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The London-based electric car company is doing things differently than their electronic vehicle competitors. Where Tesla and Rivian build their vehicles for the individual, Arrival builds theirs for the masses. Arrival’s business plan uniquely positions them to only build electric vehicles for mass transit and commercial purposes. Company officials claim that creating Arrival Delivery Vans and city transit buses is the best way to fight greenhouse gas emissions.

Fighting emission standards with Arrival Delivery Vans

In 2020, Arrival opened their North American headquarters in Charlotte. Other companies took notice, like VinFast. The Vietnamese electric carmaker recently opened its North American headquarters not far from Arrival. VinFast works on personal vehicles, while Arrival focuses solely on commercial vehicles.

A 2019 report from the EPA claims that light-duty trucks and city buses account for almost 17% of emissions. Arrival plans to address these issues. They hope to have Arrival city transit buses in all major cities. UPS is a blue-chip investor in the company and ordered 10,000 delivery vehicles back in April 2020. Arrival has a series of microfactories set to open to begin to fill their orders.

What are Microfactories?

Microfactories are the environmentally friendly way Arrival plans to build their fleets. Unlike traditional assembly lines that require huge plots of land far from cities, these are different. They can set up their plants in pre-existing warehouses. They only need between 200,000 and 300,000 square feet to set up their shops. The first factory that will build their vans will open in the fourth quarter of 2022. The microfactory will be in Charlotte. A little further down the road, in Rock Hill, they will open another factory to build transit vehicles. No date is set for that opening, but Arrival has big plans.

One of these plans is to create a smaller vehicle for ride-sharing. They continue to use their sustainable practices. A bold decision to align with these practices is to use a thermoplastic composite on their car bodies. This material doesn’t need to be painted, which helps reduce building times and costs.

Complications in Adopting Electric Vehicles

South Carolina may be expanding its electric vehicle companies, but adoption by the general public is a hard road ahead. Florida is the number one adopter of electric vehicles in the south. Despite states like North Carolina and Georgia that have manufacturers of electric vehicles. This is due to a law that prevents these vehicles from being easily accessible to the public.

Right now, the law states that manufacturers cannot sell their own vehicles. They must sell to a dealer who then sells to the general public. The problem is that not many dealerships sell electric vehicles, and fewer have the means. Their mechanics don’t have the know-how to fix them, and vehicle charging stations are expensive to install on their premises.

Companies like Rivian and Arrival are working with state officials to create bylaws to sell their vehicles directly to the general public. It looks like states want to do anything they can to help these electric vehicle companies. Arrival partnered with the state to help Charlotte create a fleet of 100% zero-emissions by 2030.