UK's Arrival Produces First Production Verification Van in Microfactory

The UK's Arrival has announced that it has produced the first production verification vehicle from its Bicester Microfactory. It produced the first Van in a Microfactory using in-house technologies, including composite materials, autonomous mobile robots, in-house components and a software defined factory.

It will be used for continued testing, validation and quality control, rather than being sold to customers.

Arrival’s zero-emission Van features the company's in-house hardware and software technologies throughout the vehicle to provide operators with the data and tools they need to optimise the running of a fleet.

The vehicle is made from Arrival’s unique lightweight composite materials, which are designed to be recyclable, durable and lower in cost.

Arrival's Microfactories are expected to have a lower Capex and cost of assembly, shorter commissioning time and be more environmentally friendly than traditional methods of production.

Denis Sverdlov, Founder and CEO at Arrival, says: “Today is an important day for Arrival. This is the first time a vehicle has ever been built in our Microfactory, using a new method that does not use a traditional assembly line. Although we have not yet achieved serial production, we are focused on making it happen. We will continue to produce vehicles in our Microfactory in order to master at-scale production. It has been more difficult than we had initially imagined, and I thank the team for the immense amount of effort, technology, innovative breakthroughs, and problem solving.”

Arrival says 'its mission is to master a radically more efficient New Method to design, produce, sell and service the best ever electric vehicle, because we want a world where cities are free from fossil fuel vehicles'.