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Rivian will sell its commercial electric vans to any U.S. business that wants one — more than a year since ending an exclusivity deal with backer Amazon.
The company will sell two vans — the smaller 500 and the larger 700 — but buyers will have to be registered businesses, according to the company. That means any hopeful van-lifers will have to wait and see if Rivian ever sells them direct.
The launch of its commercial van fleet business opens up a potential revenue stream that has sat dormant since Rivian and Amazon ended their exclusive deal in November 2023. The new potential line of business comes at a crucial time for the company, which is doing all that it can to pare losses ahead of the launch of a more-affordable SUV next year.
Rivian has been spotted performing a number of trials with potential fleet customers. And the EV maker has spent the past year preparing a commercial fleet line for a broader swath of businesses, which included building out service infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and collecting feedback via pilots from fleet customers, according to spokesperson Tanya Miller.
“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,” Tom Solomon, Rivian’s senior director of business development, said in a statement.
Rivian first started producing the commercial vans in 2021, two years after Amazon announced it had order 100,000 of the vehicles as part of an effort to reduce its climate impact. Amazon was already deeply invested in Rivian when it struck the exclusivity agreement for the commercial vans. Just seven months before, the e-commerce giant led a $700 million investment round in Rivian.
Amazon now has 20,000 commercial vans produced by Rivian in its fleet, according to Solomon.
