, 2020 Shelby GT500 gets priced, and Rivian keeps on poaching
Rivian is devouring staff from Ford, Apple, Tesla, Faraday Future and more
2019 Rivian R1T Electric TruckHandout / Rivian One EV startup’s loss is another EV startup’s gain. If struggling brand Faraday Future doesn’t understand this now, after having around 50 employees (some who had been furloughed) cross over to take positions at the up-and-coming EV-maker Rivian, it likely never will. And it’s not the only company having its engineering department hollowed out by Rivian. According to some LinkedIn profile-combing performed by The Verge, Rivian has on-boarded dozens of employees from Tesla, McLaren and Ford, as well as some key players from other big tech brands like Apple. In fact, when it recently came time to name its first CTO, the Michigan-based startup called over Mike Bell, a former Apple bigwig who was one of the important players behind the first iPhone. And this aggressive hiring pace is apparently ongoing. Rivian’s director of corporate communications, Michael McHale, told The Verge that the company has a “natural hiring process and is always looking for people with the right skills.”Now, Rivian has been rocking the boat in other ways, too, like when it received support from Amazon to the tune of US$700 million, or when it got another US$500 million from Ford, granting the automaker exclusive access to Rivian tech. But for all the hype and financially backed votes of confidence, some still have their doubts about the brand’s ability to meet its promises, especially when it comes to that pickup truck and its projected 640-km range, which is really what all the hoopla is all about.The race to be the first long-range EV pickup truck to market is ongoing, but Rivian now has 750 reasons (and counting) why it could get there first.
Origin: Rivian is devouring staff from Ford, Apple, Tesla, Faraday Future and more
Rivian will offer electric truck-to-truck battery charging
2019 Rivian R1T Electric TruckHandout / Rivian EV upstart Rivian is offering up another reason to get excited about its upcoming products. First there was the announcement the all-electric R1T pickup and R1S SUV will do more than 640 km on a charge and cost just $70,000. Then there was the Camping Special trim teaser that showcased some of the accessories that will come along with the outdoor-focused vehicles. And now, thanks to some candid comments from the usually rather reserved CEO, RJ Scaringe, in conversation with The Drive, there’s the news that Rivian’s first fleet will also offer vehicle-to-vehicle charging. We’d say that’s freakin’ cool! but at this point we’re almost scared to hype Rivian any further for fear of jinxing it. Though, the company may be beyond the powers of the jinx—Rivian recently received a US$500-million investment from Ford and similar contributions from Amazon. Scaringe also announced that auxiliary battery packs will also be made available, allowing off-road enthusiasts even greater range. You’re starting to get into the long tail of use cases, but even there we’ve designed the vehicle so you can have auxiliary battery packs,” Scaringe told The Drive. “You can also charge Rivian-to-Rivian, which is a neat thing. You connect the two vehicles and then I could hand you some electrons. That takes us to the limit, and of course you can always find a corner of the world where it won’t work, just like you can’t find a gas station in Antarctica. You won’t be able to find a plug in Antarctica, so there are natural limitations. Other topics covered in the interview include the “holy grail” of battery chemistry, the pace of change in the industry, how the company has extended range by improving aerodynamics in its products, and what it’s like to always be compared to Elon Musk. The R1T pickup and R1S SUV are on schedule to be on roads by the end of 2020.
Origin: Rivian will offer electric truck-to-truck battery charging
Rivian unveils a Camping Special trim for its upcoming all-electric pickup
Electric vehicle start-up Rivian showed off a “camping special” trim available for its all-electric pickup truck late May—even though it’s yet to actually build its first production all-electric pickup truck. The California-based company showed the camper-equipped truck last weekend to visitors at the Overland Expo adventure travel show in Flagstaff, Arizona. The camping package includes a tent on top of the bed, roof racks for accessories, and a slide-out kitchen that fits into a storage compartment, called the Gear Tunnel, under the front of the truck’s bed. The kitchen included a two-burner induction cooktop, which runs off the truck’s battery. We’ve cooked up a mobile kitchen prototype that showcases just one of the many ways to utilize the extra storage space in the #R1T. It features 2 induction burners, a sink, 5 gallons of water storage and keeps all your cookware and utensils organized while youre out in the wild. pic.twitter.com/qsVXZUvCw8 Rivian (@Rivian) May 17, 2019 Founded in 2009 by R.J. Scaringe, the company unveiled its R1T electric pickup and R1S sport-utility vehicle at last year’s Los Angeles Auto Show. It says production models will go on sale in 2020, and claims specifications of around 800 horsepower, a battery range of about 750 kilometres, zero-to-96 km/h in less than three seconds, and towing capacity for the pickup of more than 11,000 lbs. The vehicles will also be capable of semi-autonomous highway driving. Prices haven’t been officially released, but the first higher-performance vehicles are expected to be around US$90,000, with less-potent models added later and starting at around US$50,000. They’ll be built in Normal, Illinois, in a former Mitsubishi plant the company bought from the Japanese automaker last
Origin: Rivian unveils a Camping Special trim for its upcoming all-electric pickup
News Roundup: Tesla sales stall, a Model S catches fire, and what to make of Rivian
A Tesla car arrives at a service center in Los Angeles, California on March 4, 2019.Mark Ralston / Getty via AP Dismal Q1 earnings and explosion reports from Tesla, the saga of John Cena’s GT and more fiery auto news from around the world Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam. Here’s what you missed while you were away. The first quarter of 2019 has not been kind to Tesla The Tesla Model 3 Performance Handout / Tesla Tesla is reporting net losses of US$702 million in the first three months of 2019, which is almost six times the profits earned in Q4 of 2018. Ouch! This despite Elon Musk doing what CEOs are wont to do and calling for profits throughout the year. The source of the leaking funds? Delivery woes that have seen a 31 per cent decline in cars actually getting to their owners. Now reports are surfacing that Tesla is trying to stop the bleeding by shuttering stores, cutting staff and shifting sales online. What if the value of a used car depends not on brand but on its owners? Does maintenance trump brand? Handout / Fotolia Driving’s Justin Pritchard has been asked the question, “So what’s the best used car to buy?” many times over his years as an auto journalist. Today, his answer has nothing to do with brand. Instead, he encourages used car shoppers to look for responsible owners with good maintenance rather than nameplates. Finding an owner who was religious in his execution of the vehicle’s ‘maintenance schedule’ is arguably more important than mileage, interior condition or any of the other metrics by which we often measure used cars. As Pritchard puts it, “It’s all about how well you take care of things.” Watch as a Tesla spontaneously combusts in a parking garage in China When will videos of Teslas going up in flames get old? Maybe after this one, but certainly not before. The clip shows the Model S quickly going from smoky to fully engulfed in the crowded parking garage. Video was pulled from the lot’s closed-circuit feed and Tweeted out by @ShanghaiJayin, some sort of self-appointed watchdog to the Chinese EV market who went on to share another video, this time of a NIO ES8 going up in flames at a repair centre in Xi’an, China. Environmentally unfriendly: These are the biggest gas guzzlers of all time Lamborghini Countach Brendan McAleer / Driving As governments and automakers alike set their sites on the electric future, we’re looking back at those vehicles that make gas station owners smile and environmental advocates shudder. Using the Environmental Protection Agency’s records dating back to 1984, we’ve rounded up the most gas-guzzling vehicles of all time, featuring such thirsty beasts as the 7-mpg 1986 Lamborghini Countach, the small but insatiable 1995 Saab 9000 sedan, and the 1,000-horsepower Bugatti Veyron. Rivian’s proposed electric pickup’s numbers don’t really add up Rivian R1T There were many highlights at the recent New York Auto Show, but perhaps none shone brighter than the Rivian R1T electric pickup truck. As one of the main belles at the ball, it also raised a lot of questions. This week, Motor Mouth David Booth pulled out his calculator and green accounting visor to see if he could make sense of the promised 640-km range, advertised weight and what we already know about how EVs function. In short. He couldn’t, saying that “dissecting the numbers, the battery-powered R1T makes a great case for a hydrogen fuel cell.” Slip inside the 10 finest car interiors of 2019 Jeep Gladiator Jeep People make a lot of fuss about tires and engines and paint colours, but the majority of the time spent in cars is spent, well, in them. That’s why ranking their interiors, as WardsAuto recently did, is a worthwhile exercise. The Michigan-based brand tested 32 nominated vehicles, scoring them on design, comfort, ergonomics, materials, fit and finish, and user-friendliness. The top ten includes the Bentley Continental GT, Genesis G70, Hyundai Santa Fe, Jeep Gladiator and Toyota Rav 4. Check out the full piece to see if your car made the cut. We built a visual timeline of the saga of John Cena’s 2017 Ford GT John Cena’s 2017 Ford GT crossing the Mecum Auctions block in Dallas in October 2018 Mecum Auctions When John Cena was hand selected to take order of a liquid blue 2017 Ford GT back in fall of 2017, he was instructed by the brand not to sell it for two years, or until late 2019. And considering that said GT was auctioned in February, changing hands for the fifth time, it’s safe to say the big guy didn’t follow the rules. In fact, since Cena sold it just a month after he’d received it, the GT has been the centre of an ongoing scandal. Then there’s the silver GT that’s also being sold against Ford’s wishes. Confused? Our timeline of the Ford-defying GTs should clear things
Origin: News Roundup: Tesla sales stall, a Model S catches fire, and what to make of Rivian
Ford investing US$500M in electric vehicle startup Rivian
2019 Rivian R1T Electric TruckHandout / Rivian Ford is sinking a half-billion dollars into electric vehicle startup Rivian in a deal that has the companies working together on a new Ford EV based on Rivian underpinnings. Ford will become a minority partner in Rivian, which is based outside of Detroit and recently rolled out a new electric pickup truck and an SUV that will go on sale late next year. In a statement, Ford CEO Jim Hackett says the partnership will bring a fresh approach to Ford’s intelligent and electric vehicles. He also says Rivian will benefit from Ford’s manufacturing expertise and resources. Rivian will remain an independent company, but Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of automotive, will get a seat on the startup’s seven-member board. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval. Rivian has a large engineering and administrative operation in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth Township, Mich., as well as outposts in San Jose and Irvine, Calif., and Surrey, England. The company also is starting manufacturing operations in a 2.6-million square-foot factory in Normal, Ill., that was once used by Mitsubishi. The company’s R1T pickup and R1S SUV are supposed to have more than 400 miles (640 kilometres) of range on a single charge. The five-seat pickup is aimed at the market for off-road capable trucks with outdoorsy features, a market Tesla has not yet entered. A basic truck with smaller 230-mile (370 kilometres) battery pack will start under US$70,000. A truck with the longer-range battery will be around US$90,000. The R1T and R1S will first roll out in the U.S., then to other
Origin: Ford investing US$500M in electric vehicle startup Rivian
Ford invests $500 million in EV company Rivian
Ford has agreed a deal with Rivian to develop a new model on the fast-rising electric vehicle (EV) maker’s platform and take a minority stake in the firm. Rivian is currently developing its R1T pick-up truck and R1S seat-seat SUV, which will both be built on a bespoke ’skateboard’ chassis that was designed to be modular, so it can be used for a wide range of machines. The new strategic partnership, in which Ford has taken around $500 million (£386 million) equity investment in Rivian, will result in engineers from the two American companies working together to develop a battery EV for Ford. There are no details yet on the type of vehicle the firms will work on, although it will be “all-new”. In the US, Ford has shifted its focus to pick-ups and SUVs, and it’s currently developing an electric version of its hugely popular F-150. Ford boss Jim Hackett said the partnership with Rivian “brings a fresh approach” to Ford’s development of EVs and that the fledgling firm “can benefit from Ford’s industrial expertise and resources”. Rivian founder RJ Scaringe called the deal a “key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility”. Rivian will remain an independent company. Ford is just the latest major investor the firm has secured; it had already raised £894.5m, including £544 million from online retailing giant Amazon, announced at the Los Angeles motor show. The deal is also the latest in a number of partnerships that Ford has secured as part of its global restructuring. It recently agreed a deal to work with Volkswagen to develop a range of vehicles, including vans and mid-size pick-ups, and has talked about building vehicles using the German conglomerate’s MEB platform for
Origin: Ford invests $500 million in EV company Rivian
Motor Mouth: The Rivian paradox raises a few questions
In a surprising twist of the ‘country bumpkin goes to town’ fable, it turns out the hit of the recent auto show in New York — possibly the most congested inner city in the world, and certainly the most cosmopolitan — was a great, giant, hulking pickup truck. Oh, Toyota’s Highlander probably drew more cameras. And any time Subaru introduces a new Outback it’s a media event. But in terms of the sheer number of “have you seen the (fill-in-the-blank)?” questions generated per square metre of booth space, it was Rivian, an upstart electric truck maker from Plymouth, Michigan, that was the talk of the town. The only issue is that so many of those questions remain unanswered. While the company talked loudly and proudly about the $1,000 deposits it had taken on its R1T pickup and R1S SUV, beyond the generic “our powertrains are very efficient,” there was little detail on how the EV startup was achieving its signature marketing message, namely the whopping 400-mile (640-kilometre) range attributed to its top-of-the-line R1T. Lacking the requisite detail, I did a bit of basic number crunching to see if there might be some illumination to how the company is achieving such game-changing range and exactly what it will cost for us to haul our cordwood emissions-free. Here’s what I came up with: The mid-range 135 kWh version — there’s a 105 kWh base model, and the 400-miler boasts a whopping 180 kWh — is, for now, the only model for which Rivian is providing specific details. It will, says the company’s spec sheet, weigh 2,670 kilograms (5,886 pounds). Now, it’s impossible to know how exact these specifications are. Rivian’s own director of communications, Michael McHale, says that the numbers are mere “guidelines.” But a fairly educated guess would be that, of those 2,670 kilograms of unladen weight, its 135 kWh of lithium ion accounts for about900 kg. That, thanks to my trusty calculator, leaves some1,770kg of full-sized truck. Applying the same calculus for a typical gas-powered pickup, like a Ford F-150 SuperCab4x4,gives you about 1,950 kilograms of engine-less truck (arrived by assigning 250 kg for the Ford’s twin-turbo V6, but not deducting the weight of the transmission to account for the Rivian’s four electric motors). That makes the R1T almost 200 kilograms lighter than what you’ll remember is Ford’s newly lightened aluminum-bodied truck. Doing the same numbers for the Ram 1500 or Chevy’s Silverado just widens the gap. In other words, unless the Rivian’s frame is made of carbon fibre, McHale’s “guidelines” may indeed be fluid. More importantly, the point of all this geeky guesswork is thatthe top-of-the-line, big-battery version is probably going to weigh over 3,000 kilograms. Meanwhile, some really basic math (for which I don’t need a calculator) reveals that its 180kWh and 400-mile combination work out to 45 kWh depleted every 100 miles driven.While hardly spectacular — a 2017 Chevy Bolt needs only about 28 kWh — it isabout the same as Audi’s new e-tron and just a little worse than a Tesla’s Model X 100D, both of which will weigh at least 500 kg —possibly even 700 — less than the topline R1T. In other words, right out of the gate, for Rivian’s proposed numbers to work the company’s engineers would already have to be slightly ahead of Tesla, the industry leader in electric powertrain efficiency, and way in front of Audi, that paragon of German automobile engineering. It might also be worth mentioning that, at current prices, the batteries for this long-range pickup will cost somewhere in the region of US$35,000. This is, for those looking for some context, about $7,000 more than a base Ford F-150. Yes, for the entire truck. As Motor Mouth has noted, there’s a growing market for upscale pickups, but at almost $90,000 Canadian for the base truck — the 105 kWh model is supposed to start at US$69,000 when it goes into production in about 18 months — that would make the 180 kWh Rivian a $100,000+ pickup here in Canada. Even at US$125 per kWh — the consensus basement of lithium ion’s economies-of-scale pricing — that’s US$22,500 for the batteries alone, not far off the US$24,300 Ford is asking for its all-new Ranger, which thanks to its fuel-sipping 2.3-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, also ekes out about the same 400 miles from a tankful. Oh, and by the way, by the time you factor in the weight of that giant battery, the compact Ranger’s payload will probably dwarf the long-range R1T’s cargo-carrying capacity. What makes the cargo-carrying ability even more interesting is that Rivian has also applied for a patent for a “removable auxiliary” battery that would extend range even farther. Though Rivian doesn’t specify how big this battery would be — the patent applications mentions a boost of anywhere from 10 to 20 kWh — it does say that said battery, which fits into the cargo bed like a bolt-in tool box, “may weigh several hundred pounds or more.” Both cargo and payload capacity, one assumes, would be
Origin: Motor Mouth: The Rivian paradox raises a few questions
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