British electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Arrival has announced that is has completed production on its first electric van at its plant in Bicester, Oxfordshire.
The first finished vehicle won’t be commercially available and will be used instead as a testing vehicle.
The company plans to produce just 20 vans at the site this year, which is a reduced figure compared to predictions of 400 to 600 from earlier this year. This announcement follows monetary difficulties, leading to paused development of its electric bus and ride-hailing vehicle.
The first set of vans will reportedly go to logistics firm UPS, which is also an investor in Arrival.
The company’s stock increased in value to US$13.6bn (£12m) after its listing on Wall Street in 2020, but shares have fallen by more than 90% in value in 2022 due to a changing investment environment.
“It has been a fairly remarkable year so far, and it’s definitely affecting start-ups and scale-ups,” said Tom Elvidge, EVP of vehicle platforms at Arrival.
“It’s certainly something that we’re having to adapt to.”
Arrival has also pushed back on its foreign expansion efforts, after delaying the start date for van production at its site in Charlotte, Virginia, to an undisclosed quarter in 2023.
