Rivian arrives in Europe, but as a commercial fleet for Amazon

Those who want to enjoy driving a Rivian vehicle on European roads are waiting for these to reach our market. Apparently, they will still take some time to arrive, although the door has opened to seeing some of them on our continent, though not in the way they expect. Soon, they will start driving on German roads and in some of its cities, one of these models, though not the ones people were expecting.

It will be the electric van Rivian EDV. 300 units of this electric delivery van will arrive in Germany and they will serve the multinational Amazon. Over the coming months, these units will join the company’s fleet and be put into service in the cities of Munich, Berlin and Düsseldorf, where they will carry out last-mile deliveries.

Amazon has more than 1,000 electric vans from several brands serving different German cities. This is a first step towards meeting the demand for this type of vehicle, as Amazon’s German division wants to continue backing electric mobility. And not only in this country, but across all of Europe.

The Rivian van was developed in collaboration with Amazon and is one of the vehicles the delivery company uses for its deliveries. In the United States there are 3,000 units of this van, serving 500 cities, with good results. In its country of origin, Amazon uses two versions of the Rivian EDV van, the 500 and 700, whose names refer to the payload capacity they offer.

Only the smaller version will arrive in Europe, the EDV 500. It has a length of 6.3 metres and a wheelbase of 4 metres. The width of this variant is 1.8 metres, so it is much better suited to European cities, whose streets are narrower than American ones.

Rivian has adapted these electric delivery vans to European traffic conditions, so they are very practical for use on roads and city streets. Over the past year these vehicles have been tested by Amazon drivers, who have helped adapt and fine-tune the vehicle’s characteristics to the realities of traffic in Europe and to current legislation.

Thus, Rivian says it has equipped the EDV with safety features such as emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, collision warning, automatic locking and exclusive software not found in the American version. Amazon is expected to deploy more units in other European countries, including Spain.