UPDATE: Amazon to purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian

Posted on September 19, 2019
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced the purchase Thursday. (Photo courtesy TechCrunch/Twitter)

 

By Neil Doyle

NORMAL – Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced the company will purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian Automotive.

Bezos said the first electric delivery vehicles will be on the road by 2021. He said the purchase is part of Amazon’s plan to tackle climate change.

“As this economy develops and people get serious about being carbon zero though real changes to their real business activities, that’s going to be a gigantic signal to the marketplace to start developing these new technologies,” said Bezos at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

Rivian, which operates the former Mitsubishi Motors plant in Normal, announced in February a $700 million investment led by Amazon. The electric vehicle maker has received two other large investments from Ford Motor Company and Cox Automotive.

Rivian will also build its electric R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck.  Those vehicles are planned to be launched late next year.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…