An Arrival Electric Van Prototype Goes Up For Sale on eBay
One of the electric vehicle industry’s more unfortunate stories now has a tangible piece of history available to the public. An Arrival electric van prototype, a vehicle from the once high-valued British electric delivery van maker, is currently listed for sale on eBay.
According to the seller, who worked for Arrival before its closure earlier this year, the pre-production van is “the only known running and fully operational Arrival Gamma Van available.” The van was acquired in June at Arrival’s liquidation auction for an unrevealed sum.
The vehicle features sliding electric doors and a touchscreen interface within the cabin. The shelving is reportedly intact, and the seller suggests it could potentially be converted into a “campervan.” As of Friday, the highest bid was £5,600, or approximately $7,368.
Arrival, founded in 2015, aimed to revolutionize delivery vehicles, much like Tesla did for automobiles. The company initially built 25 vans in 2021 for testing and had a deal to manufacture 10,000 vehicles for UPS. However, by late January 2023, Arrival’s finances dwindled to $205 million. Plans were scaled backfocusing solely on the US delivery market and scrapping expansion into buses and ride-sharing vehicles. The company subsequently made further cutbacks until the final shutdown.
Despite its ultimate failure, Arrival’s goal to create more energy-efficient delivery vehicles was shared by others. Amazon, for example, partnered with Rivian to build 100,000 electric vans for its delivery fleet by 2030. Ford has also released its all-electric E-Transit van for commercial use – and the E-Transit is available to consumers, as well.
