Rivian has formally teamed up with the ice cream firm Ben & Jerry’s to launch an electrified ice cream truck, weeks after the electrical car (EV) maker launched its van to extra industrial clients.
As detailed in a press launch on Tuesday, Rivian and Ben & Jerry’s have unveiled two “Scoop Vans,” a pair of electrical ice cream vehicles based mostly on the Rivian Industrial Van (RCV). Rivian formally launched the RCV to industrial clients past its early accomplice Amazon final month, and the Scoop Truck is among the first we’ve seen of its modular use circumstances within the weeks since.
The businesses plan to debut the primary of the electrical ice cream vehicles on the South by Southwest (SXSW) music competition in Austin, Texas, which begins on Friday. After the competition, each of the Scoop Vans will likely be hitting the highway throughout the U.S., together with becoming a member of a sequence of pop-up occasions in Vermont, the place Ben & Jerry’s is headquartered.
Credit score: Ben & Jerry’s
Credit score: Ben & Jerry’s
“Collaborating with the Ben & Jerry’s staff to construct the following era of electrical scoop vehicles has been an unimaginable expertise. It’s a kind of initiatives that simply makes the staff smile,” stated Brian Gase, Rivian’s Senior Director of Prototype Improvement. “We will’t look forward to folks to cease by for some ice cream and see it in motion for the primary time throughout SXSW!”
The Scoop Vans seem like the Rivian RCV 500, providing a 161-mile vary, and an total size of 248.5 inches. The electrical van additionally features a 100 kWh LFP battery pack, and Rivian says it could actually cost at speeds of as much as 100 kW.
“Working with Rivian, an trade chief that’s dedicated to sustainability is an ice cream dream come true,” notes Sean Slattery, Ben & Jerry’s U.S. Built-in Advertising and marketing undertaking lead. “In the present day, Rivian helped Ben & Jerry’s scale back our reliance on fossil fuels in a small approach, whereas making issues slightly bit cooler… which, as an ice cream firm, is extraordinarily troublesome to do.”
A photograph of one of many Rivian Scoop Vans was additionally noticed and photographed being hauled in Irvine, California, as was shared on Reddit final week. As one viewer factors out, the RCVs embrace an additional air-con unit on prime of the van, to be able to assist hold needed refrigeration working.
Credit score: riceengineer | Reddit
Credit score: Rivian
Credit score: Rivian
Credit score: Rivian
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Together with the Ben & Jerry’s RCV, Rivian is partnering with SXSW on an “Electrical Roadhouse” exhibit, which can embrace panel discussions, demo drives, dwell music, and even a have a look at the upcoming R2 line. Rivian can also be set to be an official sponsor for the music competition’s Transportation Observe occasion. The Scoop Truck is more likely to play a task within the upcoming Rivian occasion, although the businesses have but to reveal the place precisely it may be seen this weekend.
In December, Rivian introduced that it has deployed 20,000 of the Electrical Supply Vans (EDVs), that are the Amazon-exclusive launch model of the RCVs. Produced alongside the R1T and R1S on the firm’s manufacturing facility in Regular, Illinois, the vans are available in two configurations, the RCV 500 and the longer RCV 700, that are each at present being supplied for fleet gross sales.
Rivian can also be aiming to construct a manufacturing facility in Georgia with assist from a $6.6 billion mortgage from the Division of Vitality (DOE), although these plans are up within the air beneath the Trump administration’s current freeze on federal grants and loans. CEO RJ Scaringe in January stated that the automaker has already signed a “legally binding settlement” with the DOE, that includes a broad vary of circumstances that Rivian should meet alongside the way in which.
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