Rivian’s Amazon Delivery Van Has 201-Mile Range, Will Spawn Smaller Van
Rivian's electric delivery van (EDV) is produced alongside the R1T pickup and R1S SUV at Rivian's factory in Normal, Illinois, which the company announced is expanding production capacity from 150,000 units a year to over 200,000 annually.
The EDV was designed and engineered specifically for Amazon as part of a 100,000-van order, and it uses a proprietary FleetOS fleet management system also designed by Rivian. While testing has been going on for months, Rivian says the first "saleable" vans will be delivered to Amazon later this month, right on schedule.
The version of the van that we've already seen is called the EDV 700, referring to its 700 cubic feet of cargo space. Under the EPA's official testing procedure the EDV 700 has a range of 201 miles, more than enough for the average delivery route. Rivian also announced that a narrower, shorter EDV 500 van will debut in early 2022 on the same RCV commercial vehicle platform as the larger van.
Read the article at Roadshow.
FedEx Will Soon Start Making Deliveries Using Electric Vans From GM
Photo credit: FedEx
FedEx received the first electric delivery vans from BrightDrop, a new electric logistics and delivery business out of General Motors. The vans are the first of 500 FedEx has ordered from the company..
The package-handling giant says its first five BrightDrop vans will start making deliveries soon. The vans are a key part of FedEx's plan to convert its global delivery and pickup fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2040. It is building electric-vehicle chargers across its facilities to support battery-powered additions to its fleet.
The EV600, BrightDrop's larger vehicle offering, promises a range of 250 miles, 600 cubic feet of cargo space, and the ability to recoup 170 miles of range each hour when plugged into a DC fast charger. It will be widely available to buy in 2022.
Read the article at MSN.
Masterack Delivers Highly Customized Upfit Package
Masterack has over 50 years as industry leader designing, engineering and manufacturing highly customizable cargo management solutions for all sorts of fleets.
California DMV Suspends Autonomous Driving Testing Permit for the First Time Following Accident
Pony.ai has become the first company to have its driverless testing permit suspended by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The action follows an accident in which, fortunately, no injuries were reported.
The accident in question took place on October 28, reports Reuters. The incident involved only the Pony.ai test vehicle, which hit a center divider and a traffic sign in Fremont, California after it made a right turn.
“We immediately launched an investigation, and are in contact with the California DMV about the incident,” a Pony.ai spokesman told the outlet. The company added that safety is the “foundation” of its autonomous technology.
Read the article at CarScoops.
Honda Wants to Use Connected Cars to Identify Hazardous Road Conditions
Honda announced an experiment to use its cars to collect data about hazardous road conditions. Using GPS and cameras, the Japanese automaker is gathering real-time road information about poor lane markings or potholes, which it can then send to municipalities for future improvements.
“Maintaining good road conditions helps keep everyone sharing the road safe,” said Paritosh Kelkar, scientist at Honda Research Institute USA and project leader of the road condition monitoring system, in a statement. “Real-time, high-accuracy roadway data captured from connected vehicles has the potential to improve the process of identifying, reporting, and more quickly repairing hazardous road conditions.”
The pilot project is the first to use connected vehicle technology to capture accurate data on road conditions. To start out, Honda is collaborating with one state, the Ohio Department of Transportation, and plans to start providing road condition data in early 2022.
Read the article at The Verge.
