- The year of our Lord, 2022 is primed to be
a massive year for electric vehicles.
A new generation of EV trucks and SUVs,
along with a gaggle of sedans and coupes
will all be hitting the market.
However, there's a special model in rapid production
that may surprise you.
Delivery vans.
Yes, you heard that right.
Those boxy rascals bombing around our neighborhood
are as much a priority for some auto manufacturers
as any other EV model.
The major reason for this?
One Jeffrey "Preston" Bezos.
Space cowboy wants vans.
Lots and lots of vans.
So many in fact, that on January 5th Amazon announced
that they're collaborating with Stellantis
to manufacture thousands of EV delivery vehicles
for Bezos' massive fleet.
The fact that this is a high dollar agreement is news enough
but the deal also made headlines
because it had an immediate negative impact
on last year's Cinderella EV truck maker, Rivian Motors.
What's crazy is that Amazon is a major investor in Rivian
but with this delivery van pivot,
Wall Street enthusiasm for the startup
has significantly waned.
All this drama makes a guy wonder,
what's really going on over at Amazon?
Will Rivian be able to compete now that
legacy auto makers are hitting the EV market?
And by the way, what the hell is Stellantis?
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- What? Who said that?
- We all know that whenever Amazon makes a move,
it usually affects thousands of people and tons of money
and the recent shakeup in their automotive vision
is no exception.
Amazon was vital to Rivian's rise, pumping over
a billion big ones into the startup over the last few years.
This led to Rivian bringing the first
fully-electric pickup truck to the marketplace.
2022 motor trend truck of the year, the R1T.
A big stipulation of the investment was that Rivian
crank out a hundred thousand delivery vans
for Bezos by 2025.
This massive order, along with their impressive numbers
of R1T pre-orders led to a wave of Silicon valley
and Wall Street buzz that culminated in Rivian's
wildly successful IPO last November.
But as weeks have gone on, we've seen Rivian's stock prices
significantly drop, which many of you mentioned
in the comments on the the last video we did on Rivian.
Peaking at $172 a share just days after they went public,
they now hover around 60 at the time we're shooting this
with no obvious sounds of bouncing back.
A major reason for this financial dive
is that they just got a bigger, stronger, richer
van-producing step-sibling, Stellantis.
Never heard of Stellantis?
Well, don't be too hard on yourself
because the company is less than a year old.
Actually, company is probably the wrong word.
Multinational automotive conglomerate is more like it.
Yes, what sounds like a supplement or waterpark
is actually a Netherlands-based corporation
that represents 14 different brands
including Dodge, Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
Just think of them as the shiny new Fiat Chrysler
and the fourth largest automaker in the world.
Now let's be clear, this is not Amazon's
first dance with Stellantis.
They've been providing Bezos
with thousands of commercial vehicles
in the U.S and Europe since 2018.
This new announcement was centered around vehicle software,
specifically in-car dashboard software and cloud services.
The platform has been dubbed the STLA smart (beep) pit
and is expected to run in millions of Stellantis vehicles
starting in 2024.
The idea is that by using AI enhanced and Alexa-enabled
voice assistance, the smart (beep) pit will integrate
with customers digital profiles to create
a personalized in-vehicle experience.
For example, when your ex-wife's new husband
takes your kids on vacation in his Chrysler Pacifica,
he might use the family trip planner
which will recommend entertainment, restaurants
and other fun activities along the drive.
(sighs)
Let's say you need to get outta town...
to collect your thoughts.
Way, way out of town, alone in the wilderness.
New Jeeps are expected to feature a digital coach
to help calibrate the vehicle and optimize performance
before you head off-road.
This all sounds pretty harmless, right?
I mean, an Alexa in a Dodge shouldn't spell doom for Rivian.
So let's figure out what's making this deal
such for the baby brand.
Well, Bezos currently has 70,000 delivery vehicles
on the road, with his last mile program
calling for hundreds of thousands more by 2030.
Last mile delivery makes up 53%
of Amazon's shipment expenses, a number sure to rise
considering their stated long-term goals
and beyond the obvious environmental benefits,
consumer reports included that in the long run,
EVs can cost 10 to 40% less than their gas powered peers.
This potential savings is a huge incentive
for Bezos to transition to an all EV fleet even faster,
not to mention how much that larger van Armada
will bolster his competitive advantage.
Quote, "No matter how you look at it,
the massive lifetime savings of EVs
could be a game changer."
says consumer reports' Chris Harto,
quote, "As battery prices and technology improve
and prices come down, it's only going to get better."
All this means that 2022 is pretty much guaranteed
to be a record breaking year in terms of
sheer number of EV vans produced.
Specifically, Stellantises'... Stellantis'?
Stellantis' battery electric Ram ProMaster,
which Bezos will be the first commercial customer
when it rolls off the line in 2023.
The ProMasters' expected to offer a range
of around 200 miles and Stellantis says
they were creating software with input from Amazon
before this deal was even announced.
This new gen van will probably have similar features
to Stellantis' already running in Europe delivery EV,
the Fiat Ducato.
Active driving assist, a 360 degree camera
and a bunch of advanced safety features
like traffic sign recognition,
full speed forward collision warning
and drowsiness detection are expected to lend
a helping into the brave souls driving these mothers.
See, this is what made Rivian investors
quake in their boots.
They were basically like, "What the hell happened
to the hundred thousand vans Rivian was supposed to make?
Why is Stellantis suddenly in the mix?
Something must be terribly wrong!
But let's think about this for a second, folks.
It'd be truly insane for a company as large as Amazon
to hinge their automotive future on one company alone.
Amazon makes millions of deliveries every year,
so if there's a hitch with one of their EV making partners,
it makes total sense to have another manufacturer
in the bull pen.
Let's also keep in mind that Rivian didn't convince Bezos
to invest because of a delivery van concept.
It was their revolutionary pickup truck.
Only a few short months ago, Edmunds raved that quote,
"The R1T is the quickest and best-handling truck
we've ever tested." while MotorTrend said that it's, quote,
"The most remarkable truck we've ever driven."
Out of over 70,000 R1T pre-orders,
only 920 have been delivered so far
at the time of this recording.
Think about when more hit the streets
and people can judge them by their actual performance
rather than stock market websites.
A little while ago, I had the pleasure of getting behind
the wheel of R1T and I can promise you that
the chatter about these things is only gonna get louder.
You might think of gadgets when you hear all-electric truck
but Rivian's commitment to practicality over gimmicky tech
is obvious the second you sit down in one.
Now that's not to say there isn't a slick trick or two
because there are many, I'm just saying it's nice
to not immediately feel like I sat down in an arcade.
Man, remember arcades?
We had one and then it shut down 'cause nobody went to it.
Unlike the friggin' internet cafe featured in Teslas,
the R1T has only two low-profile screens.
One is your cluster, the other controls
literally everything else in the vehicle.
While I do miss having knobs to turn for climate control
because I'm a 56 year old man,
I was impressed by the incredibly
user-friendly touchscreen display.
You can tweak cornering, take off, sport mode,
shock absorption, and ground clearance all on the fly.
It's very, very impressive,
and as far as power goes,
we definitely weren't disappointed.
As you can see in this video,
the zero to 60 in three-ish seconds is absolutely no joke.
That's me with my stomach in my throat.
Among other pleasant surprises were the heartbeat blinkers.
Instead of the click click click,
and basically every car blinker ever made,
Rivian created a sound inspired by the human heart.
This was an oddly satisfying feature
and just one of the sneaky, cool things that made
the R1T driving experience super memorable.
Now I didn't take this puppy mountain climbing in Yosemite,
but after an hour of testing the truck around in town
we can say it's definitely worth the buzz.
Literally everything on the truck worked
and everyone we met at Rivian has been very knowledgeable,
friendly and most importantly, passionate.
2022 will be a legendary EV year,
particularly when it comes to trucks and SUVs.
It'll be awesome to see how the R1T stacks up
against competition like the Ford lightning and GM's Hummer,
and all this van drama aside,
there's still plenty to be excited when it comes to Rivian.
They say they're expanding annual production capacity
from 150 to 200,000 vehicles a year
and have plans to have their second plant
rolling in Georgia by 2024,
and keep in mind that Amazon hasn't sold
any of their 20% stake in Rivian, saying quote,
"We always knew that our ambitious sustainability goals
in our last mile operations would require
multiple electric delivery van providers.
We continue to be excited about our relationship with Rivian
and this doesn't change anything about our investment,
collaboration or order size and timing."
Look, I'm not gonna pretend that Wheelhouse is
a stock market show, but we do know about cars,
which is why after driving the R1T,
I think investor reaction to the Stellantis deal
is a little over dramatic.
Amazon is gonna buy a tidal wave of delivery EVs
over the next several years and as a result,
Rivian still stands to generate billions of dollars in cash
even with this new Stellantis deal.
So while this Wall Street news understandably
started some nervous Rivian fans,
you can probably chill out and enjoy this year's
new wave of thrilling EVs with the rest of us.
As they say, a rising tide lifts all ships
and if Amazon's buying a bunch, bunch, bunch of EV vans,
that's quite a big tide.
Thank you very much for watching wheelhouse.
We're gonna take a break from the stock market,
investing kind of videos over the next few weeks.
We've done a lot of 'em it feels like.
Follow Donut on all social media @DonutMedia.
Follow me @NolanJSykes.
Be kind, we'll see you next time.