American electric vehicle startup Rivian is now expanding its business into the commercial vehicle industry with a new partnership with JBPCO, FleetOwner reports, citing Rivian’s B2B Business Development Senior Director’s announcement.
Rivian’s partnership with JBCPO
Rivian will help Morgan Olson electrify its C250 step van by providing the skateboard it developed for Amazon.
Rivian will reportedly produce a modified version of its Commercial Van chassis featuring the same 100 kWh LFP battery and software stack. It will also include the Rivian “dashboard” and key safety features such as automatic emergency braking and a 360-degree camera system.
The Rivian fleet chassis will support the battery-electric vehicle counterpart of a Morgan C250 step van introduced in March last year, the C250e. That said, it is basically a Morgan Olson-bodied RHD Rivian developed exclusively for Canada Post.
“This announcement is really the culmination and potentially the first step of a very strong partnership. This represents the foundation.”
Rivian B2B Business Development Senior Director, Tom Solomon
Significance and potential application
The Canada Post deal is apparently the first major supply partnership Rivian secured after its exclusive supplier agreement with Amazon concluded in late 2023. In hindsight, Rivian and Amazon formally signed the agreement in 2019, which committed the American EV maker to supply Commercial Vans to the tech giant for four years. It is apparently part of the company’s efforts to eventually deploy 100,000 of the electric work vans on the road.
Morgan Olson’s COO, Joe Thompson, asserted that Rivian’s chassis is compatible with other bodies. Its potential application to an electric Morgan Olson body could include the following:
- grocery delivery services
- contractor vans
- other Class 2B applications with a GVWR from 8,510 to 10,000 lbs
Rivian-powered Morgan Olson C250e’s features
The Morgan Olson C250e will reportedly use the same platform as the Rivian CV. However, it has a stripped chassis structure or a “skateboard.”
Rivian will modify the chassis to support a right-hand drive configuration, given that the C250e will be exclusive to the Canadian postal service.
Although the C250e sports a Morgan Olson body, it will use Rivian’s cutting-edge technologies such as follows:
- user interface
- user experience
- software stack
- automatic emergency braking
- driver assistance features
- 360-degree camera system
This initiative is crucial for Canada Post’s goals to fully electrify its fleet by 2040. There is indeed a potential for specialized bodies in the commercial truck industry. It would also be even better if those could benefit from an established, all-electric platform. In that sense, the partnership can potentially bring a Rivian-powered vehicle to any fleet throughout the US.
