Banbury electric vehicle unicorn Arrival receives £75 million investment from Hyundai and Kia

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corporation have invested €100 million (£75 million) investment in the UK based electric vehicle company Arrival.

Arrival has its headquarters in London and carries out research and development in Banbury.

The investment marks the start of a partnership between the automotive companies to jointly accelerate the adoption of commercial electric vehicles globally. Hyundai and Kia will use key Arrival technologies to help achieve their recently announced goal to develop mobility services and electrify their vehicle fleets.

The news comes as Bath and North East Somerset Council approved plans to develop a clean air zone (CAZ) in the city which will see commercial vehicles charged £9 a day for high-emission commercial vehicles and £100 a day for HGVs and busses to enter the city in a bid to improve its air quality.

Private cars will be exempt. The scheme is now awaiting final government approval, and if it gets the go-ahead the scheme will launch in November.

Southampton and Leeds councils have already agreed CAZs, and cities including Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield and Greater Manchester are considering them.

Arrival is reimagining vehicle design and assembly to create Generation 2 Electric Vehicles.  Generation 1 electric vehicles are existing fossil fuel vehicles retrofitted with electric power trains, making them expensive, inefficient and costly to run and maintain.

The company's Generation 2 products have been designed from a blank sheet and surpass traditional vehicles in cost, design and efficiency.

Generation 2 vehicles are assembled using small footprint microfactories, located in areas of demand and profitable at thousands of units. Headquartered in London with over 800 employees in 5 countries Arrival is vertically integrated, and has created in-house software, components, sustainable materials and modular skateboard platforms.

Through the course of the partnership, Arrival, Hyundai and Kia will use Arrival’s flexible skateboard platforms and technologies to create new purpose built electric vehicles (PBVs) across multiple vehicle categories. Hyundai and Kia will leverage Arrival’s novel microfactories and software innovation whilst Arrival will benefit from the OEM’s global footprint and economies of scale. This will help accelerate the ‘Two Track’ strategy adopted by Hyundai, to bring zero-emissions battery and fuel cell technologies to the commercial vehicle market.

CEO of Arrival, Denis Sverdlov said: “Arrival has created a game changing product category - Generation 2 Electric Vehicles. Hyundai and KIA make world-class vehicles with uncompromising quality. This strategic partnership will empower our companies to scale Generation 2 Electric Vehicles globally”

Albert Biermann, President and Head of Research and Development Division at Hyundai Motor Group, added: “The eco-friendly vehicle market in Europe is expected to grow rapidly due to reinforcement of environmental regulations. Through the joint development of commercial electric vehicles with Arrival, we will be able to gain a competitive advantage and progressively establish our leadership in the global eco-friendly vehicle market.”

Arrival’s immediate focus is on the commercial vehicle market which has seen the largest increase in usage and therefore emissions as more than 90% of commercial vehicles are diesel fuelled. Electric vehicles fit seamlessly within commercial fleets as they benefit from predictable routes and overnight depot charging.  As a result of the clever design and assembly process, Arrival’s vehicles are priced the same, or less than, current fossil fuel vehicles. This gives fleet managers a compelling commercial and environmental reason to switch to electric and will accelerate the adoption of electric technology globally. With over 300million commercial vehicles in the world, this will have a huge impact on global emissions.

Avinash Rugoobur, Chief Strategy Officer, Arrival, added: “We are excited to come out of stealth mode with our partnership with Hyundai Motor Group, and our complementary expertise will allow us to rapidly design, build and roll out vehicles together. Accelerating electric vehicle adoption is good for everyone - for people, business and the planet and we are pleased to undertake this mission with our partners Hyundai and Kia ”

As Arrival transitions from R&D to full scale production, Hyundai and Kia offer Arrival their combined expertise in mass manufacturing and vehicle launches, underpinning Arrival’s ambition of scaling rapidly around the world. Together the partnership represents a winning combination to enable the imminent delivery of the next generation of scalable, purpose built electric mobility solutions.

J.P. Morgan acted as exclusive financial advisor and placement agent in connection with the Class A funding round.

Founded in 2015, Arrival has over 800 people globally and is headquartered in London, UK.  It also has offices in Germany, Netherlands, Israel, Russia and the US.

Arrival has created in-house software, components, sustainable materials and modular skateboard platforms to enable Generation 2 vehicles. Purpose Built Vehicles of any weight, type, size and shape are produced from Arrival’s platforms and assembled by microfactories. Each low footprint microfactory produces any vehicle on demand and is located to serve local communities. They are profitable from thousands of units and can be deployed within 3 months.

Arrival’s says its vehicles are priced the same, or less than, current fossil fuel vehicles, making the decision to switch to electric inevitable, and increasing the adoption of electric technology globally. With over 300million commercial vehicles in the world, this will have a huge impact on people, business and the planet.