Rivian’s friendly-looking and unimaginatively-named Electric Delivery Van – EDV, for short – is now a fairly common sight on America’s roads, with Amazon alone – initially the van’s exclusive customer – having taken delivery of over 30,000 of them since 2021, and it comfortable outselling all of its rivals in 2025.
So far, though, its remit has been largely urban deliveries over relatively concentrated, thanks to two-wheel drive and fairly modest ranges. That’s soon going to change, though, as Rivian has confirmed in in its latest letter to shareholders it’s launching bigger-batteried and all-wheel drive versions of the EDV that’ll allow it to travel further and go to more remote places.
The EDV’s Limitations
Rivian
Launched in 2021, the EDV currently only comes in front-wheel drive form, with a 320 HP motor driving the front wheels. The 100kWh battery pack allows for a quoted range of 161 miles in the smaller 500 variant, and 160 in the larger 700.
Those numbers are fine for the sort of urban, high-density mileage the EDV has been used for so far, but limit its usefulness in less built-up areas. Meanwhile, being front-wheel drive only means that winter weather and unpaved roads can cause a problem for it too.
The Next Step
Rivian
Those two major limitations are what the new variants of the van are being specifically developed to overcome. Rivian says it’s working on a larger battery that’ll bring a 30% increase in range, potentially bumping it up to 209 miles.
Combined with a new all-wheel drive version, which will most likely add a second motor on the rear axle, Rivian says the new vans will “expand EDV route coverage in Amazon’s network.” It sounds like the new versions are once again being developed specifically for Amazon, then, as the e-commerce giant looks to further increase its fleet of zero-emission delivery vehicles.
A Busy Year Ahead
Rivian
Rivian hasn’t said when we’ll see the updated EDV, but we expect to hear more during 2026, which looks set to be a busy year for the California-based company. Pre-production validation builds of the R2, its smaller and more affordable electric SUV, began in January at its plant in Normal, Illinois, and it says that customer deliveries are on track to begin in the second quarter of the year.
The R2 will also be the first model to get new tech being worked on by the company, including its third-gen hands-off driver assist system and new super-fast RAP1 processor, both of which will come to the new mid-size SUV in late 2026.
