Rivian electric trucks start serving last-mile Amazon deliveries

While Amazon and Ford had to post paper losses on their big Rivian investments as the stock of the up-and-coming electric truck maker tanked on failed delivery deadlines, Amazon is at least getting something more than financial incentives out of its partnership. The reason for Amazon's huge stake in Rivian's future had to do with the 100,000 electric delivery trucks it ordered to the automaker, and Rivian just announced that it has started shipping those to Amazon en masse.

In its turn, the e-commerce giant has already deployed numerous Rivian delivery trucks on its routes, so you shouldn't be surprised to see your next Amazon delivery come on Rivian's funky-looking trucks. Those have started to pop up in places as varied as California, Texas, or Chicago, with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, in particular, boasting that the first vehicles of the Amazon-Rivian joint venture are produced in the state under the auspices of Government Pritzker's EV manufacturing initiative.

It remains to be seen if or how fast Rivian will be able to fulfil Amazon's vast 100,000 electric truck units order, but the initial stage looks encouraging. The "electric delivery vehicles have begun making emissions-free, last-mile deliveries in cities across the country," says Rivian, and hopefully their production in Illinois will fare better than the supply chain woes that affected the Rivian R1T and R1S electric pickup assembly deadlines, sending Rivian's share price into a tailspin.

On crowded city streets with a lot of stop and go sessions or idling in traffic, electric delivery vehicles make much more sense than legacy ones, so Amazon may be on to something with its Rivian investment, despite the stock price doldrums.

Get the 50A ChargePoint Home Flex EV charger on Amazon