UPS has ordered 10,000 electric trucks from UK-based Arrival and they’ll be used as delivery vehicles in Europe as well as the United States. The final production version will have a 75KWh battery pack that is good for around 155 miles on a single charge. Inside, they’ll be using BlackBerry QNX, an enterprise-focused operating system, to keep track of deliveries. Read more for a video and additional information.
As for charging, these delivery trucks will utilizes CCS, a charging standard that combines the slower Type 2 port with two large DC pins, for rapid charging. What sets this electric vehicle apart from the others is its skateboard-inspired underbelly that includes everything below the floor. This means that the suspension, brakes and steering can be easily swapped out for different customers and vehicle types.
UPS has been a strong strategic partner of Arrival’s, providing valuable insight into how electric delivery vans are used on the road and, importantly, how they can be completely optimized for drivers. Together, our teams have been working hard to create bespoke electric vehicles, based on our flexible skateboard platforms that meet the end-to-end needs of UPS from driving, loading/unloading and back-office operations. We are pleased that today’s investment and vehicle order creates even closer ties between our two companies,” said Denis Sverdlov, Arrival chief executive.