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Blackrock boost confirms electric van maker’s arrival

A British technology company that is developing electric vans for Royal Mail has received a $118 million cash injection from the world’s largest money manager.

Arrival, which is also developing zero-emission buses, said that the investment from

Investors are betting heavily that battery-powered cars will quickly replace their fossil-fuel equivalents. The market capitalisation of Tesla, Elon Musk’s flag-bearer for the sector, has soared more than ninefold in the past 12 months to nearly $420 billion, making it more valuable than Toyota, Ford and Volkswagen combined.

Arrival has its headquarters in London, a microfactory in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and research and development facilities in nearby Reading and Banbury.

The loss-making company employs about 1,200 people in half-a-dozen countries. It was founded five years ago by Denis Sverdlov, 42, a Russian former telecoms entrepreneur who served as the country’s telecoms minister.

Blackrock would help it to expand its network of “microfactories” in Europe and the United States.

Blackrock’s investment maintains Arrival’s valuation at €3.3 billion. The company achieved that mark this year when Hyundai and Kia, the South Korean carmakers, together put €100 million into the company for a 3 per cent stake.

Arrival claims that it can develop and build new electric vehicles at a fraction of the cost of traditional car manufacturers through its network of microfactories.

These plants use a “cell-based” robotic assembly system instead of a traditional production line, allowing them to build any vehicle in Arrival’s portfolio, according to the company. Vehicles are built on top of flat, modular “skateboard” bases containing the batteries and drivetrain.

This week Arrival said that it was investing $46 million to build a microfactory in South Carolina. The American facility is expected to go online in the second quarter of next year.

Arrival claims that its electric vans, priced at about £36,000, can travel 200 miles on a single charge.

The company is aiming to bring the cost down to match that of a £25,000 diesel Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. It aims to use its microfactories to produce as many as 10,000 vans a year.

Arrival is testing its vans with Royal Mail, UPS and DHL, the giant delivery businesses, among others. UPS has already ordered 10,000 of the vans with an option to purchase a further 10,000 in 2023 in a deal worth as much as €800 million. The UPS vans are in the prototype stage, but Arrival aims to deliver finished models to the American courier over the next four years.

The New York-based Blackrock has about $7.8 trillion of assets under management. It is also an investor in Rivian, an electric van maker that aims to supply 100,000 vehicles to Amazon, the ecommerce group, to form the backbone of its home delivery fleet. In July this year, Blackrock made a further undisclosed investment in Rivian.

Blackrock’s cash infusion is a boost for Britain’s carmaking industry, which has struggled to attract investment since the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Arrival’s Bicester factory is slated to begin van production next year.

Its new American factory will aim to make up to 1,000 electric buses a year when production begins late next year.

Mr Sverdlov set up Arrival using money he made from the sale of Yota, his Russian mobile phone company, in 2012. It is not known how much he made from the sale.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blackrock-boost-confirms-electric-van-maker-s-arrival-2sxtcq5j0?shareToken=5e0d4df8a6ce62c32eae2358eb33e496