Rivian, an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, announced on Tuesday that it would no longer maintain an exclusive agreement with Amazon, allowing other companies to purchase its fleet of delivery vans. The decision, disclosed alongside Rivian’s third-quarter earnings report, aims to provide more opportunities for companies to electrify their delivery fleets and reduce carbon emissions.
The exclusive agreement with Amazon, established in 2019, previously prevented Rivian from selling commercial vans to other customers and granted Amazon exclusive access to the vans for four years from the start of their delivery. Despite ending the exclusivity, Rivian reaffirmed its commitment to assisting Amazon in deploying 100,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030. To date, Amazon has introduced over 10,000 EVs into its fleet.
The expanded sales of Rivian vans not only benefit other companies seeking electric delivery vehicles but also Amazon itself, as the e-commerce giant owns a 17% stake in Rivian.
Udit Madan, Vice President of Transportation at Amazon, stated in a press release, “This has been part of our plan with Rivian from the beginning – we’ve always said that we want others to benefit from their technology in the long run because having more electric delivery vehicles on the road is good for our communities and our planet.”
Following the announcement, both Rivian and Amazon stocks experienced slight increases in after-hours trading.