Rivian’s first electric delivery vans are hitting the road in Canada with Amazon

Rivian has been operating in Canada for five years now. However, this is the first time a fleet of Rivian’s electric delivery vans (EDVs) has reached our neighbors to the north. Amazon is putting several vehicles into service around a renowned Canadian city.

While Rivian has, in many ways, hit its stride in EV production with its two generations of its flagship R1 models (with the R2 on the way soon), much of its early success stems from its electric delivery van and a massive purchase order from Amazon.

The EDV was teased as far back as 2019, when Amazon committed to purchasing 100,000 vehicles from Rivian as part of a $700 million investment. Those initial EDV-700 builds made their way to the behemoth online marketplace in late 2021 and are now a common sight, making deliveries throughout the US.

While Rivian has had a presence in Canada since 2020, those operations only pertained to passenger EVs. Today, however, Rivian announced that Amazon is deploying the first-ever fleet of its electric delivery vans in Canada. More specifically, around Vancouver.

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Amazon begins deliveries in Rivian EDVs in Canada

According to a release from Rivian earlier this week, an initial fleet of 50 EDVs has reached Canada to support Amazon’s operations in the Vancouver area. Erica Tsypin, Director, B2B Sales & Partnerships at Rivian, spoke about the milestone:

We built this state-of-the-art Electric Delivery Van from the ground up, and it’s unlike anything else in the market. Launching our vans in Canada is a proud moment for our entire team. Since our first production vans hit the road in 2022, Rivian and Amazon have learned quite a lot together, which has allowed us to continuously improve the vehicle’s performance, safety and durability as Amazon has scaled these vans across many climates and geographies.

Rivian added that it has consistently invested in Canada for the five years it has operated in the country. The American automaker’s current footprint consists of a space in downtown Vancouver in addition to four service and delivery centers in Toronto, Ontario; Richmond, British Columbia; Montreal, Quebec; and Calgary, Alberta.

Lastly, Amazon’s director of global fleet and products, Emily Barber, spoke about the company’s decarbonization goals and Rivian’s role in that process:

Decarbonized transportation is a huge part of Amazon’s goal for net-zero carbon emissions across operations by 2040. It’s partners like Rivian that make this goal feasible. We are bringing 100,000 Rivian Electric Delivery Vans on the road by 2030. Today, we have more than 35,000 Electric Delivery Vans globally that have delivered more than 1.5 billion packages. Our mission is to build the safest, most sustainable and advanced fleet in the world.

If you’re in Vancouver, keep an eye out for those Rivian delivery vans!