UPS have announced an order of 10,000 purpose built electric vehicles worth hundreds of millions of euros from UK based company Arrival.
The initial 10,000 vehicles will be rolled out in the UK, Europe and North America from 2020 to 2024 bringing hundreds of millions of euros of sales each year. UPS have the option to purchase a further order of 10,000 vehicles during this period. UPS venture capital arm also announced an investment in Arrival of an undisclosed amount.
The vehicles will be built using Arrival’s new method of assembly using low capital, low footprint microfactories located to serve local communities and profitable from thousands of units.
Arrival first announced a partnership with UPS to develop electric vehicles in 2016 with today’s vehicle order and investment accelerating the deployment of fit for purpose electric fleets at scale. Arrival’s unique Generation 2 electric vehicles offer UPS compelling commercial and environmental benefits to make a seamless and cost effective transition to a zero emissions fleet.
UPS has been a strong strategic partner of Arrival, providing valuable insight to how electric delivery vans are used on the road and how they can be optimised for drivers. Together our teams have been creating bespoke electric vehicles, based on our flexible skateboard platforms, that meet the end-to-end needs of UPS from driving, loading/unloading, depot and back office operations. We are pleased that today’s investment and vehicle order creates even closer ties between our two companies, said Denis Sverdlov, Founder and CEO at Arrival.
Our investment and partnership with Arrival is directly aligned with UPS’s transformation strategy, led by the deployment of cutting-edge technologies.These vehicles will be among the world’s most advanced package delivery vehicles, redefining industry standards for electric, connected and intelligent vehicle solutions, said Carlton Rose, President of UPS Global Fleet Maintenance & Engineering.
Arrival has developed components, sustainable materials and software to customise both vehicles and operations of commercial fleet owners. The company’s unique skateboard platforms enable the creation of vehicles in any weight, type, size and shape to match customer requirements, which are then deployed close to areas of demand across the globe in Arrival’s microfactories.
With over 300 million vans and trucks on the road fuelled by petrol or diesel, the commercial vehicle segment is a major contributor to transport emissions as well as the fastest growing vehicle segment. The rise of e-commerce has contributed to this increase; over the past decade the number of parcels delivered per day in NYC alone has quadrupled to 1.5 million whilst van mileage in the UK has grown 56% since 2000. The opportunity to significantly impact climate change, coupled with predictable routes and overnight depot charging, make commercial vehicles perfectly suited to seamlessly switch to electric.
