British EV start-up arriving in North Carolina to construct a UPS fleet

A UK electric vehicle company has roots in the US and plans to roll out its new production concept globally as the demand for new mobility systems increases.

Arrival, which develops electric vans and buses, announced last week that it is building a second microfactory in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company plans to assemble vehicles for a fleet order from United Parcel Service there from the second half of 2022.

President Avinash Rugoobur told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Monday that its vertically integrated micro-factories require less space and capital investment than traditional manufacturing facilities.

“We’re working with the city of Charlotte to create a whole transportation ecosystem together,” he said in a Mad Money interview. “If you look at the global scale that needs to be switched to electricity, we expect microfactories all over the world.”

Arrival is investing more than $ 41 million in the Charlotte plant, where the US headquarters are located.

The company plans to go public as part of a blank check merger with Ciig Merger and expects to hire more than 250 employees at the site. This is in addition to the 650 jobs that will be brought into the region as part of the corporate offices announced in December.

According to Arrival, it is a mission to accelerate the transition to zero-emission commercial vehicles. The company claims a competitive advantage by designing its own batteries and other components in-house and writing its own software, Rugoobur said.

“The interesting thing about the microfactory is that you can use existing warehouses and turn them into production facilities,” said Rugoobur.

UPS ordered 10,000 Generation 2 electric vehicles from Arrival almost a year ago to electrify the fleet of delivery vehicles. At the same time, the delivery company took part in Arrival.

The electric vehicles are expected to hit the streets in the next four years.