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Rivian

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  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Saturday, September 21, 2019 6:00 PM

CMStPnP

 

 
csxns
Will they ship out by Rail?

 

I believe I read somewhere that Amazon was also buying rail compatible overseas shipping containers and intends to take advantage of low rail rates for some shipping.   I am not looking for the link this time you guys need to use Google.   It was either Trains or Railway Age or a business related publication in which I read this.

 

Norfolk Southern is watching, carefully. They still operate out of the yard at NW Bloomington (Yuton) and there is discussion of local supporting industry investigating rail service. Might be a while before the facility gets operating on a regular basis.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
  • Member since
    June 2009
  • From: Dallas, TX
  • 6,952 posts
Posted by CMStPnP on Saturday, September 21, 2019 12:09 PM

csxns
Will they ship out by Rail?

I believe I read somewhere that Amazon was also buying rail compatible overseas shipping containers and intends to take advantage of low rail rates for some shipping.   I am not looking for the link this time you guys need to use Google.   It was either Trains or Railway Age or a business related publication in which I read this.

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • From: North Carolina
  • 1,905 posts
Posted by csxns on Saturday, September 21, 2019 9:12 AM

Gramp
100,000 electric delivery van order for Amazon

Will they ship out by Rail?

Russell

  • Member since
    November 2014
  • 137 posts
Posted by JoeBlow on Friday, September 20, 2019 8:13 PM

It will be interesting see if Rivian and Tesla succeed in electric commercial trucks.

Besides the huge obstacles of material, mechanical, electric, etc. engineering, finding reliable suppliers is tough for any automotive start up. Rivian will likely pay higher prices for parts just like Tesla had to do in the early days. 

Will Rivian become another failed startup like Faraday Future or Lucid? Only time will tell. 

  • Member since
    January 2019
  • 1,686 posts
Posted by Erik_Mag on Friday, September 20, 2019 9:46 AM

Considering that electric trucks were commonly used in urban areas 100 years ago... Companies suchs as Amazon, UPS and FedEx have a very good idea of how far their trucks travel in a work day and as such would know how to make use of an electric delivery truck.

Two issues I see are: Weather extremes affecting battery capacity and matching charging times with off-peak demand vs generation hours (think "solar duck").

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,669 posts
Posted by Overmod on Friday, September 20, 2019 8:01 AM

Look at the larger picture driving this.  Bezos has workers threatening to strike over Amazon's "carbon footprint" and this is one of the logical steps to reduce that, or at least reduce the perception of it, or at least to reduce the workers' ability to garner sympathy if they try to strike over it.

Electric vans with rapid recharge are a sensible thing for last-mile delivery, particularly because if they should run low they can be served by a comparatively small fleet of service trucks with gensets and energy storage.  If, as I think likely, they will use large electric drones to transfer packages from truck to 'delivery point' on premise, the ability to keep them recharged with a high-capacity DC source is still more valuable.

What is interesting in this case is that pure BEVs will work effectively -- unlike Musk's larger or long-distance trucks -- in their likely intended service.  Let's see who understands this and who doesn't in the following days of press releases and NPR stories ...

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, September 20, 2019 7:22 AM

It should be most amusing to hear what Elon Musk will tweet about this.  Amazon is one of the investors in Rivian (Ford Motor Co. is another) so they have a vested interest in making these trucks work.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    October 2014
  • 1,139 posts
Rivian
Posted by Gramp on Thursday, September 19, 2019 10:55 PM

Looks like the Normal, IL assembly plant will get busy again. 100,000 electric delivery van order for Amazon. 

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