4 ms·

Amazon led a USD 700 000 000 investment round in Rivian last February. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/02/electric-truck-startup-announces-700-million-funding

by jt2190 7y ago

Amazon led a USD 700 000 000 investment round in Rivian last February. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/02/electric-truck-startup-announces-700-million-funding-round-led-by-amazon/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/02/electric-truck-startup-... (Edit: change amount from thousands to millions)

excursionist 7y ago
700M not 700K
csours 7y ago
So 700 000 000/100 000 would be 7 000 - So an initial investment of 7 000 per vehicle they want to buy. Now if they buy 100 000 vehicles at a rate of $100 000 each (pretty reasonable for industrial vehicles), that is 10 000 000 000 (10 Billion dollars). If it's $50k each, that will be $5B. $5-10 Billion in sales ain't too shabby.
- mcintyre1994 7y ago
  > Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Amazon and General Motors were both expected to invest in Rivian, "in a deal that would value the US electric pickup truck manufacturer at between $1 billion and $2 billion." Assuming that valuation is vaguely accurate they must own a pretty decent chunk of the company too.
  - csours 7y ago
    GM wound up not investing, but Ford did invest. Disclaimer: I work for GM, I have no knowledge of this deal, any opinions are my own.
- dao- 7y ago
  > Now if they buy 100 000 vehicles at a rate of $100 000 each (pretty reasonable for industrial vehicles), Ahem, electric delivery trucks built by a DHL subsidiary (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter) are selling for much less.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    Where are you seeing prices? From what I can tell from that article, StreetScooter mostly produces for internal use by their parent company.
    - dao- 7y ago
      Check their website, they sell to anyone willing to place a large enough order (it seems that the exact price is subject to negotiation). Let's step back for a moment. DHL is replacing Volkswagen Caddy delivery trucks. The 100,000$ estimate is entirely off for this kind of delivery truck that I think is comparable to what Amazon needs.
      - icebraining 7y ago
        So StreetScooter seems to be selling a van with a 40kWh battery for about $50000. Rivian is talking about building vehicles with batteries between 105-180kWh. That alone will raise the price quite a bit. Maybe it's overkill for a delivery van, but it's also very possible that Amazon has a need for longer trips than the DHL.
        tssva 7y ago
        The StreetScooter has a range of 31 - 50 miles. This may be enough range for an urban delivery route but not near enough for the large number of suburban or rural delivery routes in the US. In comparison Rivian currently claiming a 410 miles range for their pickup truck. I don't expect the vans to get that range but 250 - 300 is probably reasonable to expect.
- jansan 7y ago
  Maybe you are totally mixing up revenue and profit.
  - jessaustin 7y ago
    Profit? If there's one thing Amazon isn't concerned about...

by jt2190 7y ago

excursionist 7y ago

700M not 700K

csours 7y ago

So 700 000 000/100 000 would be 7 000 - So an initial investment of 7 000 per vehicle they want to buy. Now if they buy 100 000 vehicles at a rate of $100 000 each (pretty reasonable for industrial vehicles), that is 10 000 000 000 (10 Billion dollars). If it's $50k each, that will be $5B. $5-10 Billion in sales ain't too shabby.

mcintyre1994 7y ago
> Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Amazon and General Motors were both expected to invest in Rivian, "in a deal that would value the US electric pickup truck manufacturer at between $1 billion and $2 billion." Assuming that valuation is vaguely accurate they must own a pretty decent chunk of the company too.
- csours 7y ago
  GM wound up not investing, but Ford did invest. Disclaimer: I work for GM, I have no knowledge of this deal, any opinions are my own.
dao- 7y ago
> Now if they buy 100 000 vehicles at a rate of $100 000 each (pretty reasonable for industrial vehicles), Ahem, electric delivery trucks built by a DHL subsidiary (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StreetScooter) are selling for much less.
- icebraining 7y ago
  Where are you seeing prices? From what I can tell from that article, StreetScooter mostly produces for internal use by their parent company.
  - dao- 7y ago
    Check their website, they sell to anyone willing to place a large enough order (it seems that the exact price is subject to negotiation). Let's step back for a moment. DHL is replacing Volkswagen Caddy delivery trucks. The 100,000$ estimate is entirely off for this kind of delivery truck that I think is comparable to what Amazon needs.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      So StreetScooter seems to be selling a van with a 40kWh battery for about $50000. Rivian is talking about building vehicles with batteries between 105-180kWh. That alone will raise the price quite a bit. Maybe it's overkill for a delivery van, but it's also very possible that Amazon has a need for longer trips than the DHL.
      - tssva 7y ago
        The StreetScooter has a range of 31 - 50 miles. This may be enough range for an urban delivery route but not near enough for the large number of suburban or rural delivery routes in the US. In comparison Rivian currently claiming a 410 miles range for their pickup truck. I don't expect the vans to get that range but 250 - 300 is probably reasonable to expect.
jansan 7y ago
Maybe you are totally mixing up revenue and profit.
- jessaustin 7y ago
  Profit? If there's one thing Amazon isn't concerned about...