14 ms·

Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

90 points by reallydontask 7y ago

AtlasBarfed 7y ago
... Aren't all the Teslas skateboard design? Isn't the skateboard design the basic EV design since the EV prototypes from the 90s? This seems basically like a Rivian press release reprinted.
- taneq 7y ago
  I remember reading in popular Mechanics about a skateboard design from GM back when the EV1 was new.
  - nimish 7y ago
    Gm invented the skateboard design but never did anything with it. Tesla uses it but it's proprietary. Rivian's shtick is that they are willing to license it and build it for others. That's a big reason why Ford invested: they can immediately get access to a leading edge ev platform without spending any time on it.
    - DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
      Wasn't that part of Tesla's business-model between the Roadster and Model S? In 2010 they engineered the Toyota RAV4 EV ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV ). I'm curious how many other companies approached Tesla to seek partnerships building other EVs...
      - greglindahl 7y ago
        Tesla also supplied a drivetrain and battery pack for a B series car from Mercedes. At this point all of the big carmakers consider Tesla a competitor and EVs too important to outsource.
        AtlasBarfed 7y ago
        So they buy the big two components, motors and batteries, from other people rather than Tesla's (it would seem) superior ones. There is so much EV plans of actions in companies seem to almost only be for mollifying activist investors livid that their particular company has been asleep at the wheel for 20 years of Tesla's rise. Otherwise someone would be partnering. No one wants to admit they suck at engineering though.
  - Animats 7y ago
    Oh, the GM "Autonomy" prototype, 2002.[1] They took that too far; you could swap bodies on the car in a few minutes. Many cars are built on platforms shared between multiple body styles. GM was notorious for this. There were far fewer platforms than models. [1] http://www.adrianchernoff.com/project/autonomy/ http://www.adrianchernoff.com/project/autonomy/
    - taneq 7y ago
      That's the one!
- jcims 7y ago
  Yeah I think the innovation here is in the business model, not the engineering. I really do like the four motor design on the Rivian platform though. It opens up a lot of possibilities for improved performance/handling/safety and off-road capability. The 'tank turn' demo is kind of a gimmick but also not - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwM8KE2L3I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwM8KE2L3I Edit: Add mecanum wheels and you could strafe (at least until they fell apart): https://youtu.be/snbiKkxPgig https://youtu.be/snbiKkxPgig
  - gpm 7y ago
    Would the "tank turn" work on asphalt? Or would that be too much friction for the tires?
    - jcims 7y ago
      I would guess each motor has more than enough torque to spin the wheel so probably, but it would be way faster and a rough ride unless they were exquisitely balanced.
    - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      Skid steers turn just fine on asphalt. As long as the rest of the components can take it it will work fine (or as fine as it can given the wheelbase and track width of the vehicle doing it). I wouldn't bet on a typical consumer vehicle that makes it to production being able to take it long term. Adding enough extra beef to the drive-line to do that almost certainly fails the cost/benefit analysis.
    - x3haloed 7y ago
      It might work, but Rivian has said that it should not be used on asphalt due to tire damage and maybe damage to other vehicle components.
    - clouddrover 7y ago
      Yes. Here's an example in a Schaeffler 4ePerformance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeXZs_XAmME&t=720 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeXZs_XAmME&t=720
xenospn 7y ago
I think most hype over EVs is a direct result of the Tesla stock price and people upset they missed their chance to buy it when it was $20. Probably nothing to do with Rivian or their tech - they just want "the next Tesla".
- CharlesW 7y ago
  By "over EVs", did you mean "over EV companies other than Tesla"? Because I'd strongly disagree that EVs are over-hyped.
  - xenospn 7y ago
    Yes.
- perardi 7y ago
  (Mild conflict of interest: I'm originally from Central Illinois, Rivian took over the old Mitsubishi plant where my dad worked, so I'm keen to see manufacturing stay around there.) I think the future earnings potential is the "platform". Which sounds like marketing hype, but I'm not so sure. The US is, at least under the current administration, not going to push for EVs, but the rest of the world is trending in that direction, especially after it was revealed that basically everyone was cheating on diesel emissions. Rivian's pitch is that they have a modular flexible platform that's tuned for boring-but-essential utility vehicles. Tesla sells consumer sex, Rivian is selling white van man utility ahead of big, big pressures to lower fleet CO2 emissions. Seems like a reasonable business model to me.
  - Gibbon1 7y ago
    It's not just lowering fleet emissions, it's also while consumers are stupidly fixated on price commercial looks at TCO. EV's TCO is lower. There is also something I learned about golf carts. For consumers being able to gas up a car is a convenience. For fleet operators having to deal with fuel is a pain in the ass they do not want.
    - 7y ago
thdrdt 7y ago
The Rivian is a truck you need, the Tesla is a truck you want. And the Revian will be road legal in Europe.
- loceng 7y ago
  Tesla could relatively rapidly release a comparable competitor if it becomes obvious they are losing a large market share for certain segment.
  - cowsandmilk 7y ago
    I don’t see evidence for that. Tesla has yet to ship a vehicle that didn’t run into production delays.
    - qaq 7y ago
      Rivian has yet to ship a vehicle period.
      - loceng 7y ago
        Likewise Tesla is shipping vehicles from their China factory and Berlin factory construction is beginning.
  - threeseed 7y ago
    Model Y is basically a clone of the Model 3 and it's still not out. You simply can't rapidly make a new car. Years at minimum.
    - loceng 7y ago
      Hence saying "relatively rapidly" - meanwhile other manufacturers are nowhere near creating a vehicle to compete with any Tesla vehicle; if wondering why they're 5+ years ahead of competitors in a dense overview, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEELWPV8Yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEELWPV8Yc
jakelazaroff 7y ago
> On Monday, Rivian announced it had raised $1.3 billion in its fourth funding round of the year, led by T. Rowe Price, bringing its total for 2019 to nearly $2.9 billion. > Rivian has been quietly developing vehicles for a decade, but it seized the industry’s attention in late 2018, when it unveiled a pair of eye-catching, high-end electric trucks. Rivian raised $2.9 billion over four funding rounds in the span of one year? And it's been around for a full decade without ever releasing a product? Does this not set off alarm bells?
- KaoruAoiShiho 7y ago
  What's strange about this? When it doesn't have anything to show investors shy away. Prove its chops with some impressive prototypes and investors rush in.
  - unlinked_dll 7y ago
    The strange thing is running a business for a decade without bringing a product to market. Prototypes be damned, they aren’t revenue.
    - jfim 7y ago
      It's manufacturing, not software. While one can produce one million copies of a binary for cheap and no lead time, producing one million physical objects requires setting up production lines, quality control checks, rework stations, warehousing, supply chains and controls, and so on.
      - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
        Yes, but before you produce one million physical objects it's good to do a test run with one to see how strong the market demand is. It's not a foregone conclusion that their product will sell at high enough margins and quantity to be successful. You don't automate something before you validate it. Even Tesla made this mistake - they tried to automate their assembly line before they had the assembly line figured out. It's one of the few things Elon Musk did that he later admitted was stupid on his part. Tesla didn't start with a mass-market vehicle. They started with an extremely high margin, low volume sports car. They then transitioned to a not-quite-as-high margin, not-quite-as-low volume luxury car. They are currently trying to make moderate margin, high volume sedans with the Model 3, but it's uncertain they can currently sell those profitably.
tartrate 7y ago
I noticed that some of Rivian's promotion videos are CGI, and they are currently hiring even more CGI artists. Just look it up if you're doubtful.
oiasdjfoiasd 7y ago
Vaporware. TSLA all the way.
hansdieter1337 7y ago
Sounds familiar to NIO. They raised a total of $4.1B. This whole electric hype is interesting to me. Why is it better for the environment? In the end you drive around with however the power from the grid was produced. Even in California that’s only one third renewables. Most is natural gas and nuclear. So, your electric car is driving around with natural gas with an efficiency way worse than petroleum. Besides, disposing the batteries is an issue. Also, the required rare earths might become an issue (especially because China kind of owns the market).
- cududa 7y ago
  See the first chart on this page. https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/electric-vehicles https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/electric-vehicles
DenisM 7y ago
While a 4-motor design allows this really cool tank-turn trick, it also prevents torque transfer between wheels / axes. Some "pedestrian" SUVs today allow transferring up to 70% of all available torque to any single wheel if situation demands. A 4-motor design is limited to 25%.
- pa7ch 7y ago
  When you have a truck with 700hp and 800 ft lbs torque, you are only using all that power in good traction situations. I don't think you'll need more then 25% power per wheel with traction in slippery situations. Also, in bad traction situations open diffs have the issue of transferring all the power to the wheel without grip and much engineering is put into solving this on off road vehicles. A 4 motor electric car solves this while being mechanically much simpler and likely lighter.
- flipflipper 7y ago
  I believe that most BEVs are limited by the power the battery can output safely, not by the motor's individual power rating. I could imagine an EV with a 400hp battery + a 400hp motor at each wheel allowing for 100% of the power to be used at one wheel, where in 4x4 mode each motor would be seeing 25% at max power. I'm not sure exactly how much of a premium you would pay for that but motors are cheap compared to batteries.
abledon 7y ago
Bonus: They get free marketing with the success of Netflix's The Witcher
cavisne 7y ago
When Tesla did a platform deal in 2010 for the RAV4 they had at least sold a car to customers. Why would Ford license a drivetrain from a company thats never shipped a car when they already have a drivetrain licensing deal with VW (who have at least sold EV’s). I predict Rivian will use the deal with Amazon and Ford as an excuse to “pivot” from shipping any cars to customers, and it’ll be another decade of prototypes and vague licensing deals that dont generate any revenue.
kjeetgill 7y ago
Since this is pulling all the EV experts out of the woodwork, do people have thoughts on Bollinger Motors' trucks? I don't follow news on thr subject but they look cool as hell. https://bollingermotors.com/bollinger-b1/ https://bollingermotors.com/bollinger-b1/
- shiftpgdn 7y ago
  Bollinger is dodging all the safety regulations a normal car manufacturer would have to deal with by classifying their vehicle as a commercial light duty truck. It's cool but I think the company is doomed.
  - kjeetgill 7y ago
    Huh, I didn't find anything about that from a quick Google. What kind of regulations does that allow them to skirt?
    - shiftpgdn 7y ago
      This is a very wide generalization but effectively no crash testing or safety equipment.
leesec 7y ago
Lol this company is so obviously going to fail and people are still throwing money at it.
shrubble 7y ago
Surprised that no one has yet mentioned the US Postal Service and their fleet of 30+ year old LLV vehicles. Surely someone is trying to convince the USPS to upgrade to an EV based solution? There are 140,000 plus LLVs out there. The last one was made in 1994.
- nealabq 7y ago
  Grumman LLV is the name for those white US-Mail trucks with the steering wheel on the wrong side. I didn't know that until now. Thanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_LLV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_LLV
- notatoad 7y ago
  The USPS was supposed to announce their next gen delivery vehicle (NGDV) this fall, but the decision is pushed back to 2020. There's a small American EV company called Workhorse among the four contenders for the contract. DHL was also trialing some Workhorse EVs recently, I'm not sure how that ended up. https://www.trucks.com/2019/09/03/postal-service-delays-new-mail-truck-contract/ https://www.trucks.com/2019/09/03/postal-service-delays-new-...
- kwhitefoot 7y ago
  Or Deutsche Post: https://www.dpdhl.com/en/media-relations/specials/electro-mobility.html https://www.dpdhl.com/en/media-relations/specials/electro-mo... Quote: ===== Electro mobility Thanks to an array of StreetScooter vehicles, developed and manufactured inhouse, and some 12,000 e-bikes and e-trikes, Deutsche Post DHL Group today operates the largest electric fleet in Germany. For the good of the environment and its customers, the company plans to replace its entire mail and parcel delivery fleet in the mid-term with electric vehicles that are charged with electricity generated from renewable energy sources. ==== Se also https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-post-dhl-makes-its-own-electric-delivery-vans/a-19332124 https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-post-dhl-makes-its-own-electr...
crca 7y ago
I’ve never owned a truck before, mainly for economic/environmental reasons, but I am extremely interested in an electric truck. I’ve decided to order the Cybertruck over the Rivian, primarily for 2 reasons: 1) Tesla has a massive charging network that is expanding rapidly 2) The Rivian starts $30k+ higher than the Cybertruck
fnord77 7y ago
holy dilution. those poor option-holders.
williesleg 7y ago
The Tesla Cybertruck instantly obsoleted anything Rivian can produce in the next 10+ years. Elon is a genius.
woodandsteel 7y ago
I'm a huge Tesla fan, but it looks like Rivian has made some very smart moves, and I hope it's a massive success. Why do I say that? Because to save the climate we need to move off of fossil fuel vehicles as fast as possible, and that can happen only if there are lots of car companies all doing it at once. Now the problem is so many big car companies don't have their ev programs very well developed, so it is great there is a pure ev company that is licensing its well-developed technology out to them so they can get up to speed years sooner.

90 points by reallydontask 7y ago

... Aren't all the Teslas skateboard design? Isn't the skateboard design the basic EV design since the EV prototypes from the 90s? This seems basically like a Rivian press release reprinted.

taneq 7y ago
I remember reading in popular Mechanics about a skateboard design from GM back when the EV1 was new.
- nimish 7y ago
  Gm invented the skateboard design but never did anything with it. Tesla uses it but it's proprietary. Rivian's shtick is that they are willing to license it and build it for others. That's a big reason why Ford invested: they can immediately get access to a leading edge ev platform without spending any time on it.
  - DaiPlusPlus 7y ago
    Wasn't that part of Tesla's business-model between the Roadster and Model S? In 2010 they engineered the Toyota RAV4 EV ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_RAV4_EV ). I'm curious how many other companies approached Tesla to seek partnerships building other EVs...
    - greglindahl 7y ago
      Tesla also supplied a drivetrain and battery pack for a B series car from Mercedes. At this point all of the big carmakers consider Tesla a competitor and EVs too important to outsource.
      - AtlasBarfed 7y ago
        So they buy the big two components, motors and batteries, from other people rather than Tesla's (it would seem) superior ones. There is so much EV plans of actions in companies seem to almost only be for mollifying activist investors livid that their particular company has been asleep at the wheel for 20 years of Tesla's rise. Otherwise someone would be partnering. No one wants to admit they suck at engineering though.
- Animats 7y ago
  Oh, the GM "Autonomy" prototype, 2002.[1] They took that too far; you could swap bodies on the car in a few minutes. Many cars are built on platforms shared between multiple body styles. GM was notorious for this. There were far fewer platforms than models. [1] http://www.adrianchernoff.com/project/autonomy/ http://www.adrianchernoff.com/project/autonomy/
  - taneq 7y ago
    That's the one!
jcims 7y ago
Yeah I think the innovation here is in the business model, not the engineering. I really do like the four motor design on the Rivian platform though. It opens up a lot of possibilities for improved performance/handling/safety and off-road capability. The 'tank turn' demo is kind of a gimmick but also not - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwM8KE2L3I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwM8KE2L3I Edit: Add mecanum wheels and you could strafe (at least until they fell apart): https://youtu.be/snbiKkxPgig https://youtu.be/snbiKkxPgig
- gpm 7y ago
  Would the "tank turn" work on asphalt? Or would that be too much friction for the tires?
  - jcims 7y ago
    I would guess each motor has more than enough torque to spin the wheel so probably, but it would be way faster and a rough ride unless they were exquisitely balanced.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    Skid steers turn just fine on asphalt. As long as the rest of the components can take it it will work fine (or as fine as it can given the wheelbase and track width of the vehicle doing it). I wouldn't bet on a typical consumer vehicle that makes it to production being able to take it long term. Adding enough extra beef to the drive-line to do that almost certainly fails the cost/benefit analysis.
  - x3haloed 7y ago
    It might work, but Rivian has said that it should not be used on asphalt due to tire damage and maybe damage to other vehicle components.
  - clouddrover 7y ago
    Yes. Here's an example in a Schaeffler 4ePerformance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeXZs_XAmME&t=720 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeXZs_XAmME&t=720

xenospn 7y ago

I think most hype over EVs is a direct result of the Tesla stock price and people upset they missed their chance to buy it when it was $20. Probably nothing to do with Rivian or their tech - they just want "the next Tesla".

CharlesW 7y ago
By "over EVs", did you mean "over EV companies other than Tesla"? Because I'd strongly disagree that EVs are over-hyped.
- xenospn 7y ago
  Yes.
perardi 7y ago
(Mild conflict of interest: I'm originally from Central Illinois, Rivian took over the old Mitsubishi plant where my dad worked, so I'm keen to see manufacturing stay around there.) I think the future earnings potential is the "platform". Which sounds like marketing hype, but I'm not so sure. The US is, at least under the current administration, not going to push for EVs, but the rest of the world is trending in that direction, especially after it was revealed that basically everyone was cheating on diesel emissions. Rivian's pitch is that they have a modular flexible platform that's tuned for boring-but-essential utility vehicles. Tesla sells consumer sex, Rivian is selling white van man utility ahead of big, big pressures to lower fleet CO2 emissions. Seems like a reasonable business model to me.
- Gibbon1 7y ago
  It's not just lowering fleet emissions, it's also while consumers are stupidly fixated on price commercial looks at TCO. EV's TCO is lower. There is also something I learned about golf carts. For consumers being able to gas up a car is a convenience. For fleet operators having to deal with fuel is a pain in the ass they do not want.
  - 7y ago

thdrdt 7y ago

The Rivian is a truck you need, the Tesla is a truck you want. And the Revian will be road legal in Europe.

loceng 7y ago
Tesla could relatively rapidly release a comparable competitor if it becomes obvious they are losing a large market share for certain segment.
- cowsandmilk 7y ago
  I don’t see evidence for that. Tesla has yet to ship a vehicle that didn’t run into production delays.
  - qaq 7y ago
    Rivian has yet to ship a vehicle period.
    - loceng 7y ago
      Likewise Tesla is shipping vehicles from their China factory and Berlin factory construction is beginning.
- threeseed 7y ago
  Model Y is basically a clone of the Model 3 and it's still not out. You simply can't rapidly make a new car. Years at minimum.
  - loceng 7y ago
    Hence saying "relatively rapidly" - meanwhile other manufacturers are nowhere near creating a vehicle to compete with any Tesla vehicle; if wondering why they're 5+ years ahead of competitors in a dense overview, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEELWPV8Yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEELWPV8Yc

jakelazaroff 7y ago

> On Monday, Rivian announced it had raised $1.3 billion in its fourth funding round of the year, led by T. Rowe Price, bringing its total for 2019 to nearly $2.9 billion. > Rivian has been quietly developing vehicles for a decade, but it seized the industry’s attention in late 2018, when it unveiled a pair of eye-catching, high-end electric trucks. Rivian raised $2.9 billion over four funding rounds in the span of one year? And it's been around for a full decade without ever releasing a product? Does this not set off alarm bells?

KaoruAoiShiho 7y ago
What's strange about this? When it doesn't have anything to show investors shy away. Prove its chops with some impressive prototypes and investors rush in.
- unlinked_dll 7y ago
  The strange thing is running a business for a decade without bringing a product to market. Prototypes be damned, they aren’t revenue.
  - jfim 7y ago
    It's manufacturing, not software. While one can produce one million copies of a binary for cheap and no lead time, producing one million physical objects requires setting up production lines, quality control checks, rework stations, warehousing, supply chains and controls, and so on.
    - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
      Yes, but before you produce one million physical objects it's good to do a test run with one to see how strong the market demand is. It's not a foregone conclusion that their product will sell at high enough margins and quantity to be successful. You don't automate something before you validate it. Even Tesla made this mistake - they tried to automate their assembly line before they had the assembly line figured out. It's one of the few things Elon Musk did that he later admitted was stupid on his part. Tesla didn't start with a mass-market vehicle. They started with an extremely high margin, low volume sports car. They then transitioned to a not-quite-as-high margin, not-quite-as-low volume luxury car. They are currently trying to make moderate margin, high volume sedans with the Model 3, but it's uncertain they can currently sell those profitably.

tartrate 7y ago

I noticed that some of Rivian's promotion videos are CGI, and they are currently hiring even more CGI artists. Just look it up if you're doubtful.

oiasdjfoiasd 7y ago

Vaporware. TSLA all the way.

hansdieter1337 7y ago

Sounds familiar to NIO. They raised a total of $4.1B. This whole electric hype is interesting to me. Why is it better for the environment? In the end you drive around with however the power from the grid was produced. Even in California that’s only one third renewables. Most is natural gas and nuclear. So, your electric car is driving around with natural gas with an efficiency way worse than petroleum. Besides, disposing the batteries is an issue. Also, the required rare earths might become an issue (especially because China kind of owns the market).

cududa 7y ago
See the first chart on this page. https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/electric-vehicles https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air/electric-vehicles

DenisM 7y ago

While a 4-motor design allows this really cool tank-turn trick, it also prevents torque transfer between wheels / axes. Some "pedestrian" SUVs today allow transferring up to 70% of all available torque to any single wheel if situation demands. A 4-motor design is limited to 25%.

pa7ch 7y ago
When you have a truck with 700hp and 800 ft lbs torque, you are only using all that power in good traction situations. I don't think you'll need more then 25% power per wheel with traction in slippery situations. Also, in bad traction situations open diffs have the issue of transferring all the power to the wheel without grip and much engineering is put into solving this on off road vehicles. A 4 motor electric car solves this while being mechanically much simpler and likely lighter.
flipflipper 7y ago
I believe that most BEVs are limited by the power the battery can output safely, not by the motor's individual power rating. I could imagine an EV with a 400hp battery + a 400hp motor at each wheel allowing for 100% of the power to be used at one wheel, where in 4x4 mode each motor would be seeing 25% at max power. I'm not sure exactly how much of a premium you would pay for that but motors are cheap compared to batteries.

abledon 7y ago

Bonus: They get free marketing with the success of Netflix's The Witcher

cavisne 7y ago

When Tesla did a platform deal in 2010 for the RAV4 they had at least sold a car to customers. Why would Ford license a drivetrain from a company thats never shipped a car when they already have a drivetrain licensing deal with VW (who have at least sold EV’s). I predict Rivian will use the deal with Amazon and Ford as an excuse to “pivot” from shipping any cars to customers, and it’ll be another decade of prototypes and vague licensing deals that dont generate any revenue.

kjeetgill 7y ago

Since this is pulling all the EV experts out of the woodwork, do people have thoughts on Bollinger Motors' trucks? I don't follow news on thr subject but they look cool as hell. https://bollingermotors.com/bollinger-b1/ https://bollingermotors.com/bollinger-b1/

shiftpgdn 7y ago
Bollinger is dodging all the safety regulations a normal car manufacturer would have to deal with by classifying their vehicle as a commercial light duty truck. It's cool but I think the company is doomed.
- kjeetgill 7y ago
  Huh, I didn't find anything about that from a quick Google. What kind of regulations does that allow them to skirt?
  - shiftpgdn 7y ago
    This is a very wide generalization but effectively no crash testing or safety equipment.

leesec 7y ago

Lol this company is so obviously going to fail and people are still throwing money at it.

shrubble 7y ago

Surprised that no one has yet mentioned the US Postal Service and their fleet of 30+ year old LLV vehicles. Surely someone is trying to convince the USPS to upgrade to an EV based solution? There are 140,000 plus LLVs out there. The last one was made in 1994.

nealabq 7y ago
Grumman LLV is the name for those white US-Mail trucks with the steering wheel on the wrong side. I didn't know that until now. Thanks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_LLV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_LLV
notatoad 7y ago
The USPS was supposed to announce their next gen delivery vehicle (NGDV) this fall, but the decision is pushed back to 2020. There's a small American EV company called Workhorse among the four contenders for the contract. DHL was also trialing some Workhorse EVs recently, I'm not sure how that ended up. https://www.trucks.com/2019/09/03/postal-service-delays-new-mail-truck-contract/ https://www.trucks.com/2019/09/03/postal-service-delays-new-...
kwhitefoot 7y ago
Or Deutsche Post: https://www.dpdhl.com/en/media-relations/specials/electro-mobility.html https://www.dpdhl.com/en/media-relations/specials/electro-mo... Quote: ===== Electro mobility Thanks to an array of StreetScooter vehicles, developed and manufactured inhouse, and some 12,000 e-bikes and e-trikes, Deutsche Post DHL Group today operates the largest electric fleet in Germany. For the good of the environment and its customers, the company plans to replace its entire mail and parcel delivery fleet in the mid-term with electric vehicles that are charged with electricity generated from renewable energy sources. ==== Se also https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-post-dhl-makes-its-own-electric-delivery-vans/a-19332124 https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-post-dhl-makes-its-own-electr...

crca 7y ago

I’ve never owned a truck before, mainly for economic/environmental reasons, but I am extremely interested in an electric truck. I’ve decided to order the Cybertruck over the Rivian, primarily for 2 reasons: 1) Tesla has a massive charging network that is expanding rapidly 2) The Rivian starts $30k+ higher than the Cybertruck

fnord77 7y ago

holy dilution. those poor option-holders.

williesleg 7y ago

The Tesla Cybertruck instantly obsoleted anything Rivian can produce in the next 10+ years. Elon is a genius.

woodandsteel 7y ago

I'm a huge Tesla fan, but it looks like Rivian has made some very smart moves, and I hope it's a massive success. Why do I say that? Because to save the climate we need to move off of fossil fuel vehicles as fast as possible, and that can happen only if there are lots of car companies all doing it at once. Now the problem is so many big car companies don't have their ev programs very well developed, so it is great there is a pure ev company that is licensing its well-developed technology out to them so they can get up to speed years sooner.