Rivian’s Electric Van Outsold R1S SUV and R1T Pickup Combined

Rivian has come a long way since 2021, when production of its first road-going model, the R1T electric pickup, began at its Normal, Illinois plant.

In five years, the company has grown from an EV startup into an established EV maker that currently sells four products: the R1T pickup, the R1S three-row full-size SUV, the new R2 midsize SUV, and the often overlooked Rivian Commercial Van (RCV). Mind you, the latter is only available to fleet and business buyers for the time being.

The Rivian RCV Is America’s Best-Selling Electric Van by Far

Now, which of these models do you think sold best during the third quarter of 2026? Like me, you might be tempted to say the R2, but that’s far from being the case.

While Rivian’s most affordable vehicle has seen a strong start since deliveries began in June—racking up 3,456 sales in Q3—the automaker’s best-selling model during the same period was actually the RCV, also known as the EDV (the variant purposely built for Amazon).

According to Cox Automotive data (via InsideEVs), Rivian sold 8,469 units from July through September, a spectacular 220.9% increase over the same period last year.

That made the RCV the best-selling electric van in America by far, beating the discontinued Chevrolet BrightDrop (1,344 sales), the Mercedes-Benz eSprinter (396) and the Ford E-Transit (184) in the third quarter. Not only that, but the RCV was also America’s fourth best-selling EV overall, which is quite mind-blowing if you think about it.

But wait, there’s more. Rivian sold more RCV vans than R1T and R1S trucks combined during the quarter. That is an impressive feat seeing as all three models start at around $80,000, but it’s also due to declining customer demand for the two flagship models.

R1S sales totaled 5,582 in Q3 2026 (down 31.8% year-over-year), while R1T sales numbered 1,732 units (down 27.2% YoY). Combined R1S and R1T sales stood at 7,314 units, 870 fewer than the RCV van.

Rivian’s Van Owes Its Success to Amazon

From January through September, Rivian sold 15,685 RCVs, up 130.4% from 6,806 units during the same period last year. That’s quite impressive especially when comparing to its competitors. The Chevrolet BrightDrop sold 2,300 units during the same period, while the Mercedes-Benz eSprinter and Ford E-Transit racked up just 913 sales and 677 sales, respectively.

Of course, the big difference between the RCV and its rivals is that Rivian has a giant contract with Amazon to supply the e-commerce powerhouse with 100,000 vans by 2030. Rivian is estimated to have delivered around 50,000 vans to Amazon so far, which means that it has more than three years left to build another 50,000 and complete the order.

The Amazon deal is the main driver of RCV sales growth, although Rivian’s electric van has also become available for other commercial and fleet customers since 2023. While no official data is available, it’s safe to assume that the vast majority of Rivian vans sold so far this year went to Amazon.

The Rivian RCV comes in two flavors: a short-wheelbase Delivery 500 model priced from $79,900 and a long-wheelbase Delivery 700 priced from $83,900. Both variants are equipped with a front-mounted electric motor and offer an estimated range of around 160 miles. Rivian is also developing a dual-motor AWD version and a larger-capacity battery that will enable a longer range.