You can now buy a Rivian truck like Amazon uses. Here’s how much it costs

Great news for Fan fans! Rivian has broken free from its exclusivity agreement with Amazon and will soon sell electric delivery trucks to fleet customers across America. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2024, which isn’t particularly far away.

While sales will only be open to commercial customers at first, don’t be surprised if you start seeing more of these non-Amazon-branded trucks on America’s streets. After all, urban delivery is an ideal use case for electric vehicles, because it involves a lot of stopping and starting through fairly quiet neighborhoods and relatively short routes.

Opening the Rivian van lineup is the Delivery 500 with a starting price of $83,000. Admittedly, that’s a lot of money, especially considering that Rivian’s R1S SUV starts at $78,000, and Ford’s E-Transit starts at $53,790. However, the Rivian Delivery 500 is much taller than the E-Transit, measuring 114.7 inches from ceiling to floor. When it comes to transporting packages, height matters.

As a result of its massive height and solid packaging, the Rivian Delivery 500 sports 487 cubic feet. of cargo space, 75 more than GM’s upcoming short-wheelbase BrightDrop Zevo 400, all in a package with a GVWR that slips neatly under the 10,000-pound threshold that requires an additional license in some jurisdictions. The Rivian Delivery 500 also features a payload capacity of 2,734 pounds, which is 1,274 pounds more than you get on the BrightDrop Zevo 400 with a GVWR under 10 kilos. Keep in mind that the short-wheelbase BrightDrop model will likely be specified with a GVWR of 11,000 pounds, in which case payload capacity increases to a more competitive 2,450 pounds.

As for what lies beneath the Rivian Delivery 500’s boxy body, David Tracy has done an excellent job exploring this thing’s compound spring front suspension and air shield, but in case you can’t read that article right now, here are the absolute basics you need to know. The Delivery 500 is front-wheel drive thanks to a single electric motor on the front axle. Rivian didn’t specify how powerful the motor is or how large the battery pack is, but the company touts a range of up to 161 miles. While this should be good enough for city use, getting from one suburb to another may require more power.

Well, what if something bulky isn’t big enough for your needs? What if you need to jump straight into something massive? Well, there’s also the Rivian Delivery 700, starting at $87,000. It’s 29.5 inches longer than the 20-foot, 8.5-inch-long Delivery 500, resulting in more than 23 feet of electric delivery truck space and some serious extra cargo space.

Compared to the Delivery 500, payload capacity shrinks to 2,513 pounds although GVWR is increased by 150 pounds, but payload volume is up from 165 cubic feet to 652 cubic feet. Versus GM’s BrightDrop Zevo 600 equipped with a GVWR of less than 10,000 pounds, we’re talking an additional 713 pounds and 37 cubic feet of payload capacity. of cargo space, but these gains come at a cost.

Look, the Rivian Delivery 700 is really geared for last-mile delivery, where frequent urban stops to go from mailbox to mailbox result in shorter routes. As a result, Rivian claims a range of just 153 miles from the long-wheelbase delivery truck. However, the BrightDrop Zevo 600 boasts a range of up to 250 miles, a largely practical number that should even tip the tables by Rivian’s superior base payload capacity. Oh, and if you have a CDL that’s no problem, as the BrightDrop can be ordered with a GVWR of 11,000 pounds, increasing payload capacity up to 2,800 pounds.

With so much payload, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rivian’s electric delivery vans hit the RV market. After all, cramming a kitchen, a dinette, a bed or two, water tanks, a shower, passengers, and their belongings into something with a payload capacity of 2,734 pounds isn’t the hardest task in the world. However, with the range of electric city cars, these aren’t the best platforms for getting around on the road. Anyway, we’re excited to see another electric truck on the market, even if it’s only opened to start fleet sales.

(Image credits: Rivian)

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