RIVN and Mercedes will build electric commercial vans in Europe. That's huge news for Rivian but I thought will explode more than this.
Costly, yes. Slow, no. The pace of change will be exponential. In just a few years the pace at which the switchover comes will make your head spin. And although the changeover won't have any noticeable affect on climate -- even if climate should change in a noticeable way in sync with the changeover, it will be fortuitous; not as cause and effect. There will be benefits to be derived, not the least of these will be the current Petroleum Terrorist States of Russia and Saudi Arabia getting their well deserved comeuppance.
Old news? Also, it's one thing to sign a document, another to build a prototype and yet another to mass produce. The explosion may perhaps happen in the (hopefully) not too distant future.
More vaporware from companies just like in the late '90s. I remember CommerceOne and their never ending "press releases" about building B2B platforms. Rivian is doing great, it is only down 78%. I guess that's better than the 90% it was down a few months. It has $15 billion in cash & equivalents and burns $1.5 billion per quarter. They better make some money in the next 10 quarters or they are toast.
I think companies like Rivian will eventually get bought out by bigger fish. Their product is good but they haven't yet figured out mass production and may never, until they run out of cash. The 3 US automakers other than Tesla may find a way to speed up and save on their EV development by buying Rivian. At least I hope for Rivian.
Hey I saw one of these on the road btw, and mind you, I have no dog in this fight (but I am the second person on ET to ever mention this company a few years back... long before they went public).... They're kinda ugly. And yeah I know, I liked their looks early on, but those were renderings. The F-150 Lightening is a 100X better looking. Odds are, looks or not... Bubba goes with Ford when Bubba goes green. But with that said, the delivery van thing could easily be their gravy train. Margins will be slim however... because everyone else see's this niche and the manufactures that enjoy the greatest economies of scale... will win. Ie, the big three and VW.
I think someone should design a van-sized EV based on a removable upper body that has the batteries incorporated into the chassis. That way, companies that need time critical, small load, long haul capabilities can just swap the chassis and keep the driver. I don't think this can be done with a design that just swaps battery packs. They're too big, their shape needs to be optimally incorporated into the structure of the vehicle to maximize cargo space. Easier to just swap the body onto a re-charged chassis.