{"id":32522,"date":"2024-04-12T09:37:36","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=32522"},"modified":"2024-04-12T09:38:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T13:38:19","slug":"payne-delivering-packages-in-rivians-amazon-ev-truck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/payne-delivering-packages-in-rivians-amazon-ev-truck","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Delivering packages in Rivian’s Amazon EV truck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pontiac<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Coming to your Metro Detroit neighborhood, Amazon.com Inc.\u2019s Rivian electric delivery vans are the culmination of a five-year collaboration between the retail giant and the U.S.-based electric vehicle startup.<\/p>\n

Michigan is among the major metropolitan areas receiving 100,000 Rivian Automotive Inc. vans that will both meet Amazon\u2019s goal to fully electrify its delivery fleet and give a crucial shot in the arm to the young automaker. They\u2019re also sci-fi chic.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family thinks it\u2019s really cool that I\u2019m driving a Rivian truck,\u201d said Kayla Dudley, 24, of Pontiac, as she jumped from her van to make a delivery in a Lake Orion suburb. \u201cIt makes me want to get an electric car.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kayla Dudley, 24, Driver Associate at Amazon, unplug the electrical power cable from her new Amazon\u2019s EV delivery trucks that is on Rivian\u2019s truck platform at Pontiac Amazon Fulfillment Center. April 2, 2024, in Pontiac, MI. Clarence Tabb Jr., The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

There\u2019s no denying the cool factor of the sleek, head-turning trucks with their cartoonish, LED-rimmed circular headlights, splashy blue rear doors, Amazon smile logo, and Blade Runner-esque red LED light strip framing the rear. If Tesla Inc. took EVs from nerd-mobile to luxury fashion, then Amazon\u2019s Rivian trucks have brought style to the delivery breadbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the acceleration. The truck is so seamless to the driver,\u201d said Dudley, who admitted it takes discipline to maintain the speed limit on her daily chores.<\/p>\n

That sci-fi style continues inside the cab with twin, digital tablet displays \u2014 a hoodless instrument cluster and huge, 15.6-inch dash-mounted tablet. Beginning her shift on a cool, drizzling April morning in Pontiac, Dudley pulled the charger from her cyborg\u2019s front left charger port, then placed it in the 240-volt charger holder. Where these parking spaces once hosted thousands of Detroit Lions fans at the Pontiac Silverdome, they now hold hundreds of Rivian vans to distribute packages from Amazon\u2019s giant fulfillment center, which sits on a 127-acre site.<\/p>\n

It’s not the first time a delivery service has made its vans icons. UPS has for decades featured its big brown step vans in marketing campaigns. \u201cThe Amazon trucks are popping up on social media everywhere,\u201d said auto analyst Sam Fiorani, vice president of vehicle forecasting for Autoforecast Solutions. \u201cUPS designed a truck that was uniquely UPS and that made their service welcome in neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivian\u2019s operating system seamlessly controls the RDV-700 model van (just as in an R1S SUV), which recognized the key fob in Dudley\u2019s pocket and instantly turned on as she stepped into the airy cabin, the gigantic front windscreen a window to the world. With her delivery route already downloaded on her company phone, she scanned a QR code and the Rivian\u2019s screens wirelessly mirrored the route \u2014 just as Apple CarPlay would in a passenger car. Ready to rumble.<\/p>\n

\"Kayla<\/figure>\n
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Kayla Dudley, a driver associate at Amazon, says she enjoys the \u201cseamless\u201d performance of her Rivian electric delivery van. Clarence Tabb Jr., The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEvery QR code is a digital (organizer) for packages, vehicles \u2014 to make everything easy to sort in the vans,\u201d Dudley said.<\/p>\n

The former Silverdome site is dominated by two massive Amazon buildings: an 823,000-square-foot fulfillment center and 174,000-square-foot delivery center. The fulfillment center \u2014 thousands of robots scurrying across its multiple stories \u2014 accesses product inventory which is then sent across the street to the delivery center. Their sheer scale also reminds of a sci-fi movie \u2014 the Rivian trucks pouring into the giant structure. Or they might be worker ants scurrying to and from a giant anthill.<\/p>\n