• News

Rivian (RIVN) and Amazon may break exclusivity deal for EV delivery trucks

The change may allow Rivian to find additional partners for its EV delivery trucks.

Donovan Erskine

March 13, 2023 8:30 AM

Amazon

1

As Rivian (RIVN) continues to expand its business and establish itself as a premier electric vehicle manufacturer, the company has made some major business moves in order to reach that goal. This included a previous deal with Amazon to exclusively supply the retail conglomerate with electric delivery trucks. Now, Rivian and Amazon may be reconsidering the terms of that deal, potentially getting rid of the exclusivity.

Sources familiar with the deal between Amazon and Rivian have stated that the two sides are reconsidering some aspects of it, as we learned through CNBC. The deal between the two companies was initially inked in 2019, and saw Rivian supply Amazon with 100,000 electric delivery vans. Amazon began using these EV vans for its deliveries last summer, and Rivian recently shared that it crossed 10 million packages delivered with those vans.

If Amazon and Rivian do indeed break their exclusivity deal, that would allow the latter to explore additional partners. Rivian is looking to increase production numbers for its EV trucks, and this could help find them a home. Especially since Amazon only ordered 10,000 vehicles for this year, which is a bit on the low end of the range provided by the Wall Street Journal’s report.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson reaffirmed the company’s relationship with Rivian. “While nothing has changed with our agreement with Rivian, we’ve always said that we want others to benefit from their technology in the long run because having more electric delivery vehicles on the road is good for our communities and our planet,”

It will be interesting to see what deals Rivian strikes up if it ends up breaking its exclusivity with Amazon. As we await that news, be sure to bookmark our Rivian topic page. We’ll also be reporting on the biggest stories involving electric vehicles.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_