division have announced a new joint venture to build two new large electric commercial vans for the European market, with an"efficient" manufacturing setup using shared assembly lines in an all-new EV-dedicated factory.
The deal hasn't been finalized just yet, as the shared release states there's still some regulatory this-and-that and the final paperwork to be signed, but they must be confident it's a sure thing if they're already making announcements. The new van production is set to begin"in a few years" in an"all-new electric-only production facility" that's located on a site already operated by Mercedes-Benz in"Central/Eastern Europe.
Rivian's large EV van will be based on its second-generation Rivian Light Van platform , and Mercedes-Benz will assemble its large EV van on its Van Electric Architecture . You can see ourNo word yet on planned capacity or output, but"both companies plan to rapidly scale production of electric vans to help the world transition to cleaner transportation," so we'll probably know more soon.
The recent U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which outlined new rules for federal EV rebates including strict stateside materials-sourcing requirements, would render any EV van either company builds in Europe ineligible for any government incentives if it was shipped over and sold in the U.S., so it doesn't seem likely we'll get either of these new vans. It doesn't seem unreasonable that Rivian and Mercedes-Benz could find a way to produce EV vans on the same platforms in U.S.