Rivian’s electric van is now available to be purchased by anyone with a commercial fleet, the automaker said today.
For several years, Rivian’s van was exclusive to Amazon. Now, the platform on which the e-commerce giant based its delivery van is open to anyone with a fleet of commercial vehicles and some money to burn.
Amazon agreed to buy 1000,000 Rivian vans in 2019 as part of a blockbuster deal that would also include a $1 billion investment into the startup. Under the terms of the agreement, Rivian would sell its vans exclusively to Amazon.
But that partnership ended prematurely in November 2023, with Amazon only acquiring around 20,000 vans from Rivian — or about 20 percent of the original commitment. Amazon remains Rivian’s largest shareholder, with an estimated 17 percent stake in the company.
Rivian says it will sell anywhere from a single van to thousands to individual buyers, depending on their needs. However, the vans can’t be for personal use (sorry #vanlifers) and must be registered as part of a business. The vans come in two sizes and two prices: the RCV 500 starts at $79,900, while the RCV 700 starts at $83,900.
Rivian says it has spent the time since the end of its exclusivity deal with Amazon trialing the van in some larger fleets (like AT&T’s), while also building out a service and software business for its future van customers.
“Over the last year we have been focusing our efforts on testing with some larger fleets, and we’re really pleased with how those trials have gone,” said Tom Solomon, senior director of business development at Rivian, in a statement. “As a result, we’re excited to now be able to open sales to fleets of all sizes in the US, whether they want 1 van or thousands.”
The electric van market has been volatile. General Motors spun off and then reabsorbed BrightDrop, its electric commercial vehicle business, after deciding the market was too fragile for BrightDrop to stand on its own. Ford has seen some success with its E-Transit vans, selling 12,610 of them in 2024, which was a 64 percent increase from 2023. And Mercedes-Benz revealed its eSprinter van in 2023, with deliveries expected to begin later this year.
Being able to sell its electric vans to a wider pool of customers could be good for Rivian’s financial situation, which has been relatively shaky over the past few years. The vans have better profit margins than the company’s R1T and R1S vehicles. And Rivian can also sell subscriptions to the various software features within the van, boosting its long-term value overall.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
