Buying a Prototype Electric Arrival Van That Could've Changed the World
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- Опубліковано 17 вер 2024
- Chris has stumbled upon a rare gem-a prototype of the Arrival electric van from the now-defunct company that's ignited a firestorm of interest in the automotive world! Discover the incredible tale of how he secured this unlikely treasure, filled with unexpected twists and turns.
Chris reveals the stunning potential of the Arrival van to transform the delivery sector and manufacturing at large, showcasing its revolutionary features that outshine conventional delivery vehicles. As he delves into the van's cutting-edge design and pioneering technology,
Chris teases his ambitious plans for this extraordinary ride. Will he restore it to its former glory, keeping its unique traits intact, or unleash his wild imagination to create the most extraordinary electric van ever, packed with jaw-dropping enhancements?
The burning question remains-can he even get it to run in its current state with the challenges ahead? Join Chris on this exhilarating adventure as he unlocks the potential of this incredible prototype and envisions a future that could redefine electric vehicles!
Arrival was a company filled with some of the finest experts and engineers from within the automotive industry. The problem was that the directors then promptly refused to listen to those engineers. Lions led by donkeys.
Complete agree, I still work closely with a lot of ex arrival engineers.
Such a shame this company didn't make it - had they had the funding, I'm sure they could have made a sizeable impact in the market
It is, they are currently in controlled administration
They had plenty of money they tried to do too much too fast
@@hughmarcus1 They had plenty of money, but it was Russian. When Putin started a war, sanctions were imposed and they couldn't bring the money to the UK.
No, they are just scam. They were not able to mass production and they lied in every single moment
Also they built 20 vans to UPS but the van burned on the first day while they test and showcased them. They can only make prototypes.
Lost 25k on them
It's wild there's so few electric delivery vans/trucks. It's such an obviously perfect use case for EVs: lots of stop and go, low range requirements, huge packaging benefits from not needing a huge gas/diesel engine, lowered fleet maintenance.
It is a big surprise but hopefully long term will become a reality
Well ... are there so few in the UK? In Germany the electrification of delivery vans comes along quite well. They are just not as obvious, looking like normal Transit or Sprinter Vans. In Berlin I certainly don't miss those diesel vans being driven in first gear all day along.
My complaint for sure, and what's out there is too big for small couriers like me, we need something like a Mazda 5 though a Transit Connect wouldn't be bad, but all that's on the market is the Transit (too little range), and step vans like the Bright Drop.
the problem is payload and range, both are sacrificed in an electric van.
Not really a surprise considering a good diesel van will last a decade or two with very little maintenance and sill have a reasonable second hand value. Personally I can't see any benefit to electric vehicles yet.
I spent a crazy two years working at Arrival on the composites side of things and learned a lot of good stuff along the way but also a lot of ‘how not to run a start up’ as well. Worked with some fantastic people but diversifying from the van and bus programs from the very start was what eventually did for the company. Great times and a great shame.
If they had stuck to getting the van in production then moved onto other things would have worked.
@@Hazell_Nutz it would certainly have stood a much better chance-watching your video and seeing the autonomous taxi was something of a surprise- I’ve no idea where it was built or who by but I didn’t even know we’d done one 😆
😂
@@djlocke40sad to see what could have been great end up like this. Hope you're doing well mate
@@jonfawcett90 all good ta, and you?
What a shame such a nice van won't be available anymore. Would have loved one of those.
It’s such a cool van. I hope I can at lease get them running to take to shows
I was involved in the 6mth euro tour with these vans for the movement of it in beta stage for marketing & photo shoots, I even drove it on the video production on the streets in Paris, in addition to the power off buttons under the dash, there is an additional kill switch under the rear of the van closer to the rear of the offside rear wheel
Yep found that bit. Must of been fun to drive around Paris
"Driving under its own power" 😅 Always down for some Nicola shade!
😂 so true
When I first saw these ( I think on fully charged) I thought how amazing they would be as a camper. Not that I’d ever have the time/inclination to convert one or that my wife would want to go camping - but a man can dream!!
It would be a great camper van
Spent time working at arrival within the composites team just before it went under. Some amazing talented people who were unfortunately sold a dream and were led down the river. Sad to see it like this. We could have made such an impact. Would love to see your progress once youve got it up and running
Been making some progress but it’s slow going without the software.
The frame behind the roll cage looks like it's made to hold a test pay load inside the van for trials. You can quickly load it up with something like concrete blocks up to and beyond the GVW for that Van, and it'll hold it firmly in place while you go round a track or do the Elk Test.
There are different levels available to raise the CoG on the load and see how that affects body roll and stability.
I'm surprised it's not fully fork-lift accessible, (Edit - looks like the cross-brace section can be removed to slide the load in from the back, then replaced, and I should have watched to the end of the video before commenting, shouldn't I!)
The roll cage is there to protect the crew in the event that it does roll over, given they are deliberately trying to get wheels off the ground.
There are also holes on the side of the vans so think there may of been stability bars added
My brother was one of the engineers on this project !!
I need help 😂
Crazy. You'd imagine there's plenty market for two EV delivery van manufactures. Curious to know why they failed to get to initial production but looking at all the wild stuff in the warehouse they could've used some more focus.
You will find out more in ESP2 I look into the tech in more detail
There are already more than 2 EV delivery van manufacturers: PSA, Ford, Maxus, Rivian, (Arrival), Mercedes, Renault, Canoo, Brightdrop in the US, (and several more in China).
Such a shame they went under, these vans held so much promise.
Try putting the seat belt on - might not go into drive without.
I have tryed everything. It’s very odd as had another one driving that is a new build to the UPS van.
I feel bad for all of those engineers. You can tell a lot of heart and thought has gone Into their designs.
I have been meeting a lot of them Arrival had so many good people just clearly management was not one of the good parts.
We could have done it, painful to watch this video but glad that someone will keep some P4s alive...
It was so close
That's brilliant Chris. It helps seeing the UPS Van complete. Looking forward to seeing how you do.
Have a lot of work ahead of me
Really interesting video, thanks for sharing Chris. Can't wait to see more on your progress with them! 💯⚡️🇬🇧
More to come!
That's just heartbreaking. I wish I knew this auction was happening. I'd have loved to buy something semi roadworthy... or just a paper weight
The UPS one will be sold once working I will then put all my focus on the race van.
We made a few parts for this during prototype stage and were looking forward to buying one for our delivery business. Be great to team up on a video to showcase how well it would have worked in London
If we ever get one road league would be happy to.
I bet a few at the top walked away with a few millions, I wonder how many other companies see there goods in the line up but won't get paid out by the liquidators. It's a shame because every thing I saw and herd looked to be a great set up but obviously they couldn't match the hype.
I go into more detail in the next episode about the tech there was definitely some issues.
I was so excited by these when they were first announced. It's such a shame they couldn't make production
They did make it as there is quite a few somewhere that are registered
Arrival had so much potential!
It really did
Darn, I really thought this company was on to something.
So did I, when there a few time when they where running.
I remember an earlier company that started to produce a van for the post office, think it was smiths (milk floats). Not sure it was arrival that bought them out. Could have been a good business to buy all the bits and assemble them into vans. Would have loved to have got my hands on some.
You will find out in the next episode more about the good and bad points
I subcontracted to the Team that cleared everything after the auction.
90% of the remaining lots we cleared were scrapped.
Yes they where which is very depressing
Looking at this makes me nervous about aptera. Hope they will be able to make it over the hump
It is a hard thing to do
They are not trying to design a bus and a taxi as well _and_ make a whole new manufacturing system paradigm, so they have a lot more focus, which will help. They also have a lot less money so there is still a big hump to get over into actually a) making a significant number of vehicles and b) making money.
such a shame they didnt make it to final production....
They have built quite a few and even have type approval
@@Hazell_Nutz do you think they'll be rescued? or at least the IP.
@@global_nomad. the thing about insolvency is it lowers the price so long until someone says "ok! I'll take it". The original investors/founders may have been incapable of accepting that they would only get pennies on the $ for all their hard work and trust.
Unless Rivian is allowed to sell them 10k trucks it still seems to be in UPS interest to get this going under new management.
Was one of the software engineers who took part in the type-approval of van at IDIADA. It was tough😂
Now it's so sad to see all these abandoned vehicles...
ua-cam.com/video/Qz1BaheLzaA/v-deo.htmlsi=RBkq_7s0ydK-EgTE
In Canada, the only electric vans i see on the roads are the Brightdrop vans built bt GM
There is not many electric vans on the road anywhere really the volume is very low
@@Hazell_Nutz There are plenty round here, and more every month (Cambridge). UPS, Amazon, DPD, colleges, estate services, builders, plumbers. Still a minority but it's really catching on with the delivery people. We also have a quite a few quadricycles as well as normal size vans.
What happened to the order from UPS for 10,000 vans, I wonder? 🤔
It was still there but they could not deliver I think.
I'd go back and get the latest infotainment/control system from the auction, at least two and find a contact that had something to do with software in these.
Already on it.
I bought some Arrival shares after seeing what they were making and it looked great, turned out it was a bad idea, luckily not too much lost though
I go though the battery tech on the next episode there is definitely some issues there.
Great content! You just earned a new subscriber. Your video came as an ad, and I got hooked and didn't skip it. I watched it till the end, then I visited the advertiser before subscribing! 😜
Thank you so much.
@@Hazell_Nutz My pleasure!!👊🏻
Agh didnt realise this had failed, such a shame. Remember seeing this on Fully Charged a few yrs back and the concepts seemed so obviously great
It did but they changed the design 3 times such a waste of money
Those have so much potential. I wish I had a chance to get one here in the states.
You have the rivan vans I think.
Great to see this, having visited their setup whilst they were alive to help them with the “wrapping/branding” solutions Inc those UPS vehicles I’m keen to see what you do with them 😊
Episode 2 will be release in 2 weeks
What a great project...All electric vanlife must be the dream of many thousands :)
Let’s see how will it does on here. I think building a race van is the first step
damn... i was so happy to see Arrival news via youtube and second later i was sad...
they had so much potential...
they could have sold a lot of their tech to others to keep them at float... the panels, the micro/local fabrication, just general automation...
but here we are sad..
There was so much but that’s probably why it did not work out
This reminds me of the DeLorean, where the remaining stock was bought by a handful of companies up to the current DeLorean company that keeps stock of the remaining parts as well as make new parts from the technical drawings they also acquired. Sad that Arrival never made it to full production.
They did start making them. They had type approval and there is a load road registered
Sigh, what an interesting idea. Personally I wish ups and FedEx would put more into those of us willing to use our vehicles for delivery or something. I drove for Uber and Lyft doordash and instacart. My first week driving my two month old brand new Audi S6 that had the upgraded Napa white and tan leather. A college kid who had been doing red jello shots hoarked in my backseat. Thank God for getting the car zeibart protected and scotchguarded. After that I decided to buy a used minivan for doing Uber and left. I also had someone a lady in her 50s take a scalpel of all things to the seat she was in and basically it had to be redone completely. Needless to say I know everything about bein a driver for those things and honestly it'd not worth the headache most of the time. Nowadays using my cdl and pilots license as well as captains license with certain certifications. I basically transport rich peoples yachts and private planes and such to wherever they want them taken to. It's an amazingly fun thing and even if I only do 3 trips a month it provides a decent living and allows me to be home most of the time with both of my boys and girl most of the time.
One thing I will say. I own several older cars and a few newer ones. My audi s6 and my gmc Explorer conversion van everything else has a manual transmission and no I don't mean tapping some dumb button I mean actually shifting gears with a clutch.
I did own a lucid for a short time however despite it's speed. It just wasn't impressive and i think when they can be purchased for 15k ish. Doing a swap to a turbo 4 banger. Or the ls swaps. However most of my cars that are prior to 1980. Including my 57 bel air actually has the engine from a Mercedes cls63 amg. It's a biturboed 557 hp v8 that is hand built by the only female at Benz and has her signature on the engine. Which came from the wrecked cls63...
Anyhow. I truly hope we don't get to a place where cars completely drive themselves. I'd rather get in a 60 year old loud smelly car that requires you to feel it and connect to it. Rather then being taken around on a bus... I always think of the movie walle where we all get fat and don't move. I'll pass
Can you find the engineer team? They may know how to get it running
I may be in contact with them 😜
maybe giving them 500 cash in a pub somewhere for and hour of a.m.a. would motivate some of them.
Had shares in these guys :(
So many did
I didn't know Arrival went out of business until UA-cam recommended me this video just today! I remember first hearing about them when they revealed their public bus concept, then they later released van prototypes and I saw a video of one in action, and forgot about them ever since.
From what I can tell reading other comments here, one reason they went under was that their management were likely made up entirely of financial people who refused to listen to the engineers, designers, and/or other people doing the actual work.
There is quite a few issue from what I have found in the hardware. Looks like to much freedom and not enough management as to the over all target product
Thats so sad to see that factory down.
I really would have loved to see those VANs on the road...
But at least you saved one. :)
There is more that are road registered somewhere
Always worth checking things like lights, wiper arm, wiper motor, wheels, brake discs, brake pads, suspension and steering parts are same as other brands, if not, they would have been worth getting a few spares. I'm presuming there were no diagnostic systems or other software interrogation for them you could have bought? The software may be your biggest stumbling block if it isn't compatible with other manufacturers. Good luck with the projects and look forwards to following your progress.
There is a lot of ex arrival engineers out there that want to see these on the road so fingers crossed.
@@Hazell_Nutz That's good to hear. Keeping my fingers crossed too.
@@asp383 thanks
I bought £14000 of shares and have lost everything. I think I should get on of these. Vans for free.
Same. Had no idea there was auction on
It was not an Arrival auction the landlord of the warehouse took possession and sold all contents off to over outstanding bills
Sadly £14,000 would have lasted about an hour in the bank with these start-ups. £14k for you is a lot of money, for them it’s loose change. I’ve seen/worked at these kind of start-ups before, it’s truly shocking seeing the bills roll in.
OMG I didn’t know they went bankrupt! I loved their designs. Sad… these would have made great campers or just general work vans. I’m hoping Canoo don’t go down the same path ….
I really hope Canoo manages to keep going
Can't believe a mainstream manufacturer didn't jump on this
I can as the design is not good. Check our latest video out and you will see
Wow👀, random youtube recommendation. Subscribed, watching with great interest 👍.
Thank you
I am jealous. An Arrival van would be very cool. Was the software for sale as well? Without access to that things could be tricky.
It seems to me that this generally excellent project failed because they tried to re-invent vehicle manufacturing completely as well as design the vehicles. That was a very grand plan, and just too much to get right in the time/money available. BICBW. Maybe the various insiders here will opine on whether that aspect was a major problem or not?
No software but we do know a few companies that use a version of it. They definitely tried to do way too much.
Thanks for the unique video report on the state of such a cool startup that never came to life. Shared on X/Twitter.
Much appreciated!
Now this, this is fascinating
Thanks
Looks like a Rivian copy, sad they didn't make it. Old Europe is tough market for newcomers starting inside, I suppose.
Jerome, are you responsible for this sudden wave of Chris content. Anyway glad you are in, keep going guys and thank you both for the discovery.
Jerome has been pushing me for over a year to start again and I finally gave in 😂 I do over making content.
Fascinating - thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow! Well done.
Thanks
It's horrible to see all that investment wasted
It really is
So how much was the van? Are we going to find out?
Not something I will be sharing yet
How much were the ones with racing seats? The volume went out😉
I can’t comment
@@Hazell_Nutz Why not? Was silence on pricing a condition of bidding? Is anyone really going to enforce that (and if so, why)?
Looks like I’m months too late. Any idea if any are left for sale anywhere or even one of the shells? Would make a great office
I do have two of them, will not be keeping them both for ever.
HV electrical engineer here. Followed you from the electric MX5 days. Would love to get my hands on one of these vans if you know where to find one, working or not. Looking to do a stealth camper build and already drive electric…or make a great garden office room. Let me know if you want any extra hands on your project
We will be letting the UPS van go once it’s working. Then keeping the other to make a race van.
@@Hazell_Nutzdamn that’s exciting. Would love to be in the room when you pick the brains of the team that worked on it and see where they are now. Bet it’ll fetch a pretty penny when it’s running. Really love to know where the rest went hopefully not for scrap
@@je8277 Someone above mentioned they all went to scrap
they were RIGHT THERE!!! so damn close!! wtf??
They even got type approved and have actually build about 40 road league ones from what I have been told. The only reason I have these is because the landlord of the warehouse sold them.
How do we all get one of these now? Sounds über fun!
You know I have a few 😂
It’s such a cool van it’s such a shame they are gone
It really is
This would make a perfect camper van
Yes it would
It's a very nice shape, and the modularity is great, but range matters too and delivery vans do not have the same needs as campervans, so they may well have been optimising for delivery ranges (like almost all current e-vans). Those are all a bit low for a good campervan. Not impossible, but somewhat limiting, depending on where you want to go.
Make it into a hybrid
That has been considered
Banbury ,go next door to try their prototype 😂
There is quite a few in there which are road registered
Ah you found the kill switch underneath, there was a shut down procedure to follow though, with the fact you turned the kill switch and it all powered up, suggests in wasn’t done in sequence, which whilst out on tour, threw up anomolies along the way, I think I still have a number or 2 of the tech team that supported the tour, they were an extremely good company of guys at Arrival
Be great to know the shut down and start up
Process as I expect that’s why it’s not driving.
Please add me on linked in Chris Hazell
@@Hazell_Nutz Unfortunately, I don’t do LinkedIn, Sorry !
OMG that's just criminal/sad that all that stuff has gone to waste! @truebluetravellers your next build?
It really is sad
its a nice ornament, wouldnt want to use it being as its basically a bomb on wheels
😂
I'd have got a spare windscreen if there was one - one stone-chip and it's all over
Yep I have 3 spare windscreens
I wonder if Canoo is next?
They actually brought lots of stuff from the auction
I'm sure there is someone who used to work there with a laptop with all the software you need to get it going.
Hope so but not found anyone yet
@@Hazell_Nutz call out to ex employees who could help then!!
@@AdrianMcDaid I have on linked in, issue is the software was deployed via a specific system and the van I have is on old software. But will get there.
Can't wait to see what you gonna do with it in the future ;) overlanding RV ;)
Think will build a race truck first.
I can only hope Brightdrop over in Canada don't end up like these guys.
Hopefully they will not
They've been making and selling vans for quite some time, so they are a long way ahead of Arrival which never really got out of start-up mode.
Canoo bought their assets
Yep they brought a lot of stuff.
I'd have tried to get a couple of windscreens and side glass sets cos they're going to be impossible to get.
I have 4 wind screens and lots of panels as will be seen in the next episode
Now would be really good, that documentation and engineering database could reach every other company that makes EVs, so these machens could revive from ashes in another place like DancerBus
Hopefully someone will buy the IP so it does not go to waste
It’s a shame this company was dead on arrival, how could they get so close to production and not been bought out or saved somehow so weird
It’s so odd, they even had type approval
Third party controller maybe? Seems to me that as long as you've got a good battery and motor, the real problem is you just need a new computer, and since there are solutions for DIY electric cars, I should think it'd be possible to find something that'll make this work.
Issue is there are pdu’s all over the place so much going on. It’s probably something simple stopping it from running.
Wow. Sounds like no delivery, livery, or camper companies signed on! That's insane.
Lots of companies invested but they just ran out before getting to full production
@@Hazell_Nutz Terrible. Seems like they could've been revolutionary. Can't wait to see your updates.
@@fgeiger41 just finishing episode 2 will be out in 3 weeks after the next two mini episodes
@@Hazell_Nutz awesome. Setting my notification. Thanks
7:10 I can think of at least 1 bad idea to use that robotic arm for.
Is your name Howard
I've said this before and will say it again: If only there was a visionary green billionaire to buy up the pieces of Proterra, eLightning Motors, Arrival, Sono Motors, Canoo, Arcimoto and make a kick-ass EV company😉
We can only hope
Good luck with the sheer amount of software debug ahead of you! Subscribed to follow along with you on the journey :)
I might give up and fit a new system
I wonder who the Intellectual Design Property belongs too as these look very innovative and could be developed? I think Hyundai were investors at one point too.
Not sure who owns it now I know there in controlled administration with 250 staff still working.
Needs time to boot up mate!
I have tryed so many things and had lots of advice from arrival staff but not got anywhere yet.
Too bad Arrival didn't make it. I saw them a few times at Fully Charged.
It is. Would of been a great van to have on the road
Unless their software is open source, sounds like you might have to replace it (and some hardware) with your own so those errors go away.
I think that will be the case.
Which is really sad, of course. You have an almost-working system, and for the want of a bit of code a load of hardware ends up being scrapped. Companies should be made to put this stuff in escrow for when they go bust.
@@xxwookey an escrow system would be amazing!
Making commercial vehicles with exotic materials will never work.
The material made a lot of sense as you can hit the panels very hard without any damage
@@Hazell_Nutz not just the panels, the aluminium frame. Transits are cheap for reason, iron blocks, steel frame/body. You wouldn't use a pro cycle bike to do a paper round!!
@@cliveargyle5237 true but with the size of the battery pack they needed to save weight
@@Hazell_Nutz like I said, it will never work as a commercial vehicle. How can a business justify the extra expense for a vehicle which does less. Just about all of these projects are in la la lane, green washing. Hence going bankrupt.
Gutted about Arival 😢
A lot of people are but hopefully can get one van working and take to some shows
I must've missed it, how much did it all cost? Cheers
Unfortunately that is not something I can disclose
few billion dollars - insane - looks similar to polish "evan" van - few students build it with almost no budget and its already street legal
I think the company was worth 9 billion at one point
They better teamed up with rivian. Curious how your Van is going to turn out.
I just hope I can make it drive
Didn't Bezos pump loads of money into Arrival? Not sure you'll be able to register a pre-production prototype but I stand to be corrected.
Might have to go for IVA
You are thinking about Rivian, Amazon is their main customer.
It seems they were doing too much in one go.Maybe do the van first , make a profit then do the coach and driverless taxi later. They had that pre-order from UPS.
Exactly that is so true there where also some bad design decisions made which is quite worrying which I talk about in my next episode
ngl, it's sweet ride
Can’t wait to get on on the road
Really tragic to see the carcass of such a promising company.
It really is and now it’s gone bad will effect other companies
See if you can find an ethernet plug and give it some Internet!
I do need to find the coms model as apparently there is a portal I can look at.
It probably failed when ups found out that the vans came with A/C(Air Con)
😂
@@Hazell_Nutz 🤣
😂😂
They went out of business? CRAP their buses looked so NICE!
Yep they are currently in controller administration
@@Hazell_Nutz Dude, you scared me, but then I was like, wait, UK ok, LOL BTW, you should have got a bus lol. I cant wait for our bus agency to get some EV buses.
3:55 i can by them a Pound each
by that, a Million of those pounds
😂
Servers are down, car is bricked
I have had one of them running
@@Hazell_Nutz encouraging 👍