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Rivian launches sales of once-exclusive van: price, specs, features

Credit: Rivian

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Rivian is launching fleet sales of its once-exclusive van that was only available to Amazon.

On Monday, Rivian officially opened up its order books for any company aiming to purchase the van for a fleet. Currently, this is the only way to place an order for the Rivian Commercial Van (RCV), which differs in a few ways from Rivian’s EDV, which was an Amazon exclusive.

Tom Soloman, Senior Director of Business Development for Rivian, said:

“Through existing partnerships, our commercial vans have already proved incredibly successful. Amazon currently has more than 20,000 in its fleet and delivered over a billion packages from its Electric Delivery Vans in 2024 alone. Over the last year we have been focusing our efforts on testing with some larger fleets, and we’re really pleased with how those trials have gone. As a result, we’re excited to now be able to open sales to fleets of all sizes in the U.S., whether they want one van or thousands. Our vehicles are designed to not only be among the safest on the road but will also help fleet owners to reduce the cost of fleet ownership and their carbon footprint.”

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Rivian RCV Models

Rivian is launching two models of the RCV: the Delivery 500 and Delivery 700. The 500 is more compact than the 700 but offers one more mile of range than its larger sibling. Don’t be too impressed, though, because it only is able to travel 161 and 160 miles on a full charge, respectively.

These range ratings are powered by a 100 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery pack that is capable of charging speeds of up to 100 kW.

Fast charging is not necessarily needed with these vehicles because, in a fleet setting, they’ll likely be sitting for some period of time hooked up to chargers, giving a full battery to whoever uses them at the beginning of a trip.

Rivian RCV 500 Dimensions:

  • Length – 248.5″
  • Width – 96.4″ (including mirrors)
  • Height – 114.7″
  • 6.7″ of ground clearance
  • 487 cu. ft. of cargo area
  • 137.3″ of cargo length
  • Up to 76.5″ of wall-to-wall cargo area

Rivian RCV 700 Dimensions:

  • Length – 278″
  • Width – 103.5″ (including mirrors)
  • Height – 114.8″
  • 6.9″ of ground clearance
  • 652 cu. ft. of cargo area
  • 166.8″ of cargo length
  • Up to 83.6″ of wall-to-wall cargo area

Rivian RCV Safety Features

Rivian’s focus on safety was still a main point of emphasis with the RCV. It features all of your typical Driver Assistance and Safety Features that Rivian includes with other vehicles, with a few extras that fit the typical bill of a cargo van:

  • Adaptive Cruise Control
  • Blind Spot Warning
  • Speed Limit Information Function
  • Lane Keep Assist
  • Lane Departure Warning
  • High Beam Assist
  • Back-Up Warning System
  • Surround Park Assist
  • Bird’s Eye Surround Camera
  • Enhanced Reverse View
  • Automatic Emergency Braking
  • Forward Collision Warning
  • Rear Cross Traffic Warning
  • Dynamic Braking Support

It also features Rivian’s “Driver+” system, which includes a variety of radars, cameras, and sensors to improve safety:

  • Five Radars – 1 Center Front Forward, 4 Corners
  • Eight Cameras – 2 Center Front Windshield Forward, 2 Side Mirror Backward, 2 Rooftop, 1 Rear Surround View, 1 Interior
  • 12 Ultrasonic Sensors

Rivian RCV Driver Features

In an effort to keep drivers focused on the road, comfortable throughout their workday, and safe, Rivian included a variety of features with the RCV.

  • Easily Accessible Buttons – All controls are accessible from the steering wheel while driving
  • Large, comfortable driver seat
  • 15.4″ Center Display – One of the largest of any light-duty commercial vehicle
  • Two Wireless Charging Pads

Rivian RCV Pricing

The Rivian RCV starts at $79,900, and fleet orders can be submitted to Rivian directly on their website.

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

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Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Investor's Corner

Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

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Credit: Lucid

Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.

Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”

Twork said:

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Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.

Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.

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Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.

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Tesla owner attempts resale of Model S Signature Edition for over $260k

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla owner who purchased a Model S Signature Edition, one of the final 250 units of the all-electric flagship vehicle that the company discontinued earlier this year, is attempting to sell the car despite a no-resale clause that prohibits reselling for the first year.

The car is being sold by J&S Autohaus in Ewing, New Jersey, and is priced at $260,490, well above the $159,420 that Tesla sold it for earlier this year.

To those who do not know, the Model S Signature was a highly exclusive, limited-run farewell variant of the Model S Plaid that was produced this year to mark the end of production of both the Model S and Model X, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles.

Limited to just 250 units with invite-only sales, it serves as a collector’s item celebrating the legacy of the Model S, which helped pioneer Tesla’s electric vehicle success since its 2012 launch.

It bundles top-tier performance with bespoke cosmetic and luxury upgrades, plus Tesla’s Luxe Package. Here’s what the Model S Signature has over the typical Model S Plaid:

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  • Exclusive Exterior – Unique Garnet Red Paint, matching door handles, gold Tesla “T” badges upfront, gold Plaid and Signature badging at the rear.
  • Premium Interior – White Alcantara upholstery with gold piping/accents, gold Plaid seat badges, Signature-marked door sills, individually numbered dashboard plaque, gold puddle lights, special interior lighting sequence, and a custom Signature key fob.
  • Performance Upgrades – Carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers
  • Bundled Luxe Package – Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Connectivity, free lifetime Supercharging
  • Performance Metrics – ~1,020 horsepower, sub-2-second 0-60 MPH, ~390-mile range

Tesla quickly introduced a No Resale Agreement for the Signature Editions of the Model S and Model X, which would penalize the seller for “the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”

The company continues:

“If you sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of your Model S or Model X, the remainder of the Recommended Maintenance, Wheel and Tire Protection Plan, and Windshield Protection Plan will transfer automatically to the buyer. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once the ownership of the Model S or Model X is transferred.”

Tesla will likely come after the seller, especially as it has been about two months since Tesla launched deliveries.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Early Impressions: new features and early performance

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Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla rolled out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.5 yesterday, and about fifty miles of driving on the new version has given me enough time to highlight what seems to be strong about the release and what is not.

Additionally, Tesla has added a few new features with this specific update, which we’ll highlight as well.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Performance

The new update is business as usual. Things seem to be running completely normal and necessary, but there are a few things that we’ve seemed to pick up on based on our own experience with v14.3.5, as well as what other users are seeing.

Initially, it seems to be more aware of its surroundings, making moves that are incredibly courteous to other drives and operating just a tad more reserved than what the suite might have done previously.

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We had two instances where it showed this, the first being FSD needing to pass a Flagger Force vehicle that was placing down signage for the day. Their work truck was right at the front corner of a right-hand turn; typically where most cars travel when they take that turn.

FSD v14.3.5 recognized this, slowed down, and took the turn wide with no issues:

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Additionally, v14.3.5 backed up for a semi truck that was making a wide turn onto a road my car was on. This is not new, but it seemed to be backing up for courtesy; it didn’t seem completely necessary, but it might have put some peace of mind in the truck driver’s head:

X user Mike P, also a Pennsylvania native like myself, shared three clips of his Tesla running v14.3.5 performing similar maneuvers. He said:

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“FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.”

Check it out here:

It seems like Speed Profiles are still in need of some tweaking; I am adjusting what Speed Profile I’m in frequently, constantly changing it to get it to travel at the correct speed. This was an issue for me on v14.3.4. It seems like they’re just a little inconsistent.

Terrible Parking

Parking attempts on v14.3.5 were not good. There are quite a few people who have said this:

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David Moss, the Tesla owner who has taken multiple coast-to-coast drives without any interventions, also has had some issues with parking early on with v14.3.5:

New Features

Tesla has added the ability to open Camera Preview at any time. Previously, it was only available in Park. Here’s what that feature looks like in action:

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Check back later this week for a longer review of what we’ve noticed on Full Self-Driving v14.3.5.

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