Rivian 500 and 700 vans confirmed

Fresh details have emerged about the all-electric vans set to be produced from December by American EV start-up Rivian.

They come from the Rivian Owners Forum – yep, there is one, even though early-bird customers only started receiving the first R1T pick-up trucks in recent weeks – which unearthed vehicle identification number (VIN) documents filed with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The documents show what the various alpha-numeric components of the 17-digit VIN will denote once production starts within months, confirming there will be at least two variants of the new commercial van – or Electric Delivery Van (EDV) – called the 500 and 700.

The numbers refer to the cargo capacity in cubic feet, which translates to 14.2 cubic metres and 19.8 cubic metres in the metric measurement used in Australia.

Crucially, the 500 van is to be manufactured in both left-hand drive and right-hand drive in the US, paving the way for a potential introduction in Australia.

Rivian has already confirmed it will sell the battery-powered R1T full-size pick-up and R1S large SUV in Australia after right-hand drive production commences.

Both models have been tested in Australia and Rivian is considering “localised production” in the Asia Pacific region.

Beyond the Rivian 500 and 700 vans, overseas reports suggest a 900 cubic-foot version of the US car-maker’s electric van is also in the works, taking the cargo capacity to a sizeable 25.5 cubic metres.

By comparison, the popular Toyota HiAce is available in capacities from 6.2 to 9.3 cubic metres. The larger Volkswagen Crafter is built in 9.3 to 18.4 cubic-metre capacities.

The filing lists five drivetrain options, but some – such as the quad-motor all-wheel drive – are expected to be reserved for the R1T and R1S.

The vans are expected to be offered with a “2 x Single-Motor” all-wheel drive system as well as a dual-motor front-wheel drive and a single-motor front-wheel drive powertrain.

Various trim levels are also included although, again, some – such as Adventure, Explore and Launch Edition – will likely be reserved for the R1T and R1S.

The vans would presumably be offered in Delivery, Service and Amazon trims, the latter exclusively for online retailing behemoth Amazon.

The commercial delivery van market is one of three segments Rivian is targeting as it ramps up production, the others being the pick-up truck and SUV markets with the R1T and R1S respectively. All three share the same electrical architecture.

One of the main customers of the electric van is Amazon, which invested $US700 million in Rivian in 2019 and plans to purchase 100,000 vans as it moves towards a fleet of zero emissions vehicles by 2030.

While the R1T and R1S have secured the headlines for the Californian-based start-up as it ramps up production at its manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois, it’s the van that’s looking to do lots of the heavy lifting.

Rivian stated in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this month that “we expect that a significant portion of our revenue will be from Amazon Logistics”.

That revenue potential also comes with downsides, as Rivian pointed out in the same SEC filing: “We have granted Amazon certain exclusivity and first refusal rights which will initially restrict our ability to contract with other commercial customers.”

Rivian is currently preparing for a stock market float that could value the company at $US80 billion – more than Ford ($US62b) and almost equivalent to General Motors ($US84b) but still well short of EV rival Tesla, which overnight topped $US1 trillion for the first time.