There’s a new unicorn in the world of electric vehicles.
The UK-based startup Arrival, which is building small- and medium-sized electric vans for deliveries and other commercial roles, announced this week that it’s attracted a $110 million investment from Hyundai and Kia.
Arrival’s Chief Strategy Officer Avinash Rugoobur says the partnership bumps Arrival’s valuation to $3 billion euros($3.3 billion USD). By contrast, Rivian, which is building an electric pickup truck, was last valued at $5-7 billion, and Tesla’s value is just shy of $100 billion, more than Ford and GM combined.
“One of the keys to our approach is we're a purpose-built vehicle specifically for commercial vehicle applications. That gives us some freedom to truly optimize the vehicle for those applications,” Arrival president Albert Biermann said in an exclusive interview Thursday morning with Cheddar. “That will give us an advantage over any company that we see right now in the commercial vehicle space.”
Hyundai, Kia and Arrival said that they each plan to introduce a range of “purpose-built vehicles” based on Arrival’s “scalable electric platform.” Already, since 2018, UPS has been testing several dozen toaster-shaped Arrival delivery vans on the streets of London and Paris.
The vans are based on what Arrival calls its “skateboard” platform, a modular design that the company says will allow it to rapidly build a range of vehicles off the same platform, at a lower price.
“We can offer electric vehicles at the same price as petro-fuel vehicles,” Biermann told Cheddar.
Delivery vans and other commercial vehicles may be easier to electrify than passenger cars and trucks. For delivery or messenger services, and some contractors, the routes tend to be short, at least in cities. Depending on the type of company, employees may also drive to and from the shop multiple times a day – offering regular opportunities to charge the vehicles.
Rivian, which is backed by Ford and Amazon, has agreed to build 100,000 electric delivery vans for the online retailer.
“Commercial vehicles typically, or many of them, return to the depot at night,” Biermann said. “You only need to install the infrastructure at the depot, so it's a much simpler, a much easier problem to solve than deploying chargers for the retail fleet everywhere in the city.”
A persistent challenge, by contrast, is not only cost, but efficiency: Catering companies, florists, contractors, and delivery services won’t want to wait for their vehicles to charge before heading to the next job.
The transportation sector presents one of the biggest areas for achieving emissions reductions to slow climate change. In the U.S., transportation accounted for the greatest share of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions in 2017: 29%, compared to 28% from electricity generation and 22% from industry. Globally, the transportation sector generated 14% of the world’s emissions.
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
U.S. sports betting is booming as NFL and college football fuel massive activity. BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt breaks down trends, growth, and what’s next.
President Donald Trump says a deal struck by Netflix last week to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share. The Republican president says he will be involved in the decision about whether federal regulators should approve the deal. Trump commented Sunday when he was asked about the deal as he walked the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors. The $72 billion deal would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry.
Disney's changes to a program for disabled visitors are facing challenges in federal court and through a shareholder proposal. The Disability Access Service program, which allows disabled visitors to skip long lines, was overhauled last year. Disney now mostly limits the program to those with developmental disabilities like autism who have difficulty waiting in lines. The changes have sparked criticism from some disability advocates. A shareholder proposal submitted by disability advocates calls for an independent review of Disney's disability policies. Disney plans to block this proposal, claiming it's misleading. It's the latest struggle by Disney to accommodate disabled visitors while stopping past abuses by some theme park guests.
