Rivian EDV Electric Delivery Van Outsells Ford E-Transit in 2024

[Donald Stanfield]

Very strong points well said. I definitely agree on the benefits you mentioned these vehicles offer Amazon. They have people working there much smarter than you and me so I’m sure they wouldn’t aimlessly throw money away on an EV endeavor such as this one now would they? ?

Thanks for the compliment. My job is to make these sorts of decisions, not for Amazon, and I’ve sat on a few advisory boards over the years. Where to spend money is not necessarily a matter of intelligence as much as memorization and understanding that everything a business does needs to be related to the ultimate goal of making money if you want to be successful.

Once you understand how to figure out costs associated with expenses you can use that same arithmetic to project costs of alternatives. You won’t always make perfect projections but if the numbers work on paper there’s a good chance you’re right.

It’s also worth noting that Amazon hasn’t delayed or passed over ordering EDVs as some in this thread have suggested. All Amazon did is use the entire 10 year period to take delivery which could have more to do with accounting practices than anything else. You spread out expenditures and take depreciation on a set schedule to lower your tax burden as much as possible. These are decisions that aren’t reflective at all of Rivian or how good the EDV is.

The reason Rivian tried to get Amazon to take delivery of all their capacity at once is for leverage to get out of the exclusivity portion of the contract. Rivian was able to do this and now they are selling EDVs via fleet sales.

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[RedRaiderRivian]

Rivian was able to do this and now they are selling EDVs via fleet sales.

Has anyone seen any reporting of how many EDVs have been sold to a company other than Amazon?

 

[Erik+]

Has anyone seen any reporting of how many EDVs have been sold to a company other than Amazon?

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...n-adds-ev-delivery-van-customers/77701699007/

This report has some figures, and mentions the EDVs will be available outside Amazon only this spring.

 

[RedRaiderRivian]

https://www.freep.com/story/money/c...n-adds-ev-delivery-van-customers/77701699007/

This report has some figures, and mentions the EDVs will be available outside Amazon only this spring.

Thank you. So no other company than Amazon has currently taken delivery although some are testing and some vans may have been ordered for delivery in the next few months.

 

[Erik+]

Thank you. So no other company than Amazon has currently taken delivery although some are testing and some vans may have been ordered for delivery in the next few months.

That's my understanding, yes. Once they are available as fleet vehicles to other companies, I have no idea how that will work such as if there will be minimum order quantities or other stipulations. Otherwise, anyone who wanted one for personal use could just have a basic LLC and then use the van however they want. I am not a van person, but I bet a lot of people would want one for camping and things, but maybe not since they look to be equipped with small batteries.

 

[Erik+]

EDVs are up for sale on the website now. The FAQ says fleet sales only and sort of implies personal sales may be available in the future once other sales orders are fulfilled.

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