Rivian and Mercedes-Benz Want To Build Electric Vans Together

Move over Sprinter and Metris, the next Mercedes-Benz van might be electric and made with Rivian parts.

Rivian and Mercedes-Benz have announced an intention of a partnership between the two companies, with plans to produce an electric van. The partnership isn’t quite official yet, the two companies have merely formed a “Memorandum of Understanding,” which is a document that announces the intention, but the actual details haven’t been fully fleshed out yet. Still, if and when the partnership is made official, both companies will share development costs and resources when it comes to engineering a new electric van.

The partnership will see two vans, both companies having access to Mercedes-Benz’s “VAN.EA” platform, and Rivian’s Rivian Light Van platform, currently in service as Amazon’s main electric van delivery vehicle. The companies also plan to convert an existing Mercedes-Benz plant somewhere in Eastern Europe, to electric-only production. Both brands aim to synergize their electric van building operation; “further options for increased synergies from the joint venture will also be explored,” said the two companies.

Right now, the partnership is still in the very early phases, there are no hard dates for anything yet, beyond the vague statement of “just a few years.” Mercedes-Benz’s first electric van on its new VAN.EA platform won’t enter production until 2025. Still, Mercedes-Benz and Rivian are excited to partner, “I am delighted that as part of this transformation we are now joining forces with Rivian,” said the head of Mercedes-Benz vans, Mathias Geisen.

We aren’t sure what the results of the Rivian/Mercedes-Benz tie-up will look like, but a few EV vans from the two companies should be on the roads, eventually.

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