InsideEVs Article : Rivian Focuses On Amazon Delivery Van Over R1T Electric Truck

[rraj2k81]

If this is true, it does not surprise me that this has been the direction of Rivian. Considering it's October and not a single deposit paying non-employee customer have received a truck, and Rivian has been silent about orders.

Rivian Focuses On Amazon Delivery Van Over R1T Electric Truck (insideevs.com)

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[cohall]

According to Bloomberg via Tesalarati, sources suggest Rivian...

LOL. That certainly sounds like reliable and hard fact-based reporting.

Anyone else play that telephone game as a kid?

 

[fromSf]

Hope Rivian takes this bit serious and starts actual customer deliveries (non-employee/rivian association) and make guide contacts to LE holders.

 

[jjswan33]

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Making 300 vans on the separate production line shouldn't be much of a impediment to producing R1T trucks.

 

[yizzung]

Could be true but bad reporting and dumb logic. Rivian is prioritizing vans because they have so many van orders (10K due in 2022) and so few truck/suv orders (50K that they’ve committed to ship in 2022). I could easily see supply chain issues forcing the company to focus on vans (probably don’t need solid ash interior van trim, for example) but this article is silly.

 

[Aroohoo]

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Making 300 vans on the separate production line shouldn't be much of a impediment to producing R1T trucks.

Depends on what is shared between the platforms. Is the skateboard completely shared? Battery Cells, motors, BMS?

It wouldn't surprise me if they made the deliberate decision to have as many common parts/components between the R1 and EDV platforms so they get economies of scale and reduce the overhead of managing multiple parts.

If they have common parts and those are the critical path/pinch point, they have a decision to make on prioritization of EDV vs R1 (one over the other, or equal). How they make that call is probably influenced by multiple factors, including contractual obligations.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Here is the original Bloomberg article.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-06/how-amazon-pushed-rivian-s-van-into-the-fast-lane

There’s a clear recognition inside Rivian and with its investors that the van for Amazon is a priority and the pickup a sideshow until production can be ramped up to meaningful volumes. The deal gives Rivian visibility and guaranteed revenue, along with a deadline. An all-hands-on-deck edict has been issued to get the project up to speed — for now, the R1T is taking a back seat.

Rivian’s most immediate goal is to deliver 300 vans to Amazon by year-end, according to people familiar with the deal. The first 10,000 units are due by the end of 2022. The full order of 100,000 vans is due by the end of the decade. The vans, in different configurations, are principally for last-mile delivery. Each will have a range of up to 150 miles on a charge.

But at the end of the article is the most disappointing comment. However that comment was from last year. No telling if anything has changed.

Sometime in the next few weeks, Rivian’s first customer will get a truck, the ambassadors will start booking delivery dates and Instagram will fill up with the 5,000-pound version of an iPhone unboxing video. Still, the wait for most customers will be long. Scaringe told Bloomberg in November that it would take two years to catch up on its order book.

 

[rraj2k81]

LOL. That certainly sounds like reliable and hard fact-based reporting.

Anyone else play that telephone game as a kid?

LOL, possible something was missed in translation when quoting a person of a person.

I like many of the more enthusiastic members want to be optimistic but, where I feel like this has some credence is Rivian's behavior lately.

They were supposed to start R1T LE delivery in September, and so far there has not been any credible source this has been done, heck even Rivian has not done any delivery related marketing.
It's October and I find it interesting not a single one of our early LE R1T pre-order forum member has received confirmation of a firm delivery. On top of all of it, despite penning a very heartfelt letter back in July about doing better with communication, nothing has improved either.

Rivian has yet to do anything to make me believe this is far from the truth.

My hope is they are so busy with getting production ramped up, they have lost track of communication, to make sure the trucks get in the hand of customers quick.

 

[Diddy123]

The article is suspect at best.

But, I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of transparency on delivery timing.

 

[rraj2k81]

Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Making 300 vans on the separate production line shouldn't be much of a impediment to producing R1T trucks.

They may have two different production lines, but the work force may have tobe shared/split.

Also, the trucks and the VAN might share the battery pack, CPUs/Chips, drive units, steering wheels, displays, etc. supplies. So Rivian might have to make a call who gets priority, when there is a limitation of stock.

Based on this pics, the Amazon van seems to have identical steering wheel stalks, and displays as the R1.

 

[SeaGeo]

LOL, possible something was missed in translation when quoting a person of a person.

I like many of the more enthusiastic members want to be optimistic but, where I feel like this has some credence is Rivian's behavior lately.

They were supposed to start R1T LE delivery in September, and so far there has not been any credible source this has been done, heck even Rivian has not done any delivery related marketing.
It's October and I find it interesting not a single one of our early LE R1T pre-order forum member has received confirmation of a firm delivery. On top of all of it, despite penning a very heartfelt letter back in July about doing better with communication, nothing has improved either.

Rivian has yet to do anything to make me believe this is far from the truth.

My hope is they are so busy with getting production ramped up, they have lost track of communication, to make sure the trucks get in the hand of customers quick.

They've made deliveries Iin September, just not to the people you want them to. If they don't get to say.. Godfodder by the end of this month then I think there's probably a reason to he a little more concerned/annoyed.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

The article is suspect at best.

But, I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of transparency on delivery timing.

I would say that if it were just from Teslarati. But Bloomberg is pretty solid in their reporting.

 

[rraj2k81]

They've made deliveries Iin September, just not to the people you want them to. If they don't get to say.. Godfodder by the end of this month then I think there's probably a reason to he a little more concerned/annoyed.

I do believe that they will deliver by the end of this month, and my theory is that this what they are planning on.
To make a significant push to make a big enough delivery to drive a marketing campaign, in time to drive investor interest in time for their IPO in November.

 

[jjswan33]

I guess in the end time will tell. Not going to get frustrated or anything. If things push well into next year and viable alternatives become available (for instance the EV Silverado) I'd consider other options but so far the Hummer, F150 Lightening or the Tesla CT don't do it for me.

I can't comment on the relationship between Amazon and Rivian but being Amazon has an equity stake they have vested interest in the IPO going well. The more capability they can demonstrate before IPO the better.

Also I still believe that producing 300 vans isn't going to be much of a challenge and shouldn't impact R1 production that much. If it is really because of shared components and manpower that they can't produce 300 vans and volume of R1Ts then they weren't ever going to produce that many R1Ts anyway.

There is also conflict with this reporting and a lot of previous reporting after the press event in regards to timing of the R1 deliveries.

 

[Diddy123]

I would say that if it were just from Teslarati. But Bloomberg is pretty solid in their reporting.

Normally I would agree. But Bloomberg seems to have a serious bias against Rivian, for some reason. Starting with that miserable reporter they sent for the test drive, and now this series of stories they're running, they seem to really not want Rivian to succeed.

Maybe it's just me, but that's how I see it.

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