Arrival’s Electric Delivery Vans
The delivery industry is evolving in order to keep up with the rise of home delivery. Arrival, a startup company in the process of building electric delivery vans, plans to add new vehicles to the roads in the next few years. The company plans to offer vehicles with different battery capacities, but the current model maxes out at 200 miles of range. Arrival’s vehicles are expected to carry 500 cubic feet of packages and up to two tons. In order to be competitive with the direction towards automation, Arrival is designing its vehicles to accommodate autonomous systems which will allow for a smooth transition once autonomous driving is more widely used. In the meantime, the vehicle’s Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) will increase safety and operating efficiencies.
Arrival has recently captured the interest of big corporations. Hyundai and Kia announced that they are investing around $110 million in Arrival and will jointly develop vehicles with them. UPS has been a partner of Arrival since 2016 and has both invested and ordered 10,000 of Arrival’s electric delivery vans. UPS was motivated to purchase these vehicles because of its efforts to cut emissions and delivery costs, both of which Arrival contends its vehicles will do. UPS plans to begin using some of these vehicles later this year.
The Arrival vans along with UPS’s Waymo project “will help us continue to push the envelope on technology and new delivery models that can complement the way our drivers work,” said Juan Perez, chief information and engineering officer at UPS.
Arrival sets itself apart from other electric delivery vehicle companies in a few ways. One is its plan to establish “microfactories” that take up 10,000 square meters and make around 10,000 vehicles a year for nearby customers. The use of microfactories instead of a large plant will significantly cut the costs of manufacturing. Another unique aspect of Arrival is its modular approach to production in which the vehicle’s weight, type, size, and shape can be customized according to the purchaser’s preference.
The environmental aspect of using electric vehicles over gas or diesel vehicles is a major component that will contribute to Arrival’s current and expected success. A report by the World Economic Forum revealed that deliveries will increase carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 unless there is effective intervention. One of the intervention options that will have the greatest impact on reducing CO2 emissions is switching to battery electric vehicles. According to the report, battery electric vehicles can reduce CO2 emissions by 16%. UPS currently has about 123,000 delivery vehicles in its fleet. If all goes well with the electrical vehicles it purchased then the vehicles currently in UPS’s use might be phased out which is the sort of intervention our environment needs.
“As mega-trends like population growth, urban migration, and e-commerce continue to accelerate, we recognize the need to work with partners around the world to solve both road congestion and pollution challenges for our customers and the communities we serve. Electric vehicles form a cornerstone to our sustainable urban delivery strategies. Taking an active investment role in Arrival enables UPS to collaborate on the design and production of the world’s most advanced electric delivery vehicles.”
Juan Perez of UPS