Electric vehicles start-up Arrival wins $118m investment from BlackRock
US equity fund giant BlackRock is betting on commercial electric vehicles with a $118 million investment in start-up manufacturer Arrival.
BlackRock joins other strategic investors in the UK-based company including Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation and UPS.
Arrival said it will use this latest funding to support its growth plans as it ramps up vehicle production, including the launch of its first U.S. micro-factory in South Carolina. The company will invest $46 million in the production site, which is expected to go into operation in Q2 2021, with start of production in Q4 2021. Arrival’s Microfactories produce 10,000 vans or 1,000 buses per year.
“We are excited to welcome BlackRock as a strategic financial investor with its excellent track record in ESG,” said Denis Sverdlov, Founder and CEO of Arrival. “This additional capital will be invested into Arrival’s growth, as we deepen and expand our presence in the U.S. and other new markets globally. With our new micro-factory in South Carolina, we are looking forward to partnering with more cities and companies to create a sustainable future.”
UPS order for 10,000 vans
Arrival claims it has made major inroads in the commercial electric vehicle market having received an order of 10,000 electric vans from logistics company UPS, with the option for a further 10,000. These will be delivered from 2020 to 2024 for use in Europe and North America.
According to the manufacturer, this investment is a reflection of the significant market opportunity for electric vehicles, particularly in the commercial segment, which continues to grow with increasing demand for e-commerce and is predicted to reach 8m commercial and passenger fleets by 2030 in the US alone.
Arrival claims that it is poised to address this entire market, with its competitive price and substantially lower Total Cost of Ownership, solving the problem of pollution and congestion in cities around the world.
Low-cost production
The company claims it is ‘reinventing’ the automotive industry with its entirely new approach to the design and assembly of electric vehicles. The company’s new method uses low CapEx, rapidly scalable micro-factories that can be placed anywhere in the world to serve the regions they are located in.
These micro-factories, combined with proprietary in-house developed components, materials and software, enable the production of best in class vehicles that are competitively priced to fossil fuel variants.
This transformative approach reduces the costs of production and emissions of shipping, and does not require massive upfront investment, creating strong unit economics for the whole of Arrival’s product portfolio, including its electric van and bus announced earlier this year.
Founded in 2015, Arrival is headquartered in the UK, with over 1,200 global employees located in offices across the USA, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, Russia, and Luxembourg.
