Amazon pledges to go carbon-neutral by 2040.
Rivian is a popular topic this year. That stems its own events showing its first two vehicles to all the investment from the likes of Ford, Amazon and most recently Cox Automotive. Now, Amazon is building on its investment with an order for 100,000 Rivian vans to hit the roads by 2024. According to Amazon’s release this morning, the first of those vans will hit the road by 2021.
The Rivian van doesn’t officially exist yet, but prototypes could be out testing as early as next year. Mind you, Rivian also plans to kick off production of the R1T pickup and R1S SUV from its Normal, Illinois plant next year.
Amazon couched its 100,000-unit order in its larger picture to become carbon-neutral 2040. It’s a signatory to The Climate Pledge, which aims to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement a full decade early. Their statement elaborates on that goal: “By joining The Climate Pledge and agreeing to decarbonize on a faster time horizon, signatories will play a critical role in stimulating investment in the development of low carbon products and services that will be required to help companies meet the pledge. Amazon’s previously announced investment in Rivian is an example of this.”
No official comment from Rivian yet
For its part, Rivian has not officially commented on Amazon’s order just yet. It remains to be seen exactly when — and where — the company will produce that new model. It hasn’t even brought its other two models to production yet, so this 100,000-unit commitment is a tall order for the company, even with as much investment as it recently secured.
As it stands, this large order does give more clarity to Amazon’s investment into the Plymouth, Michigan-based startup. We’ll have to wait and see if these vans will be a bespoke model for Amazon, or if they will ultimately be available to the general public.
