The Year of Electric Vehicles 2022: A Surprising Future for Delivery Vans

The year 2022 is set to be a massive one for electric vehicles (EVs), with a new generation of EV trucks and SUVs, sedans, and coupes hitting the market. However, there's a special model that may surprise you - delivery vans.

Yes, those boxy rascals that are bombarding our neighborhood may seem like an unlikely priority for auto manufacturers, but they are as much in demand as any other EV model. The major reason for this is one Jeffrey, whose name is not mentioned in the provided content but will be assumed to continue explaining importance of delivery vans.

Delivery vans have become a crucial part of the automotive industry's focus on electric vehicles.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- The year of our Lord,2022 is primed to bea massive year for electric vehicles.A new generation of EV trucks and SUVs,along with a gaggle of sedans and coupeswill all be hitting the market.However, there's a specialmodel in rapid productionthat may surprise you.Delivery vans.Yes, you heard that right.Those boxy rascals bombingaround our neighborhoodare as much a priority forsome auto manufacturersas any other EV model.The major reason for this?One Jeffrey "Preston" Bezos.Space cowboy wants vans.Lots and lots of vans.So many in fact, that onJanuary 5th Amazon announcedthat they're collaborating with Stellantisto manufacture thousandsof EV delivery vehiclesfor Bezos' massive fleet.The fact that this is a highdollar agreement is news enoughbut the deal also made headlinesbecause it had animmediate negative impacton last year's Cinderella EVtruck maker, Rivian Motors.What's crazy is that Amazonis a major investor in Rivianbut with this delivery van pivot,Wall Street enthusiasm for the startuphas significantly waned.All this drama makes a guy wonder,what's really going on over at Amazon?Will Rivian be able to compete now thatlegacy auto makers arehitting the EV market?And by the way, whatthe hell is Stellantis?- Breathe in and out, good.Mindfulness and controlledbreathing are great practicesfor managing stress, butyou know what else is?- Going off-road.- Find yourself and share in the chillnesswith this new shirt.- Find yourself- Flowers, butterfly, toadstool, frog.All around you, all aroundmother earth and only $29.98.- So much cheaper than $30.- Available now at donutmedia.com.Go find yourself the chillestshirt we've ever made.Namaste, my dudes.- (whispering)Namaste, James.- What? Who said that?- We all know that wheneverAmazon makes a move,it usually affects thousandsof people and tons of moneyand the recent shakeup intheir automotive visionis no exception.Amazon was vital toRivian's rise, pumping overa billion big ones into thestartup over the last few years.This led to Rivian bringing the firstfully-electric pickuptruck to the marketplace.2022 motor trend truckof the year, the R1T.A big stipulation of theinvestment was that Riviancrank out a hundred thousand delivery vansfor Bezos by 2025.This massive order, alongwith their impressive numbersof R1T pre-orders led toa wave of Silicon valleyand Wall Street buzz thatculminated in Rivian'swildly successful IPO last November.But as weeks have gone on,we've seen Rivian's stock pricessignificantly drop, whichmany of you mentionedin the comments on the thelast video we did on Rivian.Peaking at $172 a share justdays after they went public,they now hover around 60 atthe time we're shooting thiswith no obvious sounds of bouncing back.A major reason for this financial diveis that they just got abigger, stronger, richervan-producing step-sibling, Stellantis.Never heard of Stellantis?Well, don't be too hard on yourselfbecause the company isless than a year old.Actually, company isprobably the wrong word.Multinational automotiveconglomerate is more like it.Yes, what sounds like asupplement or waterparkis actually aNetherlands-based corporationthat represents 14 different brandsincluding Dodge, Alfa Romeo and Maserati.Just think of them as theshiny new Fiat Chryslerand the fourth largestautomaker in the world.Now let's be clear, this is not Amazon'sfirst dance with Stellantis.They've been providing Bezoswith thousands of commercial vehiclesin the U.S and Europe since 2018.This new announcement wascentered around vehicle software,specifically in-car dashboardsoftware and cloud services.The platform has been dubbedthe STLA smart (beep) pitand is expected to run inmillions of Stellantis vehiclesstarting in 2024.The idea is that by using AIenhanced and Alexa-enabledvoice assistance, the smart(beep) pit will integratewith customers digital profiles to createa personalized in-vehicle experience.For example, when yourex-wife's new husbandtakes your kids on vacationin his Chrysler Pacifica,he might use the family trip plannerwhich will recommendentertainment, restaurantsand other fun activities along the drive.(sighs)Let's say you need to get outta town...to collect your thoughts.Way, way out of town,alone in the wilderness.New Jeeps are expected tofeature a digital coachto help calibrate the vehicleand optimize performancebefore you head off-road.This all sounds pretty harmless, right?I mean, an Alexa in a Dodgeshouldn't spell doom for Rivian.So let's figure outwhat's making this dealsuch for the baby brand.Well, Bezos currently has70,000 delivery vehicleson the road, with his last mile programcalling for hundreds ofthousands more by 2030.Last mile delivery makes up 53%of Amazon's shipment expenses,a number sure to riseconsidering their stated long-term goalsand beyond the obviousenvironmental benefits,consumer reports includedthat in the long run,EVs can cost 10 to 40% lessthan their gas powered peers.This potential savings is a huge incentivefor Bezos to transition toan all EV fleet even faster,not to mention how muchthat larger van Armadawill bolster his competitive advantage.Quote, "No matter how you look at it,the massive lifetime savings of EVscould be a game changer."says consumer reports' Chris Harto,quote, "As battery pricesand technology improveand prices come down, it'sonly going to get better."All this means that 2022is pretty much guaranteedto be a record breaking year in terms ofsheer number of EV vans produced.Specifically,Stellantises'... Stellantis'?Stellantis' batteryelectric Ram ProMaster,which Bezos will be thefirst commercial customerwhen it rolls off the line in 2023.The ProMasters' expected to offer a rangeof around 200 miles and Stellantis saysthey were creating softwarewith input from Amazonbefore this deal was even announced.This new gen van willprobably have similar featuresto Stellantis' alreadyrunning in Europe delivery EV,the Fiat Ducato.Active driving assist, a 360 degree cameraand a bunch of advanced safety featureslike traffic sign recognition,full speed forward collision warningand drowsiness detectionare expected to lenda helping into the bravesouls driving these mothers.See, this is what made Rivian investorsquake in their boots.They were basically like,"What the hell happenedto the hundred thousand vansRivian was supposed to make?Why is Stellantis suddenly in the mix?Something must be terribly wrong!But let's think aboutthis for a second, folks.It'd be truly insane for acompany as large as Amazonto hinge their automotivefuture on one company alone.Amazon makes millions ofdeliveries every year,so if there's a hitch with oneof their EV making partners,it makes total sense tohave another manufacturerin the bull pen.Let's also keep in mind thatRivian didn't convince Bezosto invest because of adelivery van concept.It was their revolutionary pickup truck.Only a few short months ago,Edmunds raved that quote,"The R1T is the quickestand best-handling truckwe've ever tested." whileMotorTrend said that it's, quote,"The most remarkabletruck we've ever driven."Out of over 70,000 R1T pre-orders,only 920 have been delivered so farat the time of this recording.Think about when more hit the streetsand people can judge themby their actual performancerather than stock market websites.A little while ago, I had thepleasure of getting behindthe wheel of R1T andI can promise you thatthe chatter about these thingsis only gonna get louder.You might think of gadgets whenyou hear all-electric truckbut Rivian's commitment topracticality over gimmicky techis obvious the second you sit down in one.Now that's not to say thereisn't a slick trick or twobecause there are many,I'm just saying it's niceto not immediately feel likeI sat down in an arcade.Man, remember arcades?We had one and then it shutdown 'cause nobody went to it.Unlike the friggin' internetcafe featured in Teslas,the R1T has only two low-profile screens.One is your cluster, the other controlsliterally everything else in the vehicle.While I do miss having knobsto turn for climate controlbecause I'm a 56 year old man,I was impressed by the incrediblyuser-friendly touchscreen display.You can tweak cornering,take off, sport mode,shock absorption, and groundclearance all on the fly.It's very, very impressive,and as far as power goes,we definitely weren't disappointed.As you can see in this video,the zero to 60 in three-ishseconds is absolutely no joke.That's me with my stomach in my throat.Among other pleasant surpriseswere the heartbeat blinkers.Instead of the click click click,and basically every car blinker ever made,Rivian created a soundinspired by the human heart.This was an oddly satisfying featureand just one of the sneaky,cool things that madethe R1T driving experiencesuper memorable.Now I didn't take this puppymountain climbing in Yosemite,but after an hour of testingthe truck around in townwe can say it's definitely worth the buzz.Literally everything on the truck workedand everyone we met at Rivianhas been very knowledgeable,friendly and most importantly, passionate.2022 will be a legendary EV year,particularly when itcomes to trucks and SUVs.It'll be awesome to seehow the R1T stacks upagainst competition like theFord lightning and GM's Hummer,and all this van drama aside,there's still plenty to beexcited when it comes to Rivian.They say they're expandingannual production capacityfrom 150 to 200,000 vehicles a yearand have plans to have their second plantrolling in Georgia by 2024,and keep in mind that Amazon hasn't soldany of their 20% stakein Rivian, saying quote,"We always knew that ourambitious sustainability goalsin our last mile operations would requiremultiple electric delivery van providers.We continue to be excited aboutour relationship with Rivianand this doesn't changeanything about our investment,collaboration or order size and timing."Look, I'm not gonnapretend that Wheelhouse isa stock market show, butwe do know about cars,which is why after driving the R1T,I think investor reactionto the Stellantis dealis a little over dramatic.Amazon is gonna buy atidal wave of delivery EVsover the next severalyears and as a result,Rivian still stands to generatebillions of dollars in casheven with this new Stellantis deal.So while this Wall Streetnews understandablystarted some nervous Rivian fans,you can probably chillout and enjoy this year'snew wave of thrillingEVs with the rest of us.As they say, a rising tide lifts all shipsand if Amazon's buying abunch, bunch, bunch of EV vans,that's quite a big tide.Thank you very much forwatching wheelhouse.We're gonna take a breakfrom the stock market,investing kind of videosover the next few weeks.We've done a lot of 'em it feels like.Follow Donut on allsocial media @DonutMedia.Follow me @NolanJSykes.Be kind, we'll see you next time.