The Rivian EDV is supposed to help Amazon with its deliveries while lowering the company’s carbon footprint. The all-electric powertrain has the potential to render traditional vans useless. But before making up our minds, let’s look at how an employee interacts with it for the first time.
Amazon and Rivian entered a partnership in 2019. The young EV maker agreed to electrify some of the shopping giant’s vehicles. Just two years later, testing of the vans was beginning without many people knowing. Now, Rivian is expected to deliver 100,000 EVs just for Amazon.
This year’s shy start had a couple of industry experts and media representatives worried about Rivian, but the company pushed on. The vans are being manufactured and sent out, even if the automotive industry is dealing with a lot of issues. Some Amazon employees are lucky to get their hands on the new vans. One of them decided to share with the world how their first day together went.
The Friday Adventure Club YouTube channel gives us a good look inside the EDV and how it behaves when used for everything that requires a delivery to be successful. The van has only 169 mi (272 km) on the odometer and even some of its pre-delivery tape on the windshield, so just by these two things alone, we know it’s new.
The man says he likes that there’s enough room in the cargo area for boxes and appreciates the double shelves. Even though it looks rudimentary, the van seems to be almost perfect for deliveries that must be taken from a warehouse and into the city. One thing that supports this statement is that the cargo door automatically closes and opens when the van is put in Drive or Park, respectively.
He says that Amazon and Rivian trained him and his colleagues before getting the keys to the EDV, so he’s not learning all the tips and tricks right now by himself. However, he shows that getting accustomed to the EDV is not a hard thing to do. Driving is easy thanks to good visibility and a 360-degree camera system, while getting in and out is facilitated by many access points.
One thing the man showed as being a little bit weird is the driver’s door which seemed stubborn at times, and the fact that he had to press and hold a button to fully open it. At the end of the day, he seems to be excited about the change made by Amazon. Even though he did not do a range test, the man says the Rivian EDV is “clearly better” than the other options available currently at the e-commerce company.
For now, customers can’t buy the EDV. It was custom-made for Amazon right from the get-go and can’t be reserved by anyone else. However, Rivian plans on offering the EDV 500 and the EDV 700 for businesses that want an all-electric fleet. They even have a dedicated platform named FleetOS that helps with tracking, charging, planning, and servicing. It comes with 24/7 support as well, according to the Irvine-based manufacturer.
Now watch the full recording of how the Amazon employee got around with the van. It’s an interesting point of view.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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