A UK electric vehicle company is taking root in the US and plans to take its new production concept worldwide as the demand for new mobility systems grows.
Arrival, which develops electric vans and buses, announced last week that it was building a second microfactory in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company plans to mount vehicles there for a fleet order from United Parcel Service starting in the second half of 2022.
President Avinash Rugoobur told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday that vertically integrated microfactories require less space and capital investment than traditional manufacturing facilities.
“We are working with the city of Charlotte to produce an entire transportation ecosystem,” he said in a “Mad Money” interview. “If you look at the global scale that needs to change to be electrical, we expect you to have microfactories all over the world.”
Arrival is investing more than $ 41 million in the plant in Charlotte, where its U.S. headquarters are located.
The company plans to launch via a blank-check merger with Ciig Merger and expects to hire more than 250 employees on the premises. That is in addition to the 650 jobs he says will be in the area as part of the corporate offices he announced in December.
According to Arrival, the mission is to accelerate the transition to commercial vehicles without release. The company claims a competitive advantage by having its own batteries and other components internally designed and writing its own software, Rugoobur said.
“What’s interesting about the microfactor is that you can use existing warehouses and turn them into production facilities,” Rugoobur said.
Nearly a year ago, UPS placed an order for 10,000 Generation 2 Electric Vehicles with Arrival as part of the shipping giant to electrify its fleet of vans. The delivery firm took an interest in Arrival at the same time.
The electric vehicles are expected to hit streets over the next four years.