work as a courier for a fire department and we would love one of these. Can't wait until rivian allows other companies to purchase them. I do wish the rear opened wide enough to fit a pallet width wise and it could be fitted with a lift gate for when I move the occasional broken dishwasher - but the day to day pluses outweigh everything else by a good margin
would be sick ! and expensive sadly. Maybe they will sell them in a few years in auctions when there will eventually be a v2. Maybe you can build it into a camper pretty easily
@@didi0625 Range by then will be down around 5-15%. Once you kit it would as a camper, drop a bit more from that. Great to live in, terrible to travel any distance to a new camping site. And until it's decked out with solar roof and even larger solar canope, you can't venture far from a decent charger at all.
@@didi0625 Doug says it’s designed that way, no doubt if they wanted it to be higher it could be. R1T/S have 400+ mile range offerings in a smaller chassis (less space for batteries)
Amazon Driver here, just wanted to share a few minor corrections and additions: -4:56 we enter and exit the van upwards of 250 times a day, sometimes more. -13:14 we cannot drink or touch anything while driving, an AI camera would tag us for distracted driving. -14:44 We tend to be back there a lot and it can be up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than outside. no other vans have these fans back there. Also, we don't know what's in the packages but yes things tend to melt back there. -26:49 Our acceleration is tracked and we can get hit for "hard acceleration" so I don't think we'll get to use that too often.
Jesus christ you guys are monitored eh.. Heard it's a rough job so thank you for your service. I have had thousands of packages delivered over the years.
Being a "car guy" my entire life, I never thought I'd be more interested in watching a 30 minute video about a delivery van instead of watching a video about a supercar. Lol
The designer of this van is a genius. All of those little changes like opening the storage room door Automatically, and the chair being higher so you don't have to stand up to get out of the chair, will save a little bit of energy for the drivers as well. I'm sure it will be a huge quality of life improvement for the workers.
@@Norweeg I used to work in an Amazon warehouse, it was actually incredibly easy to get payed for very little work. I didn't have a boss who I actually met every day, I just went in, checked out a scanner, and went to work. There was a quota for how much you were supposed to get done or the system would flag you, but I could get that done in 2 hours for a 6 hour shift, and the rest of the time I could sit in the breakroom and since I had no direct oversight no one knew.
That backup beeper isn't just designed to not be annoying, it's designed after white noise so you can tell what direction the vehicle is coming from even in an echoey environment due to the ways the echoes interfere with each other.
@@kamX-rz4uy annoying up close, where it's really necessary, but doesn't travel well over distance or through barriers. It's intended to cut down on noise pollution AND increase directionality, without sacrificing attention grabbing up close.
The self opening doors not only save a couple of tenths of seconds, I would imagine that its probably also very annoying to manually open 2 doors for every single package you deliver. Probably a huge relief to have them!
The back up noise was actually changed to "White noise" because the beeping tone is difficult to pinpoint direction wise, but the static sound can be detected from a specific location for blind people. They tested it on White Rabbit Project, I thought it was a brilliant change.
True - a sine wave tone can be difficult to locate as ears go in and out of phase between the ears. White noise will always contain frequencies that are out of phase for us to locate more accurately. It's weird to hear but makes sense!
The back up noise is not only designed to be less annoying, it’s also designed to be more efficient. It allows passers-by to localise it much easier. The old beep sound is actually terrible for localisation.
My home smoke alarms give out a single fast high-pitch beep when their batteries are low. It's basically impossible to know which smoke alarm beeped even if you're in the very room with the smoke alarm that beeped. It's maddening.
As a former Amazon delivery driver, I can confirm that I would sometimes have over 250 packages and 200 stops in a single day. This video really makes me wish I had stayed to use this van at least for a little while. This van would have definitely dramatically increased my productivity and comfort. having to insert a key, start the engine and shift out of part adds 30 sec to each stop which adds up when each stop takes only a minute. Also, the cooling seats really helps when it is 110° F or more out. With the dark paint, I've measured the interior at over 140°.
@@Mango_Puffin Only saw the fulfillment people at the beginning of each shift, so I can't speak on behalf of them, but we were always watched by our supervisors so that they could send us help if we were falling behind, or were delivering to a difficult area. I was never once reprimanded for going slow, but there were incentives for going fast. As for the bathroom situation, it was pretty rough, but not for the reason you might think. I delivered all throughout the height of the pandemic and all public restrooms were closed, and most restaurants, heck, even most 7-11s wouldn't let you use their restrooms because they were employee only. So even though we were mandated to take 15 min breaks every 2 hours, it was very difficult to find bathrooms to use, something I don't blame amazon for. And most days it would be over an hour drive from our delivery location back to the station so that wasn't an option. Overall it was a decent job. Got payed a decent amount over minimum wage, got a ton of exercise, and could listen to all the science podcasts I wanted to. Even got a scholarship that helped me pay for school.
@@Mango_Puffin I just left Amazon as a driver (drove the small vans:ram power wagon, the Ford, and Mercedes, large non DOT Ford, and I’ve been in the Rivian but never drove it). Peeing in bottles is actually true, I did it everyday, one guy just got fired for peeing outside the van. They tell you to work faster yet you’re paid by the hour so it actually hurts you to run the route faster. They tell you it’s 150-200 stops a day but with grouped locations you end up actually doing 250+ during peak (grouped locations are close to each other, or supposed to be, and only count as one stop). The camera system is called Netradyne and watches everything you do. It will hit you with a violation for distracted driving which could be picking up your phone or simply trying to grab a drink while you’re driving. It tracks speed, hard cornering, hard breaking, following too close, it watches for your seatbelt, etc. those vans have cameras all around, we can actually activate the 360 cameras if we have something like a disgruntled customer to have proof of the interaction. Also, can only speak for my place, but our vans are in a constant state of disrepair. All the TPMS systems are broke, we’d have small vans with the sliding door handle broken off, or the cables broken. Some track brake pad wear and I’ve driven vans that damn near wouldn’t stop. Seatbelts literally falling apart as you use them. The equipments largely fucked and you use old android phones to deliver with which are slow and fuck up most of the time.
As an ex DPD driver, this van would be a game changer compared to the vans we used (reno's, fiat's and ford's) That van would've made our lifes so much easier and much more comfortable, just the fact that you could reach the parcels without exiting the van is awesome. And the rear garage door is genious especially in tight places where you couldn't open both doors all the way.
Yeah but it would make your job much worse. I think the weight and size makes it less maneuverable than the normal vans and as such incidents or sketchiness will ensue. But other than that its amazing
As a former FedEx employee, I find it hilarious that such a huge chunk of the video is just standard features of a typical delivery truck, but Doug still manages to keep it interesting for those who wouldn’t be familiar. The changes this thing does have are crazy though.
I work for fedex, plus I have formally worked for UPS and USPS. Watching this video is really cool because it shows the future of the career path. Our trucks are much much older, with Much less visibility, power and comfort. Things like heated seats and wireless chargers as well as the door opening when you place the truck in park are all massive quality of life improvements. This is basically a dream van for us here at fedex, ups and USPS. Some other differences include the SOS button, for those of us delivering in bad areas this is a great idea. Plus the less steps means less pressure on the knees when entering and exiting the van. All said, this is going to be awesome for Amazon drivers.
I think Rivian did a really good job taking in the input of the drivers for designing the van, there are clear quality of life changes for the driver, plus anything that makes it more efficient is positive in amazon's books since they work these drivers to the bone......
That's my only pity about this van - it's Amazon. And they're not only working their drivers to the bone, but all that work for them. In every single country, in every single downmost position. Workers, Commissioners, Packagers, whatever.
When Doug mentions the cupholders behind the drivers seat--that's gotta be for pee bottles, right? Also, all the accommodations for cold weather...but still using a touch screen for most controls...which prohibits the use of thick warm gloves seems like an oversight
Saw a delivery driver with one of these about a month ago. I struck up a conversation with him and he showed me around! His favorite feature was the divider door thing closing automatically when he walked about 15 feet away.
Funny, I thought at this point in the video "it should probably also be closing when he gets far enough away, and they do have that fob clipped to them. it shouldnt just be when the car turns on and off." I shouldn't be surprised that it actually works that way.
You sure this is a true story? Why would an amazon driver do that and waste time out of their schedule. Their already on a time crunch with a million packages to deliver as it is
Mass produced EV's are not only, NOT GREEN, but very inconvenient and highly impractical for long trips. The most disturbing and least obvious Cons of EV's are the frequent and lonnnnng charging cycles. They are so dirty, they already cause thousands more tons of Fossil Fuels at the Power-Plants to be burned and cause those plants and Nuclear Power Plants to release excessive amounts of heat into the atmosphere. Already the EV's cause the Nuclear Plants to use up hundreds of tons more nuclear rods, thus creating hundreds of tons of excessive Radioactive/Nuclear waste every year that has to be contained and buried somewhere. The extra load on the electrical grid already has caused many EV owners, that paid extra for "Super-Charging" on their EV's, to experience the Super-Charge function at the station is disabled. What, did everyone think, the electricity needed to charge these EV's, is provided without any monetary or environmental costs?? Not to mention, some of the largest Lithium deposits, mined in Australia by the Chinese mining companies are already severely depleted. How many more tons of fossil-fuels is being used, just to power the equipment at the Lithium mines? People's concerns over fossil-fuels are completely backwards. Lithium is not as plentiful as the experts thought. The Consumer Electronics Industry earns a much larger profit per ton of Lithium, when used in the batteries that power all the small devices we use everyday. With an EV needing about 7,800 Li-Ion cells x 68grams each, that;s almost 1200lbs of Lithium needed, just to make an EV go up the road. If more Lithium mines become depleted and are forced to shut down, I foresee in just 5-10yrs, the Consumer Electronics Industry instituting a Worldwide ban of using Lithium to power any EV's larger than an Electric Bicycle. EV's have proven themselves to be terribly impractical and inefficient. The Internal Combustion powered vehicles will never be replaced by these pitiful ev's. The power-efficiency factor for 1 gallon of gasoline is around 4500. The best Tesla battery unit, made up of the latest and most efficient Lithium Ion cells, can barely scratch into a 900 power-efficiency factor. The internal Combustion Engine is way more efficient and actually more "GREEN" than any current EV has ever been. What's really bad is, all battery-units (even in regular 12v car (batteries) have so much unused energy still in them, even when the battery-unit is considered "dead". If EV's used banks of transformers and Super-Capacitors they could not only use a smaller Battery-Unit, but could make use of a good amount of that wasted energy that's never tapped into. My suspicions are, they already know this and need to keep a tight leash on the consumer. Remember, Elon's dream project is not Tesla, it's SpaceX and he being as brilliant as he is, needed and created a successful cash-cow to fund SpaceX. If I can foresee how bad and how dirty EV's really are, then Elon and others already know it.
150 to 180 miles on full charge is very good for a delivery vehicle. The second small window at the top helps vent out the moisture so in winter your windshield doesn't get foggy from the inside. You only need to open that window for a few minutes at a time.
Just waiting for Rivian to discover that their primary market for their trucks are also attracted to vanlife and this van is perfect for vanlife (can stand up inside without roof modification, huge win just right there) These will definitely eventually go to more than just Amazon, assuming Rivian survives long enough to do it
Seriously needs a consumer version because thats my thought exactly, This is the Rivian vehicle that I actually like the most and for that specific reason, its the perfect platform to build into a camper. Just extend the range for the consumer version and make minor tweaks and its ready to go.
When I saw rivian I thought it was odd that they made a ford like EV truck. But, it seems like they actually made a truck/cargo van/passenger van/van dweller van. They are selling to these smaller to large segments with one product.
As a former delivery driver in the Netherlands, this is amazing! Literally saves so much time. We had old Fiat busses with no door inbetween, no sliding doors on the passenger sides, whatsoever. This bus is a gamechanger, I think other brands will adopt a lot of the stuff on this bus for the european market.
It seems like madness that other OEMs have been building delivery vans for decades and haven't made small changes to make grabbing packages and getting in/out faster.
I’ve been a delivery driver for many years for Amazon and recently left. It is so cool to see this van, every thing I’ve complained about is fixed. I will say it for the first time. Good job amazon
One of its silly flaws is the bright blue seatbelts that blends in with the blue amazon vests. The netradyn camera always tags drivers as not wearing a seatbelt.
I drive for Amazon and I’m trained on the EDV. It is amazing compared to the other branded gas vans we have! I didn’t know about the 3 step thing but yeah that would’ve been super annoying haha😅. I use that passenger door at least 200+ times a day, a normal route has 190+ stops which means ~250 houses/businesses. The motorized door is so nice, wish the passenger one was motorized too! I’ve used every grab handle. Visibility is much better, also thanks to the cameras, than our gas vans. I’ve never had to use the sun visors interestingly, even in late afternoon 🤷♂️. Hazard light button is an innovation. I’m looking forward to the cargo fan come the warm months. The Amazon route system is kinda bad but having it shown on the large van screen is pretty helpful. CORRECTION TO DOUG There is a radio, you push the button on the upper left corner of the screen just above the phone icon, it lets me listen to the news while I drive😊 I still just use my AirPods most of the time though😅. THAT’S A WIRESLESS CHARGING PAD!?!?!😱😱🤯 then why is my iPhone 13 Pro max not charged at the end of the day? I’ll try positioning my phone differently at work tomorrow because if it is a charging pad then sir you just made me love these EDVs even more! The SOS button actually contacts Amazon emergency services who will then contact 911 if they deem it necessary, at least that’s what my training videos said. I didn’t know what the camera button did and I’ve been too scared to push it haha so thanks for telling me. The cameras and sensors are amazing and I feel so comfortable driving with all the visibility and the normal gassers don’t even have cruise control so ACC is just next freaking level. Oh yeah the interior space is honestly my favorite thing because in a gas van I’d hit my head every 2 seconds seconds, never had that problem in the EDV. The shelves work great for all my totes and packages. The garage door is cool but I only use it 2-3 times a day and for loading/unloading (we load our own vans, which shocks a lot of people). I don’t know how accurate this is but I’ve heard that the reverse sound is also referred to as a white noise sound, and is not only less annoying but can be pin pointed better by our ears since it echoes off houses and buildings less. Yea I definitely feel more connected to my EDV for the day vs the gassers it is cute. Wait it’s that easy to fill up the washer fluid? Then why is almost every van I drive out of washer fluid!!!! Bruhsoundeffect.mp3 The front wheel drive is fine on road and definitely has some get up and go, I daily drive a muscle car so I know power ;) however this is one area where the gassers have the EDVs beat. The gassers while also FWD are better in the snow due to the fact that the EDV will cut power to the wheels when it detects one wheel is just spinning without traction. So even if I have one wheel on dry pavement and one in the snow, deeper snow mind you 3-6 inches, the van will be basically stuck because it won’t send power to the wheel on the pavement. In a gasser you just turn off traction control and give’r the beans. Range really is fine, I normally take the farther out routes so from leaving the warehouse it’s ~30 miles just to get to my first stop which means ~30 miles back, I normally plug in with 45%-50% left at the end of the day. Thanks for the great video Doug! I’ve had quite a few customers ask me about the EDV and I’m sure they’ve seen your video with how interested and knowledgeable they seem! I’m glad we have these vans at Amazon because I love it so much more than the gas vans, even if just for the fact that I don’t hit my head every 2 seconds! A lot of us drivers have considered or have lived the “van life” meaning living out of a van you’ve converted. Driving one of the Rivian EDVs makes me wish that it was available to the public so that I could make a “van life” van out of one. Although it’d probably cost way more than I’d want to spend haha😂. I hope that in a few years we’ll see these EDVs used on the marketplace, I’m sure people will find some way to get their hands on ‘em, just to see what the community would do if given the chance to own something like the Amazon EDV.
That's so awesome! I'm curious if any Amazon warehouses in the southeastern USA have the EDV yet? I'd love getting a look at one in person! I've been a bit of a Rivian fan for a hot minute and it would be really neat being able to see one up close.
I worked as a Driver Helper for UPS during the holiday season when I was younger, as far as I know this is pretty commonplace (to utilize the second seat) for delivery companies when they have major hotspots, as they can deliver twice as many packages at once out of the same vehicle. That being said, I can't even begin to tell you how well thought-out this vehicle is. They've kept the basic framework drivers are familiar with but they've made massive improvements implementing new technologies. Really cool to see. I bet all the drivers can't wait their turn to get to pilot one of these bad boys around daily.
I'm almost surprised by how old-fashioned and simple the cargo area is compared to the rest of the vehicle. One would imagine that looking for the correct package, for example, would take much longer than opening a door does. An automated system to spotlight the next parcel would probably speed up the operation a lot. After all, the van knows the route, so it should also know what package goes where. After that, I'd expand it by adding an automatic loader and conveyor system in the back: Reach destination, put van in park, conveyor drops the next package next to you and you can just get out and deliver it without ever entering the cargo compartment. It wouldn't have to be a quick mechanism, because it could just do all that while enroute to the next waypoint. Almost half of the cargo space is reserved for a walkway. Without one, you could fit more packages in a smaller vehicle, allowing for more stops on the route without returning to base.
@@arantala what you're describing would add massive weight, complexity, and cost. And as long as the cargo is well marked, I don't think drivers will have any issue finding stuff back there. The best that would do is reduce the number of vehicles required, but reducing the number of vehicles means increased delivery times since the routes would have to be longer.
@@arantala you have to realize most drivers don’t give a shit about the van when I drove for Amazon 99% of the vans had something wrong wether it be the outside step being bent torn twisted etc The back door didn’t open side door wouldn’t close right these things are used and abused the less moving parts that can be neglected or slammed the better
@@arantala Any driver worth his salt will spend time in the morning organizing the package and planning out his route. You'll have stuff lined up in order so you know right where to go to get the next pacakage and also where your next destination will be once you drop off the current one. You must really not have much faith in the human brain if you think a conveyer auto sorter is something they would even ever consider
The front visor and headlights look like from a Honda e. Looks stolen to me. Their other SUVs have a very original front styling. They should have gone in that direction with this Van as well.
The back sensor makes perfect sense. As someone who has spent a lot of time around heavy equipment, the first noise you disregard and ignore is the backup alarm. The vans backup alarm is so different that it is virtually impossible to become a noise that you automatically block out, making it 1000x more effective.
@@KingJerbear most modern vehicles have a white noise sound which is designed to be less intrusive to wildlife, specifically birds. And sounds very different to this.
FYI, the features meant to save time are actually meant to be more energy efficient for the driver. Taking one more step up, having to open and close a sliding door, it's all energy that a driver relies on to do their job. Amazon and all other delivery companies have a huge issue with their drivers keeping their energy level to do their job. Minimizing their physical tasks keeps them working longer and effectively.
More energy efficient for the driver, or more profit margin for Amazon? Amazon doesn't give a fuck about their drivers or their energy level. Otherwise they'd let them unionize.
Despite never being a delivery driver, I was so excited to see this video! I love the giant grab handles for the rear step. The HVAC vent only for the driver seat makes a lot of sense, because they'll often be driving around with the passenger side door open, so most of the HVAC effort would be puffing right out the open door.
Saw one the other day and literally was amazed. Even more now seeing all the practical features inside for the intended driver. So clearly a big W for Rivian, Amazon, and their overworked dsp drivers.
they are overworked because nobody wants to pay for shipping so they have to squeeze every cent from that 20-50 dollar purchase to still somehow pay ppl and equipment to end customer delivery
Just realized the vans in my area are these ones, super awesome seeing Amazon use electric vehicles, and actually allow the engineers to understand how the drivers interact with the vehicle to make it more efficient. Amazon definitely has a lot of issues, but this is actually an incredible innovation for delivery vehicles
As a former Amazon driver, this custom-designed vehicle is very pleasing. ESPECIALLY having cruise control. No branded Transit and Promaster vans have cruise control and Amazon has an app that monitors your speed. Having cruise control in this is a godsend. I really hope Rivian makes an AWD version for the northern and midwest areas of the US. Snow gets insane up here and the branded vans would CONSTANTLY get stuck.
I wholeheartedly agree to all points. As a current Amazon driver in the Midwest, and AWD version of this would be amazing! And having cruise control is a blessing from above
My DSP has quite a few of the Ford an Ram CDV's with cruise. I don't care about that. What I cannot stand is being in a random van of any sort an not having the arm-rest.
@@daveed2589 I would mainly use cruise control on the way to my delivery area and back. Most of my stops were clumped together so I didn't need cruise control then.
Had one of these pull up at a four-way stop near my house last week. First impression was an Amazon spaceship with a very happy driver (he was literally grinning ear to ear).
Gave 5 bucks to the Amazon driver after he gave me my package, he looked kinda surprised but then smiled and thanked me. Are drivers not used to getting a little money from customers?
There's obviously a lot of thought put into this build; and great to know that real Amazon drivers were interviewed for the build process. Love it, and great job reviewing the van, Doug!
I have 2 points to criticize, why does it need a driver door at all? Could have been spared. And the u-bolt of the cabin door lock stands out way to much causing a big risk of injury.
@@vpx23 Regulations. If you are driving a car/truck, you need to be able to get out the driver side door, whether or not you're involved in an accident.
This would be a perfect base for a camper van! I hope Rivian developes this van for other purposes in the future when they have delivered all the vans Amazon ordered!
depeding on width/length my exact thought too. one part of the van for my mountain bike the rest for storage and have inverter and batteries on one side and solar panels on the roof.
They won't, it's a purpose design delivery van developed in close collaboration with Amazon. They might make a luxury RV in the future, but nothing like this unfortunetely
@@videorowtv5198 even just a normal van with similar dimmensions could be outfitted to work. im really waiting on an electric van that could be converted into a camper over buiying an expensive purpose built that would have issues with parking spaces and stuff.
Pretty cool that Amazon & Rivian made a delivery van that makes the people working and delivering a little easier. I will say that the front of it reminds me of the small Honda EV that came out a few years ago, almost identical. I also have to say that the backing up noise is much more annoying. Crazy that’s what they came up with.
Its definitely more grating but its very clever- the high-pitched sounds we’re used to are really good at bouncing off glass and concrete and being heard far away where the sound is just bothersome and not informative. The sound they chose should dissipate quickly and will only be obvious to people immediately nearby which is awesome. Its also very different, so you don’t have any risk of people being desensitized to the normal sound and ignoring it.
It's basically white noise, it has many benefits over beeping. It's easier to locate, it can be less loud and the sound doesn't travel that far so it doesn't cause unnecessary noise pollution.
Oh man. It’s been years since I’ve checked out Doug’s channel. I had a massive smile on my face hearing that introduction again. So happy to see Doug still doing the same, amazing content he always has. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
I love how he talks about walking through the step up door probably about 100 times. Let's go with closer to 300 times. On average for my delivery company we have daily stop count of 180/190 stops. That is not including what amazon calls group stops of multiple package locations per stop. So actually daily stop count average can be closer to 250 to maybe 270 stops per my observation.
As a FedEx driver I would love something like this. I'm stuck in a Ford Transit 250 which I'm happy with but man this looks so convenient. I could complete my routes way quicker with this minor details.
@@markplott4820 You mean the cybertruck that was meant to be released last year? The production of the Tesla roadster was also supposed to be built in mid 2021. Both those cars are still very far away from production. Musk makes claims he can't keep. What makes you think this so called "cybervan" will be so good when you know absolutely nothing about it, let alone if it's a real thing or not?
If you haven't had a ride in one yet, you should. They are far better than the lighting, and possibly the most versatile pickup and SUV on the market. They have features never seen before on any vehicle. If you are in the market for an EV, can't afford the lucid air, and want something bigger than the ioniq5, you buy the RT1.
I work for fedex, plus I have formally worked for UPS and USPS. Watching this video is really cool because it shows the future of the career path. Our trucks are much much older, with Much less visibility, power and comfort. Things like heated seats and wireless chargers as well as the door opening when you place the truck in park are all massive quality of life improvements. This is basically a dream van for us here at fedex, ups and USPS. Some other differences include the SOS button, for those of us delivering in bad areas this is a great idea. Plus the less steps means less pressure on the knees when entering and exiting the van. All said, this is going to be awesome for Amazon drivers.
@@beavismcdeavis142 absolutely, the union isn’t what it used to be at UPS and USPS. This is coming from the son of a union president. For this time in my life the uncertainty of being laid off isn’t worth the cost of union work at these two company’s that so often do this. Fed ex isn’t perfect but it’s not a bad job if you get with the right crew.
I like how Rivian is trying to make the lives of overworked Amazon workers a tiny bit easier and more ergonomic. Good for them, I hope they make it in the ever growing electric car competition
main theory behind the new beep is that the annoying one is hard to hear exactly where is it coming from. It was developed on the construction sites where can be multiple backing machines and you cant hear which is moving.
Its been common in london for a few years now and I think its been mandatory in may of the building sites in the city center. White noise beeps maximises nearby ability to locate the source but doesn't travel very far.
Love the simplicity and efficiency in design of this thing. For the front end they wanted something cute and friendly as Doug mentions, so they just looked at other electric cars and took the front end of a Honda e, which is basically the cutest electric car around.
I used to deliver for Amazon for 8-9 months in UK. I can honestly say that they have minimized absolutely all the time you use to loose with a normal van. But they also made it so much easier for drivers to be less stressed. This will be an absolute success for Amazon drivers.
Currently watching this while delivering for Amazon. This is definitely a big upgrade from the ProMaster Amazon vans. I’ve been driving a normal Mercedes Sprinter for awhile now and have driven every cargo van option on the market. These technologies and QOL features will definitely help us drivers tremendously and it’s nice that Amazon is finally investing more into their drivers.
@@NukeFinity It depens what you define as mass produced. Doug said in his video nr 1000 of these new delivery vans was recently delivered by Rivian to Amazon. 1000 units for a companny as big as Amazon is of course peanuts I thought i did read they would go for a worldwide fleet of 30-40.000 of these vehicels for Amazon.
24:11 the special backup alarm is called a broadband backup alarm. That frequently is OSHA approved to warn people at risk of getting run over, but doesn't travel as far to bother people who aren't at risk. Glad they went with this.
It also makes it easier to hear where it’s coming from when you’re in range, due to the same factor (degrading in a known way with distance). Better all round!
all the Amazon vans in my area use this sound and it's like nails on a chalkboard in my quiet neighborhood. You can hear it blocks away and it sounds like a dying animal. It's very disturbing
I drive a van for work, and this thing would be absolutely amazing. The work is a mix of service, maintenance, and delivery. I can tell you this would save countless hours over a year. Between the doors, space, and safety features this thing is just amazing in terms of efficiency and utility. Really wish these would make it to the "civilian" market.
this auto-opening feature is brilliant. Not only opens the doors automatically, but also gives the driver visual confirmation that the car is in the parking position. As I understand it, the parking position in such a car has an additional security in the form of an automatically applied brake. I worked as a delivery driver in past and I know that despite the habit of applying the brake, I sometimes had anxiety whether the brake was actually applied
As someone who’s recovering from an ACL injury on the job from my Amazon van having a damaged step I appreciate it being built in. Also having the fan in the back is a god send
Pretty cool stuff here. One thing that did stand out to me was the latching mechanism for the interior cargo door. It's a big metal piece that sticks out from the edge of the door that looks easy to run into and get caught up on. If they reversed it and had the door slide a bit into the wall, they could get rid of a potential injury causing obstruction.
this is genuinely a brilliant machine. there are so many small touches that are perfect for driver comfort and efficiency. it’s all so well integrated and perfectly catered to the needs and uses of drivers. it really just looks like one of the most clever and smoothly designed vehicles i’ve ever seen. i’m just simping at this point, but it’s damn cool
I'm a delivery driver (supermarket related though) and even though our vans are very nice, having one custom built like this seems amazing! You can tell that this van has been designed with delivery drivers in mind, lots of things I'd want in a van as well. Heck, I saw someone use one of the vans we use for work for an RV conversion after it got sold by my company. Imagine one of these when its done its deeds for Amazon after 10 years as an RV, would be epic :D
Amazon Driver here! SUPER excited to phase in the EDVs at my station! You said upwards of a hundred times per day stepping in and out… usually it’s closer to 200, sometimes up to 280!
That time savings on the steps is really incredible. It only takes 1,800 uses to save 3 minutes. That means it only takes a month to earn yourself a bathroom break! Month and a half if you wanna wipe.
Being a delivery driver myself, this would be incredible. But let's just say the company I work for.. doesn't really maintain or upgrade their equipment, they just have us use what they've been using for 30 years. This is why I think eventually Amazon will overtake alot of the older shipping companies, they're just unwilling to adapt and make things not just more efficient but easier on the drivers.
@@spiralnapkin that's exactly what I was thinking of... A used one of these would make a sweet camper conversion. Edit: only down side would be the range... 150mi of range on a good day would be pretty crappy, unless you live and travel in heavily electrified areas.
This is honestly really cool how much thought was put into this van to be more delivery driver-friendly. I can’t wait to see what the new USPS electric delivery vehicles will look like in depth. Hopefully they let Doug make a video with one when the time comes!
i do not think it is "driver-friendly" - all i can see in this video is cost-time optimization and a lot of sensors that will send data to people who run their excel files
Ngl, the only thing that separates this from an average delivery van is that it has 2 steps instead of 3, the modern tech, and the sheer amount of Amazon blue slapped on.
im so glad Tesla started so Rivian could be the real future auto maker. they make real complete vehicles. Tesla has issues with interior and quality control
I work at a delivery station (in the warehouse not a driver) and our site is making massive upgrades to the parking lot to accommodate these. also I have worked a little with getting drivers set off before heading out, some still use panel vans or smaller box trucks, meaning they have to get out and open the back to get in, this will be super nice for them , so long as they don't limit AC times or heater settings while out on delivery (Amazon told drivers not to keep the vans running with the AC on to not waste gas during stops)
So long as these vans are getting charged up every night that hopefully shouldn't be an issue, especially with how much extra range they have, unless Amazon is worried about electricity prices too.
@@DesuVR Electricity bill won’t be an issue with solar panels and batteries. Our warehouse has been getting solar panels installed to accommodate our charging ports
Amazon driver here! Overall, it's a great van - tons of space, great power, quiet, lots of head height, excellent visibility, massive rear display for backing up, and more. However, there are a few dismal failures! 1) music/radio - max volume is about one third of every vehicle i've ever driven. I hate loud music but if there's any kind of background/road noise, or you're running the fans, be prepared to barely hear. Worse than that: our delivery app auto syncs with the system, helping us navigate to our stops, and interrupts the sound system for every departure, arrival, and turn - i.e., constantly. And to my knowledge there is no way to customize this or over-ride it. It's torture trying to catch a good news story. "Lampeer is reported to have whispered to Trump that if it ever happened again" - In 100 feet, turn right on S Dawson St... 2) thanks to its long wheelbase, evidently to hold one continuous battery pack, it has a turning radius like the Titanic 3) the key fobs have a poor range and are constantly low on batteries, which is why half the slider door handles are broken on our fleet - the driver is trying to open the door but the fob isnt putting out a signal, which sometimes leads to, uh, pulling too hard... Also, in the morning, when trying to locate your van in a sea of vans, you often have to be very close to the van before it makes the noise. At my DSP the EDV drivers look the walking dead trying to find their van in the morning 4) the air vents are undersized, and the phone mount blocks one of the two forward ones. Weak AC - adequate for any regular cabin but not for these oversized cabins - and this is in Seattle, not midwest (or Southern) summers. You have to crank the fans way up, but then it's noisy and still impotent. And the temp changes lag by 10-20s sometines, which is very confusing 5) finally, touch screen controls are awful for certain features, such as when you're bumping around a little and trying to adjust the air controls - instead of increasing temp you descrease, or exit out, or switch modes.
The immense attention to detail, clever use of resources, employee comfort, and utilitarism really seem to make the work better and easier for the delivery person! I suppose specifically the van being electric makes the combination of all these features possible.
I’ve been seeing these everywhere the past couple months, it’s great that delivery drivers can drive around in something way better and newer than the old vans
Hopefully companies who don’t provide air conditioning in US model cars but do in European cars get the hint to stop exploiting workers and switch over
@@jesualdocortez6426 Air conditioning is standard in the US now. The only cars that don't have AC standard are low-trim two-door Jeep Wranglers, and you'll have to look hard to find one without AC. I don't know how things are in Europe but in the US you have a choice of who you want to work for. If you don't like the working conditions at a job, you go find another.
No... the theory behind that kind of sound is that it is wide band sound. It is made from a lot of frequencies and not only on tone beep. So people with part hearing aid can still be warned.
Remember when everyone was like ... "Wow. Elon Musk works 100 hours a week and sleeps at the factory to help get the model 3 up to production." Meanwhile, Rivian has released two vehicles and a commercial van in almost the same span of time that it's taking Tesla to release the Cybertruck. And no one speaks a word about that accomplishment.
Rivian is scaling up well but they aren't even in the same conversation for production. Rivian aims to deliver 25k vehicles this year. Tesla delivers 25k every 5 days
And Tesla is STILL nowhere near delivering their first cyber truck. Rivian had just started up when the doorstop truck was announced, right? And they've already made 3 truly fantastic vehicles.
As an Amazon Driver and been driving the EDV for almost 2 months they do have a AM/FM radio its right above the phone on the music setting. Also the Wireless charger doesnt work when you have an Iphone with a case and when taking the case off it still didn't charge lol I do have Iphone 13 Pro Max so idk. Also the small little red lights in the back where back up lights are the red lights come on if you turn on rear fog lights and those lights turn on, pretty cool
The hard part is working to design all this customization with Rivian, and then Rivian ramping up production. Doesn't seem like a hard thing for Amazon to deploy once its in their hands to be honest.
Not really, Rivian is focused on EV's, unlike Tesla which is being led by someone that can't stay focused on any one project long enough to complete anything substantial.
@@benmlee there just butt hurt cuz Elon gutted his newly acquired venture and is in the process of eliminating the communistic censorship that twitter users have learned to abide by. 😂
I never thought I'd watch and so enjoy a delivery van review, but Doug does it with classic aplomb. Thanks for sharing what will be a major lift in labor and morale for so very many deliverypeople.
along with the less annoying nature of the sound, the main theory is people in cities are used to hearing the typical beeping all the time, and overtime people start to ignore it, creating a safety issue. The new sound is new and unusual, increasing the chance of people actually moving out of the way.
The first time I heard it I was in my garage with the door shut and a UPS truck turned around after delivering a package, it startled the hell out of me! Then I laughed when I ran to the door and saw the truck and thought his beeper was broken and making a hiss sound!
The problem is not that people are used to hearing beeping so they ignore it. In fact it's hard for our ears to pinpoint the direction of a tone like a beeping sound. The whooshing sound gives your body a cue for where to look.
That reversing noise has been common (in the UK at least) for about a decade. It's directional, the problem with the beeps is they can easily eco off things, but that white noise can only come from one source, the ecos distort and aren't as audible! A second benifit of this is its easier to tell where a reversing vehicle is, on a building site where you could have lots of these at once the beeps were basically useless, but this noise litterally saved lives!
My family and I saw one driving down the road the other day while we were out. It sparked a major debate amongst my family members trying to figure out what it was. The fact that it didn’t have any noticeable make or model logos even more intriguing.
Seeing Rivians around is bitterweet! I worked for Rivian before the pandemic hiring the engineers that developed it. Their Headquarters in Detroit is Amazing, I was so sad when the pandemic hit and it all shut down!
The best delivery driver I've ever seen threw a package all the way to the balcony of a third floor and it landed perfectly. No rivian fancy stuff can ever beat that.
20 years from now when these vehicles are on the surplus market, I can already imagine the videos of van-life people showing us how they converted them into campers.
The batteries will be dead. They will be scrapped because it won't be worth buy them because you will need to buy and install a new battery and that will be expensive.
They absolutely won't. The treatment of their staff and the purchasing of these vans are for the same reason. Marginalising costs for higher profits. They won't stop treating their staff poorly unless people start shopping elsewhere for ethical reasons.
As someone who have university degrees in both industrial design and transportation design, I have to say this van is a perfect combination of those two branches of design. I love the styling and all the rational and innovative thinking that has gone in to it. Well done Rivian and Amazon! And big thanks to Doug for making this video!
They're doing pretty well right now. Their new inhouse Enduro drive unit reduced costs and supply chain issues while increasing range. Q2 production numbers just came out, and it looks like Rivian might shatter their 2023 production and delivery targets 😊
Doug, long time fan. As with many others here, I never thought I would be watching a video about a delivery truck, and enjoying it this much. Not even that much of a truck version. Speaking of which, this is not only the most impressive delivery van I have ever seen by many miles, it is one of the most impressive examples of thoughtful industrial design I have seen in years.
their website now has a "fleet vehicle" that looks similar to the Amazon van, so hopefully that will happen eventually. At first they'll probably have to priorize the large orders from delivery companies before we can buy them :(
@@iKingRPG I'm pretty sure they are only surivivng off of amazons order/investment. The cars they make aren't doing well. I think it's likely they would have gone under already if not for the amazon association.
The driver's door is heavy, the height is huge, the wipers don't turn on until you turn off the notification about the open door (which is closed) and many other small details. The fan sound is still the same
Awesome! I would also love if Rivian made a smaller-sized delivery van (similar to an auto rickshaw, kei truck, or even tricycle with a cargo compartment) for densely populated areas. Last-mile delivery has always been a tough challenge, but innovations among EVs have definitely made the problem a lot easier!
That would be awesome. But in the US and Canada, most last mile deliveries that would use a smaller vehicle, like for food, are owned by the driver. So that size vehicle is unappealing due to cost. Many delivery folks in NY, BOS, DC, SF, LA and other cities are getting e-bikes for that.
@@evangalinsky2499 It's still a full-sized van with a slightly narrower footprint. I'd definitely like to see that in the US, but I was thinking more of three-wheeled, slow-speed vehicles that'll only travel a few miles at most and primarily serve more densely populated areas. Cargo bikes have become a lot more popular, and an auto-rickshaw or kei-truck style van would be a great complement to these larger vans, especially considering these vans aren't always full.
Purpose built to the max, as it should. Love it how it's entirely made to be a heavy duty tool, full focus on ergonomics, and then make it look cool while at it. Definitely gives a good feel of both engineers and designers working together in perfect harmony.
Never would I have thought I would enjoy a half hour long video about a delivery van, but that's Doug for you.
work as a courier for a fire department and we would love one of these. Can't wait until rivian allows other companies to purchase them. I do wish the rear opened wide enough to fit a pallet width wise and it could be fitted with a lift gate for when I move the occasional broken dishwasher - but the day to day pluses outweigh everything else by a good margin
Sponsored by Amazon
No brother that’s you. And your beautiful mind. Cherish that little walnut in your head brother it’s something special
Go into a trance Rolf for 1 hour on my YT channel
Before I even watched it this is exactly what I thought 😅
Rivian should definitely do a camper version. It goes well with their adventure vehicle lineup.
That’s a sick idea
would be sick ! and expensive sadly. Maybe they will sell them in a few years in auctions when there will eventually be a v2. Maybe you can build it into a camper pretty easily
just heard about the range... pretty low though...
@@didi0625 Range by then will be down around 5-15%. Once you kit it would as a camper, drop a bit more from that. Great to live in, terrible to travel any distance to a new camping site. And until it's decked out with solar roof and even larger solar canope, you can't venture far from a decent charger at all.
@@didi0625 Doug says it’s designed that way, no doubt if they wanted it to be higher it could be. R1T/S have 400+ mile range offerings in a smaller chassis (less space for batteries)
Amazon Driver here, just wanted to share a few minor corrections and additions:
-4:56 we enter and exit the van upwards of 250 times a day, sometimes more.
-13:14 we cannot drink or touch anything while driving, an AI camera would tag us for distracted driving.
-14:44 We tend to be back there a lot and it can be up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than outside. no other vans have these fans back there. Also, we don't know what's in the packages but yes things tend to melt back there.
-26:49 Our acceleration is tracked and we can get hit for "hard acceleration" so I don't think we'll get to use that too often.
Sounds like you work for gestapo. God forbid you have any fun of working.
Jesus christ you guys are monitored eh.. Heard it's a rough job so thank you for your service. I have had thousands of packages delivered over the years.
Where do you put the pee bag???
AI camera? Jesus. It's really, really lame that we finally arrive in the future and the big oppressive megacorp is an online retailer
@@Cless9886 8:26 pee bottle holder
Being a "car guy" my entire life, I never thought I'd be more interested in watching a 30 minute video about a delivery van instead of watching a video about a supercar. Lol
That’s the Doug effect 😂 started watching Doug for super cars and now get the most excited when he uploads a new video with a “quirky” vehicle
@@Trippyisophuh?
I too have been interested in cars since “the start of existence”. But that’s Doug. He makes boring things interesting
Quirks and features!
Super cars are boring. I'll take weird and quirky any day.
The designer of this van is a genius. All of those little changes like opening the storage room door Automatically, and the chair being higher so you don't have to stand up to get out of the chair, will save a little bit of energy for the drivers as well. I'm sure it will be a huge quality of life improvement for the workers.
Until Amazon inevitably just increases their quotas...
@@Aran.Tech.Television Exactly, Amazon isn’t thinking about employee comfort, they’re thinking about their bottom line.
@@Norweeg Like most companies
@@Norweeg I used to work in an Amazon warehouse, it was actually incredibly easy to get payed for very little work. I didn't have a boss who I actually met every day, I just went in, checked out a scanner, and went to work. There was a quota for how much you were supposed to get done or the system would flag you, but I could get that done in 2 hours for a 6 hour shift, and the rest of the time I could sit in the breakroom and since I had no direct oversight no one knew.
They've only been making step vans like that for about the last 15 years...
That backup beeper isn't just designed to not be annoying, it's designed after white noise so you can tell what direction the vehicle is coming from even in an echoey environment due to the ways the echoes interfere with each other.
It's annoying as hell to me
Was looking for this comment, very cool that they thought to do this
And it's the same as many garbage trucks, which people hear fairly often.
@@kamX-rz4uy annoying up close, where it's really necessary, but doesn't travel well over distance or through barriers. It's intended to cut down on noise pollution AND increase directionality, without sacrificing attention grabbing up close.
I don’t like the sound but I like the benefits of it. Ambulances, wheel loaders, delivery trucks and such have had them for a few years around here.
The self opening doors not only save a couple of tenths of seconds, I would imagine that its probably also very annoying to manually open 2 doors for every single package you deliver. Probably a huge relief to have them!
they probably just left the door open in the past?
Well you don't do that theres a door in the cabin of regular delivery vans this actually wastes time
The sliding doors on our transits and promasters are all worn out at not even 20k miles. Most of time it’s easier to just leave it open lol
Don't know about Amazon, but I know UPS drivers leave all the doors open, lol. Too annoying to constantly mess with them.
What happens when it fails and they don't budget for repairs. In two months the guy is opening a heavier door.
The back up noise was actually changed to "White noise" because the beeping tone is difficult to pinpoint direction wise, but the static sound can be detected from a specific location for blind people. They tested it on White Rabbit Project, I thought it was a brilliant change.
Sounds like a broken speaker
It's easier to honk 🤷🏾♂️
And it's also very noticeable when you're walking, but without the annoyingness of the beeps.
Gosh I hope so because I actually thought that noise was more annoying; if it's got its benefits then that's great and i'll deal with it lol
True - a sine wave tone can be difficult to locate as ears go in and out of phase between the ears. White noise will always contain frequencies that are out of phase for us to locate more accurately.
It's weird to hear but makes sense!
The back up noise is not only designed to be less annoying, it’s also designed to be more efficient. It allows passers-by to localise it much easier. The old beep sound is actually terrible for localisation.
Yeah, white noise backup sounds are becoming pretty standard or at least common on this kind of thing.
@@cadekachelmeier7251 Im pretty sure the new RAV4 Prime also has this.
Yup, my daughter is sat watching Doc McStuffins and she turned around and said "what's that noise?"
I’m ngl, this new sound is more annoying, I think it’s cuz I’m more used to the “beep beep beep” sound😅
My home smoke alarms give out a single fast high-pitch beep when their batteries are low. It's basically impossible to know which smoke alarm beeped even if you're in the very room with the smoke alarm that beeped. It's maddening.
As a former Amazon delivery driver, I can confirm that I would sometimes have over 250 packages and 200 stops in a single day. This video really makes me wish I had stayed to use this van at least for a little while. This van would have definitely dramatically increased my productivity and comfort. having to insert a key, start the engine and shift out of part adds 30 sec to each stop which adds up when each stop takes only a minute. Also, the cooling seats really helps when it is 110° F or more out. With the dark paint, I've measured the interior at over 140°.
Was it as bad as a driver as for the fulfillment people? Pissing in bottles, being monitored and warned about 'efficiency' constantly?
@@Mango_Puffin Only saw the fulfillment people at the beginning of each shift, so I can't speak on behalf of them, but we were always watched by our supervisors so that they could send us help if we were falling behind, or were delivering to a difficult area. I was never once reprimanded for going slow, but there were incentives for going fast. As for the bathroom situation, it was pretty rough, but not for the reason you might think. I delivered all throughout the height of the pandemic and all public restrooms were closed, and most restaurants, heck, even most 7-11s wouldn't let you use their restrooms because they were employee only. So even though we were mandated to take 15 min breaks every 2 hours, it was very difficult to find bathrooms to use, something I don't blame amazon for. And most days it would be over an hour drive from our delivery location back to the station so that wasn't an option. Overall it was a decent job. Got payed a decent amount over minimum wage, got a ton of exercise, and could listen to all the science podcasts I wanted to. Even got a scholarship that helped me pay for school.
The extra large cup holders behind the seat would come in handy too. If only they integrated an entire septic system
@@Mango_Puffin I just left Amazon as a driver (drove the small vans:ram power wagon, the Ford, and Mercedes, large non DOT Ford, and I’ve been in the Rivian but never drove it). Peeing in bottles is actually true, I did it everyday, one guy just got fired for peeing outside the van. They tell you to work faster yet you’re paid by the hour so it actually hurts you to run the route faster. They tell you it’s 150-200 stops a day but with grouped locations you end up actually doing 250+ during peak (grouped locations are close to each other, or supposed to be, and only count as one stop).
The camera system is called Netradyne and watches everything you do. It will hit you with a violation for distracted driving which could be picking up your phone or simply trying to grab a drink while you’re driving. It tracks speed, hard cornering, hard breaking, following too close, it watches for your seatbelt, etc. those vans have cameras all around, we can actually activate the 360 cameras if we have something like a disgruntled customer to have proof of the interaction.
Also, can only speak for my place, but our vans are in a constant state of disrepair. All the TPMS systems are broke, we’d have small vans with the sliding door handle broken off, or the cables broken. Some track brake pad wear and I’ve driven vans that damn near wouldn’t stop. Seatbelts literally falling apart as you use them. The equipments largely fucked and you use old android phones to deliver with which are slow and fuck up most of the time.
I wonder why they didn't go for a lighter color to reduce heating.
As an ex DPD driver, this van would be a game changer compared to the vans we used (reno's, fiat's and ford's) That van would've made our lifes so much easier and much more comfortable, just the fact that you could reach the parcels without exiting the van is awesome. And the rear garage door is genious especially in tight places where you couldn't open both doors all the way.
Tell me you've never seen a Renault without telling me you've never seen a Renault
But imagine this on british roads... it just wouldn't
@@SuperAwesomeStuntMan thanks, I cringed and was hoping it's some different brand and not a horrendous misspelling
Yeah but it would make your job much worse. I think the weight and size makes it less maneuverable than the normal vans and as such incidents or sketchiness will ensue. But other than that its amazing
You know we're not all amazon delivery drivers right. What the heck is DPD.
As a former FedEx employee, I find it hilarious that such a huge chunk of the video is just standard features of a typical delivery truck, but Doug still manages to keep it interesting for those who wouldn’t be familiar. The changes this thing does have are crazy though.
*All these features on FedEx's Brightdrop Zevo 600*
th-cam.com/video/gVOoO1mHw-k/w-d-xo.html
What are some of the standout improvements/changes to you?
Please list some of those changes that are NOT typical for those of us who wouldn't know.
I work for fedex, plus I have formally worked for UPS and USPS. Watching this video is really cool because it shows the future of the career path. Our trucks are much much older, with Much less visibility, power and comfort. Things like heated seats and wireless chargers as well as the door opening when you place the truck in park are all massive quality of life improvements. This is basically a dream van for us here at fedex, ups and USPS. Some other differences include the SOS button, for those of us delivering in bad areas this is a great idea. Plus the less steps means less pressure on the knees when entering and exiting the van. All said, this is going to be awesome for Amazon drivers.
@@dontgiveuptheship7710 very nice and informative reply! Cheers
I think Rivian did a really good job taking in the input of the drivers for designing the van, there are clear quality of life changes for the driver, plus anything that makes it more efficient is positive in amazon's books since they work these drivers to the bone......
That's my only pity about this van - it's Amazon. And they're not only working their drivers to the bone, but all that work for them. In every single country, in every single downmost position. Workers, Commissioners, Packagers, whatever.
When Doug mentions the cupholders behind the drivers seat--that's gotta be for pee bottles, right? Also, all the accommodations for cold weather...but still using a touch screen for most controls...which prohibits the use of thick warm gloves seems like an oversight
The workers work to the bone. No one makes them work there. That’s why Amazon is the best
@@halogod0298 Lol just because they were in need of a job doesn't mean exploiting them should be tolerated
@@halogod0298 Just say you support exploiting workers desperate for a job so they burn out in just a few months at most and be done with it.
Saw a delivery driver with one of these about a month ago. I struck up a conversation with him and he showed me around! His favorite feature was the divider door thing closing automatically when he walked about 15 feet away.
That's really smart for security
Thats crazy because their schedules dont usually allow a single second to do anything besides be a package delivering slave
Funny, I thought at this point in the video "it should probably also be closing when he gets far enough away, and they do have that fob clipped to them. it shouldnt just be when the car turns on and off." I shouldn't be surprised that it actually works that way.
You sure this is a true story? Why would an amazon driver do that and waste time out of their schedule. Their already on a time crunch with a million packages to deliver as it is
Mass produced EV's are not only, NOT GREEN, but very inconvenient and highly impractical for long trips. The most disturbing and least obvious Cons of EV's are the frequent and lonnnnng charging cycles. They are so dirty, they already cause thousands more tons of Fossil Fuels at the Power-Plants to be burned and cause those plants and Nuclear Power Plants to release excessive amounts of heat into the atmosphere. Already the EV's cause the Nuclear Plants to use up hundreds of tons more nuclear rods, thus creating hundreds of tons of excessive Radioactive/Nuclear waste every year that has to be contained and buried somewhere.
The extra load on the electrical grid already has caused many EV owners, that paid extra for "Super-Charging" on their EV's, to experience the Super-Charge function at the station is disabled. What, did everyone think, the electricity needed to charge these EV's, is provided without any monetary or environmental costs??
Not to mention, some of the largest Lithium deposits, mined in Australia by the Chinese mining companies are already severely depleted. How many more tons of fossil-fuels is being used, just to power the equipment at the Lithium mines? People's concerns over fossil-fuels are completely backwards.
Lithium is not as plentiful as the experts thought. The Consumer Electronics Industry earns a much larger profit per ton of Lithium, when used in the batteries that power all the small devices we use everyday. With an EV needing about 7,800 Li-Ion cells x 68grams each, that;s almost 1200lbs of Lithium needed, just to make an EV go up the road. If more Lithium mines become depleted and are forced to shut down, I foresee in just 5-10yrs, the Consumer Electronics Industry instituting a Worldwide ban of using Lithium to power any EV's larger than an Electric Bicycle.
EV's have proven themselves to be terribly impractical and inefficient. The Internal Combustion powered vehicles will never be replaced by these pitiful ev's. The power-efficiency factor for 1 gallon of gasoline is around 4500. The best Tesla battery unit, made up of the latest and most efficient Lithium Ion cells, can barely scratch into a 900 power-efficiency factor. The internal Combustion Engine is way more efficient and actually more "GREEN" than any current EV has ever been.
What's really bad is, all battery-units (even in regular 12v car (batteries) have so much unused energy still in them, even when the battery-unit is considered "dead". If EV's used banks of transformers and Super-Capacitors they could not only use a smaller Battery-Unit, but could make use of a good amount of that wasted energy that's never tapped into. My suspicions are, they already know this and need to keep a tight leash on the consumer.
Remember, Elon's dream project is not Tesla, it's SpaceX and he being as brilliant as he is, needed and created a successful cash-cow to fund SpaceX. If I can foresee how bad and how dirty EV's really are, then Elon and others already know it.
150 to 180 miles on full charge is very good for a delivery vehicle. The second small window at the top helps vent out the moisture so in winter your windshield doesn't get foggy from the inside. You only need to open that window for a few minutes at a time.
Just waiting for Rivian to discover that their primary market for their trucks are also attracted to vanlife and this van is perfect for vanlife (can stand up inside without roof modification, huge win just right there) These will definitely eventually go to more than just Amazon, assuming Rivian survives long enough to do it
Having delivered a thousand units (with much more on the way, I assume) this is probably pretty great for Rivian in terms of survivability.
Seriously needs a consumer version because thats my thought exactly, This is the Rivian vehicle that I actually like the most and for that specific reason, its the perfect platform to build into a camper. Just extend the range for the consumer version and make minor tweaks and its ready to go.
@@krvnjrcbs my feeling is there’s a lot of fake or soft van lifers- who have homes and would still buy an ev
@@youtubehandleofficial you mean… campers, Recreational Vehicles?
When I saw rivian I thought it was odd that they made a ford like EV truck. But, it seems like they actually made a truck/cargo van/passenger van/van dweller van. They are selling to these smaller to large segments with one product.
As a former delivery driver in the Netherlands, this is amazing! Literally saves so much time. We had old Fiat busses with no door inbetween, no sliding doors on the passenger sides, whatsoever. This bus is a gamechanger, I think other brands will adopt a lot of the stuff on this bus for the european market.
But doesn't that efficiency just mean Amazon will demand a greater number of stops each day?
@@VelkePivo i would think so
It seems like madness that other OEMs have been building delivery vans for decades and haven't made small changes to make grabbing packages and getting in/out faster.
@@VelkePivo Probably, but they’ll likely do that anyway so it’s not a bad idea to make the work easier on drivers where possible.
TESLA Cybervan will save more than $200k per year.
I’ve been a delivery driver for many years for Amazon and recently left. It is so cool to see this van, every thing I’ve complained about is fixed. I will say it for the first time. Good job amazon
One of its silly flaws is the bright blue seatbelts that blends in with the blue amazon vests. The netradyn camera always tags drivers as not wearing a seatbelt.
@@itsnevy they fixed the vans but netradyn is far far from perfect
@@itsnevy Yep! My DSP has these orange wraps on our EDV's belts to provide some contrast for the Netrodyne cameras.
I drive for Amazon and I’m trained on the EDV. It is amazing compared to the other branded gas vans we have! I didn’t know about the 3 step thing but yeah that would’ve been super annoying haha😅. I use that passenger door at least 200+ times a day, a normal route has 190+ stops which means ~250 houses/businesses. The motorized door is so nice, wish the passenger one was motorized too! I’ve used every grab handle. Visibility is much better, also thanks to the cameras, than our gas vans. I’ve never had to use the sun visors interestingly, even in late afternoon 🤷♂️. Hazard light button is an innovation. I’m looking forward to the cargo fan come the warm months. The Amazon route system is kinda bad but having it shown on the large van screen is pretty helpful. CORRECTION TO DOUG There is a radio, you push the button on the upper left corner of the screen just above the phone icon, it lets me listen to the news while I drive😊 I still just use my AirPods most of the time though😅. THAT’S A WIRESLESS CHARGING PAD!?!?!😱😱🤯 then why is my iPhone 13 Pro max not charged at the end of the day? I’ll try positioning my phone differently at work tomorrow because if it is a charging pad then sir you just made me love these EDVs even more! The SOS button actually contacts Amazon emergency services who will then contact 911 if they deem it necessary, at least that’s what my training videos said. I didn’t know what the camera button did and I’ve been too scared to push it haha so thanks for telling me. The cameras and sensors are amazing and I feel so comfortable driving with all the visibility and the normal gassers don’t even have cruise control so ACC is just next freaking level. Oh yeah the interior space is honestly my favorite thing because in a gas van I’d hit my head every 2 seconds seconds, never had that problem in the EDV. The shelves work great for all my totes and packages. The garage door is cool but I only use it 2-3 times a day and for loading/unloading (we load our own vans, which shocks a lot of people). I don’t know how accurate this is but I’ve heard that the reverse sound is also referred to as a white noise sound, and is not only less annoying but can be pin pointed better by our ears since it echoes off houses and buildings less. Yea I definitely feel more connected to my EDV for the day vs the gassers it is cute. Wait it’s that easy to fill up the washer fluid? Then why is almost every van I drive out of washer fluid!!!! Bruhsoundeffect.mp3 The front wheel drive is fine on road and definitely has some get up and go, I daily drive a muscle car so I know power ;) however this is one area where the gassers have the EDVs beat. The gassers while also FWD are better in the snow due to the fact that the EDV will cut power to the wheels when it detects one wheel is just spinning without traction. So even if I have one wheel on dry pavement and one in the snow, deeper snow mind you 3-6 inches, the van will be basically stuck because it won’t send power to the wheel on the pavement. In a gasser you just turn off traction control and give’r the beans. Range really is fine, I normally take the farther out routes so from leaving the warehouse it’s ~30 miles just to get to my first stop which means ~30 miles back, I normally plug in with 45%-50% left at the end of the day. Thanks for the great video Doug! I’ve had quite a few customers ask me about the EDV and I’m sure they’ve seen your video with how interested and knowledgeable they seem! I’m glad we have these vans at Amazon because I love it so much more than the gas vans, even if just for the fact that I don’t hit my head every 2 seconds! A lot of us drivers have considered or have lived the “van life” meaning living out of a van you’ve converted. Driving one of the Rivian EDVs makes me wish that it was available to the public so that I could make a “van life” van out of one. Although it’d probably cost way more than I’d want to spend haha😂. I hope that in a few years we’ll see these EDVs used on the marketplace, I’m sure people will find some way to get their hands on ‘em, just to see what the community would do if given the chance to own something like the Amazon EDV.
EDV driver here but in Phoenix. The washer tank can hold 4.4 GALLONS of fluid. And it needs to with all of the spray nozzles for the cameras.
That's so awesome! I'm curious if any Amazon warehouses in the southeastern USA have the EDV yet? I'd love getting a look at one in person! I've been a bit of a Rivian fan for a hot minute and it would be really neat being able to see one up close.
@@zort96Do you get paid well in Phoenix?
Please put my packages under the porch out of the rain. Thanks
I wouldn't do a job with those many stops in a day😅😅
I worked as a Driver Helper for UPS during the holiday season when I was younger, as far as I know this is pretty commonplace (to utilize the second seat) for delivery companies when they have major hotspots, as they can deliver twice as many packages at once out of the same vehicle. That being said, I can't even begin to tell you how well thought-out this vehicle is. They've kept the basic framework drivers are familiar with but they've made massive improvements implementing new technologies. Really cool to see. I bet all the drivers can't wait their turn to get to pilot one of these bad boys around daily.
I'm almost surprised by how old-fashioned and simple the cargo area is compared to the rest of the vehicle.
One would imagine that looking for the correct package, for example, would take much longer than opening a door does. An automated system to spotlight the next parcel would probably speed up the operation a lot. After all, the van knows the route, so it should also know what package goes where.
After that, I'd expand it by adding an automatic loader and conveyor system in the back: Reach destination, put van in park, conveyor drops the next package next to you and you can just get out and deliver it without ever entering the cargo compartment. It wouldn't have to be a quick mechanism, because it could just do all that while enroute to the next waypoint.
Almost half of the cargo space is reserved for a walkway. Without one, you could fit more packages in a smaller vehicle, allowing for more stops on the route without returning to base.
@@arantala what you're describing would add massive weight, complexity, and cost. And as long as the cargo is well marked, I don't think drivers will have any issue finding stuff back there. The best that would do is reduce the number of vehicles required, but reducing the number of vehicles means increased delivery times since the routes would have to be longer.
@@arantala you have to realize most drivers don’t give a shit about the van when I drove for Amazon 99% of the vans had something wrong wether it be the outside step being bent torn twisted etc
The back door didn’t open side door wouldn’t close right these things are used and abused the less moving parts that can be neglected or slammed the better
Ima be honest none of this makes the job worth it. Let them raise the salaries instead of investing in these vehicles.
@@arantala Any driver worth his salt will spend time in the morning organizing the package and planning out his route. You'll have stuff lined up in order so you know right where to go to get the next pacakage and also where your next destination will be once you drop off the current one. You must really not have much faith in the human brain if you think a conveyer auto sorter is something they would even ever consider
As an Amazon driver I would love to drive this over the older vans Amazon has. It's different and unique.
I make these
@@Hamiltonfan1780 Tell me all about it; I drive as well! Our department just got a few. Wanna test them out soon!
Demand they get rid of the older rigs
I would love this, for personal use it's very well thought, I love even extra cup holders, but I would imagine the usefulness for a delivery driver.
Until it catches fire and the entire block needs to be evacuated because there's literally no way to put it out.
the design team at Rivian for this van has done an incredible job!
I wish their design team can make other vehicles such as public trains, bicycles, and airplanes
The front visor and headlights look like from a Honda e. Looks stolen to me. Their other SUVs have a very original front styling. They should have gone in that direction with this Van as well.
@@jjjj5452 electric planes aren't going to be possible for a while, due to batteries being so heavy
designers and engineers who actually communicate with the user and adapt. Something rare and very welcome to see.
Looks like a Honda e on steroids
I love that Rivian gave their engineers and product managers latitude to get all the little features right but I bet the R&D spend on this was INSANE.
I'm sure Amazon is really hurting for cash after funding Rivian's development of this van 🙄
@@boingy-m5qyea bro they spending ALL their cash im worried they might go broke fr
@@boingy-m5qthey underpaying employees so they got it from what they save while screwing us over
The back sensor makes perfect sense. As someone who has spent a lot of time around heavy equipment, the first noise you disregard and ignore is the backup alarm. The vans backup alarm is so different that it is virtually impossible to become a noise that you automatically block out, making it 1000x more effective.
Most of the modern heavy equipment I've worked around has an identical backup alarm. As far as I know it's a new standard provided by OSHA
@@KingJerbear it’s a better sound
@@KingJerbear most modern vehicles have a white noise sound which is designed to be less intrusive to wildlife, specifically birds.
And sounds very different to this.
@@avacadomangobanana2588 sound is terrible
Great Points! And as someone who works in a large city: I hope heavy equipment manufacturers take notice & switch to something slightly less piercing!
FYI, the features meant to save time are actually meant to be more energy efficient for the driver. Taking one more step up, having to open and close a sliding door, it's all energy that a driver relies on to do their job.
Amazon and all other delivery companies have a huge issue with their drivers keeping their energy level to do their job. Minimizing their physical tasks keeps them working longer and effectively.
Ultimately, it's all about saving time. As the more energy you have, the faster you can work.
More energy efficient for the driver, or more profit margin for Amazon? Amazon doesn't give a fuck about their drivers or their energy level. Otherwise they'd let them unionize.
@@851852093114208513 This.
@@851852093114208513 exactly. The multiple cup holders are also not for drinks 😅
@@MaticTheProtohaa I got the joke
Despite never being a delivery driver, I was so excited to see this video! I love the giant grab handles for the rear step. The HVAC vent only for the driver seat makes a lot of sense, because they'll often be driving around with the passenger side door open, so most of the HVAC effort would be puffing right out the open door.
These new vehicle reverse sound is horrific 😂 a banshee scream
While the trainee suffers having no ac or heat in the uncomfortable seat they would sit in for a proper hazing
I mean you can option any delivery van with ac in the rear with Mercedes and ford they just don’t option them that way
im really impressive Amzon actually ordered with air conditioner.
This is how you do it Elmo. Rivian knew exactly what the customer and drivers need and they actually delivered a product.
Rivian is probably the best crowd-sourced automotive company in history, so it's really not surprising.
Saw one the other day and literally was amazed. Even more now seeing all the practical features inside for the intended driver. So clearly a big W for Rivian, Amazon, and their overworked dsp drivers.
they are overworked because nobody wants to pay for shipping so they have to squeeze every cent from that 20-50 dollar purchase to still somehow pay ppl and equipment to end customer delivery
Just realized the vans in my area are these ones, super awesome seeing Amazon use electric vehicles, and actually allow the engineers to understand how the drivers interact with the vehicle to make it more efficient. Amazon definitely has a lot of issues, but this is actually an incredible innovation for delivery vehicles
As a former Amazon driver, this custom-designed vehicle is very pleasing. ESPECIALLY having cruise control. No branded Transit and Promaster vans have cruise control and Amazon has an app that monitors your speed. Having cruise control in this is a godsend. I really hope Rivian makes an AWD version for the northern and midwest areas of the US. Snow gets insane up here and the branded vans would CONSTANTLY get stuck.
I wholeheartedly agree to all points. As a current Amazon driver in the Midwest, and AWD version of this would be amazing! And having cruise control is a blessing from above
Its nice to see a lot of workers of Amazon here comenting as well
My DSP has quite a few of the Ford an Ram CDV's with cruise. I don't care about that. What I cannot stand is being in a random van of any sort an not having the arm-rest.
I've driven branded promasters with cruise control. Never used it much because I'm rarely on the highway but it is nice to have.
@@daveed2589 I would mainly use cruise control on the way to my delivery area and back. Most of my stops were clumped together so I didn't need cruise control then.
Had one of these pull up at a four-way stop near my house last week. First impression was an Amazon spaceship with a very happy driver (he was literally grinning ear to ear).
Can you imagine if Amazon started to care about their employees?
Walmart have ordered 4,500 Canoo EVs . Huge contract. Share price rose 14% today !!
Gave 5 bucks to the Amazon driver after he gave me my package, he looked kinda surprised but then smiled and thanked me. Are drivers not used to getting a little money from customers?
@@ljd8520 those Canoos are pretty nifty looking, never thought I would like a vehicle like that but here we are.
@@bernardomotard until bezos is dead, that won't happen.
There's obviously a lot of thought put into this build; and great to know that real Amazon drivers were interviewed for the build process. Love it, and great job reviewing the van, Doug!
I wish Tony at Door Dash would hook us Top Dashers up with a sweet ride like this!
I have 2 points to criticize, why does it need a driver door at all? Could have been spared. And the u-bolt of the cabin door lock stands out way to much causing a big risk of injury.
@@vpx23 Regulations. If you are driving a car/truck, you need to be able to get out the driver side door, whether or not you're involved in an accident.
@vpx23 The driver side door also has to be there for the right hand drive version
@@JakeobE There are many motor coaches or RVs without driver doors, what about these?
Rivian's attention to detail is pretty impressive.
This would be a perfect base for a camper van!
I hope Rivian developes this van for other purposes in the future when they have delivered all the vans Amazon ordered!
100% this thing would be incredible for camping or living
depeding on width/length my exact thought too. one part of the van for my mountain bike the rest for storage and have inverter and batteries on one side and solar panels on the roof.
They won't, it's a purpose design delivery van developed in close collaboration with Amazon. They might make a luxury RV in the future, but nothing like this unfortunetely
@@videorowtv5198 even just a normal van with similar dimmensions could be outfitted to work. im really waiting on an electric van that could be converted into a camper over buiying an expensive purpose built that would have issues with parking spaces and stuff.
This is a 2022 copy of the original 90s FedEx delivery van. Look it up how those look like on the inside.
Pretty cool that Amazon & Rivian made a delivery van that makes the people working and delivering a little easier. I will say that the front of it reminds me of the small Honda EV that came out a few years ago, almost identical. I also have to say that the backing up noise is much more annoying. Crazy that’s what they came up with.
Its definitely more grating but its very clever- the high-pitched sounds we’re used to are really good at bouncing off glass and concrete and being heard far away where the sound is just bothersome and not informative. The sound they chose should dissipate quickly and will only be obvious to people immediately nearby which is awesome. Its also very different, so you don’t have any risk of people being desensitized to the normal sound and ignoring it.
I was looking for the "Honda e" comment.
I also found the sound a little weird and annoying but
@@AmbientSpectrumprobably has a point.
agreed it looks just like the honda e
It's basically white noise, it has many benefits over beeping. It's easier to locate, it can be less loud and the sound doesn't travel that far so it doesn't cause unnecessary noise pollution.
@@mfatihy_ I’m glad I wasn’t the only one! I mean it looks very similar to it.
Oh man. It’s been years since I’ve checked out Doug’s channel. I had a massive smile on my face hearing that introduction again. So happy to see Doug still doing the same, amazing content he always has. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
He’s a great guy.
I think he’d be a pretty cool guy to meet and know.
Put some respect on daddy’s Doug’s name
I love how he talks about walking through the step up door probably about 100 times. Let's go with closer to 300 times. On average for my delivery company we have daily stop count of 180/190 stops. That is not including what amazon calls group stops of multiple package locations per stop. So actually daily stop count average can be closer to 250 to maybe 270 stops per my observation.
Yup, i used to be a delivery driver too and same thing + They keep presuring u so that if someone is having trouble delivering you gotta go help them
amen
if your only doing 130 your out in the country
Depending on how your route is spread out, how many long bumpy dirt roads you go down...
I seriously wish I could find out who made grouped stops so I can beat the shit out of them
As a FedEx driver I would love something like this. I'm stuck in a Ford Transit 250 which I'm happy with but man this looks so convenient. I could complete my routes way quicker with this minor details.
then TESLA Cybervan will flip your wig.
@@markplott4820 how old are you. No one cares about a triangle cheese wedge electric Tesla
I envy you, I’m in a 10 foot box truck on a gmc 2500 platform
but ur Wayne Rooney
@@markplott4820 You mean the cybertruck that was meant to be released last year? The production of the Tesla roadster was also supposed to be built in mid 2021. Both those cars are still very far away from production. Musk makes claims he can't keep. What makes you think this so called "cybervan" will be so good when you know absolutely nothing about it, let alone if it's a real thing or not?
Major w for Rivian. They're starting to grow on me. They made me want a delivery van lol
If you haven't had a ride in one yet, you should. They are far better than the lighting, and possibly the most versatile pickup and SUV on the market. They have features never seen before on any vehicle.
If you are in the market for an EV, can't afford the lucid air, and want something bigger than the ioniq5, you buy the RT1.
I work for fedex, plus I have formally worked for UPS and USPS. Watching this video is really cool because it shows the future of the career path. Our trucks are much much older, with Much less visibility, power and comfort. Things like heated seats and wireless chargers as well as the door opening when you place the truck in park are all massive quality of life improvements. This is basically a dream van for us here at fedex, ups and USPS. Some other differences include the SOS button, for those of us delivering in bad areas this is a great idea. Plus the less steps means less pressure on the knees when entering and exiting the van. All said, this is going to be awesome for Amazon drivers.
FedEx is buying GMs Brightdrop electric van
@@bahamatodd maybe fed ex express. Probably not the contractor drivers
Crap man, you stuck with fed ex over union jobs?
@@beavismcdeavis142 absolutely, the union isn’t what it used to be at UPS and USPS. This is coming from the son of a union president. For this time in my life the uncertainty of being laid off isn’t worth the cost of union work at these two company’s that so often do this. Fed ex isn’t perfect but it’s not a bad job if you get with the right crew.
Don’t forget about no noise from the engine.
I like how Rivian is trying to make the lives of overworked Amazon workers a tiny bit easier and more ergonomic. Good for them, I hope they make it in the ever growing electric car competition
So now amazon can make them work a little bit longer
main theory behind the new beep is that the annoying one is hard to hear exactly where is it coming from. It was developed on the construction sites where can be multiple backing machines and you cant hear which is moving.
Above a certain speed, tyre noise is louder than many modern ICE engines.
@@dipladonic What does that have to do with this?
Its been common in london for a few years now and I think its been mandatory in may of the building sites in the city center. White noise beeps maximises nearby ability to locate the source but doesn't travel very far.
@@dipladonicPutanginamo
Love the simplicity and efficiency in design of this thing. For the front end they wanted something cute and friendly as Doug mentions, so they just looked at other electric cars and took the front end of a Honda e, which is basically the cutest electric car around.
The cutest electric car around should be the microlino or mitsubishi i-miev, but yes honda e is actually cute tho
That's a straight copy from Honda.
this van is honestly a beautiful design. Well done Rivian.
It’s a van. It’s a delivery van. It looks like a delivery van.
@Damar Fadlan tf is a Rimac Van?
I've seen some around the Pittsburgh, PA area. I really like how the designers did so much research with the people who would actually use it.
Should be done like that more
I used to deliver for Amazon for 8-9 months in UK. I can honestly say that they have minimized absolutely all the time you use to loose with a normal van. But they also made it so much easier for drivers to be less stressed. This will be an absolute success for Amazon drivers.
@DougGiveawayplease, go eat some poo. Thanks! ❤
With all these improvements and making work easier I guarantee they'll just make delivery drivers deliver more.
@@DOOM.Fi3nd Bingo. You'll still be quite miserable in a vehicle like this.
So many weird fake comments from Amazon marketing. Wow what a game changer!! Amazon really loves us!! Amazon loves us all!!!
@@thefrub look at your name, thanks for letting me know not to take you seriously before I even read your comment
Currently watching this while delivering for Amazon. This is definitely a big upgrade from the ProMaster Amazon vans. I’ve been driving a normal Mercedes Sprinter for awhile now and have driven every cargo van option on the market. These technologies and QOL features will definitely help us drivers tremendously and it’s nice that Amazon is finally investing more into their drivers.
But is it just a concept study, or will this vehicle really be mass-produced
I hope you know not to watch youtube while driving your route because Amazon is watching, and will fire you.
@@alexamerman5357 do you honestly think they wrote out a paragraph comment with good grammar while driving?
They don’t care about their drivers, it just looks good for them that they’re using EVs because they care so much about the planet.
@@NukeFinity It depens what you define as mass produced.
Doug said in his video nr 1000 of these new delivery vans was recently delivered by Rivian to Amazon.
1000 units for a companny as big as Amazon is of course peanuts
I thought i did read they would go for a worldwide fleet of 30-40.000 of these vehicels for Amazon.
Holy hell I don't even comment on TH-cam videos but I had to. Blown away by how innovative Rivian is. Kudos to them.
24:11 the special backup alarm is called a broadband backup alarm. That frequently is OSHA approved to warn people at risk of getting run over, but doesn't travel as far to bother people who aren't at risk. Glad they went with this.
It also makes it easier to hear where it’s coming from when you’re in range, due to the same factor (degrading in a known way with distance). Better all round!
Personally, I can't stand the noise it makes. I'd much prefer a normal beeping alarm.
Yeah I typically have heard it used in large equipment as opposed to street-legal vehicles
I always thought the sickly backup noise sounded like a damaged speaker. It wouldn't be hard to find something less grating.
all the Amazon vans in my area use this sound and it's like nails on a chalkboard in my quiet neighborhood. You can hear it blocks away and it sounds like a dying animal. It's very disturbing
I drive a van for work, and this thing would be absolutely amazing. The work is a mix of service, maintenance, and delivery. I can tell you this would save countless hours over a year. Between the doors, space, and safety features this thing is just amazing in terms of efficiency and utility. Really wish these would make it to the "civilian" market.
this auto-opening feature is brilliant. Not only opens the doors automatically, but also gives the driver visual confirmation that the car is in the parking position. As I understand it, the parking position in such a car has an additional security in the form of an automatically applied brake. I worked as a delivery driver in past and I know that despite the habit of applying the brake, I sometimes had anxiety whether the brake was actually applied
It is a great "interlock", after years of viewing videos of UPS trucks running away from deliverymen, it is a really good safety idea.
As someone who’s recovering from an ACL injury on the job from my Amazon van having a damaged step I appreciate it being built in. Also having the fan in the back is a god send
Pretty cool stuff here. One thing that did stand out to me was the latching mechanism for the interior cargo door. It's a big metal piece that sticks out from the edge of the door that looks easy to run into and get caught up on. If they reversed it and had the door slide a bit into the wall, they could get rid of a potential injury causing obstruction.
I was also weary about that part. Curious to see why the designer had to green light that.
this is genuinely a brilliant machine. there are so many small touches that are perfect for driver comfort and efficiency. it’s all so well integrated and perfectly catered to the needs and uses of drivers. it really just looks like one of the most clever and smoothly designed vehicles i’ve ever seen. i’m just simping at this point, but it’s damn cool
I'm a delivery driver (supermarket related though) and even though our vans are very nice, having one custom built like this seems amazing! You can tell that this van has been designed with delivery drivers in mind, lots of things I'd want in a van as well.
Heck, I saw someone use one of the vans we use for work for an RV conversion after it got sold by my company. Imagine one of these when its done its deeds for Amazon after 10 years as an RV, would be epic :D
these won't last 10 years, that'll be about the end of life of the batteries
@@i0x37 then just replace the batteries. problem solved
@@i0x37 batteries now already outrun ice's nowhere near the end they just lose a little capacity
Jumbo?
@@MrKenpetgam yep!
Amazon Driver here! SUPER excited to phase in the EDVs at my station! You said upwards of a hundred times per day stepping in and out… usually it’s closer to 200, sometimes up to 280!
That time savings on the steps is really incredible. It only takes 1,800 uses to save 3 minutes. That means it only takes a month to earn yourself a bathroom break! Month and a half if you wanna wipe.
Being a delivery driver myself, this would be incredible. But let's just say the company I work for.. doesn't really maintain or upgrade their equipment, they just have us use what they've been using for 30 years. This is why I think eventually Amazon will overtake alot of the older shipping companies, they're just unwilling to adapt and make things not just more efficient but easier on the drivers.
Amazon gotto start paying their subcontractors more so they can pay the drivers better money... Ex NY state
Some of the other bigger suppliers are working on e-vans like this too. e.g. UPS and Arrival.
Jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
I'm guessing you work for UPS too.....
As a fellow delivery driver also, I agree
Doug is the kinda person who will one day turn the delivery van into his personal camper.
I mean that would be pretty cool
I'd... I'd do that. I want to do that.
I'd do that as well!
@@spiralnapkin that's exactly what I was thinking of... A used one of these would make a sweet camper conversion.
Edit: only down side would be the range... 150mi of range on a good day would be pretty crappy, unless you live and travel in heavily electrified areas.
@@volvo09 since it's built on the normal rivian's truck/suv architecture, there's probably spaces to add more battery packs.
I am an Amazon delivery driver. We get 185-210 stops a day. We have some on order and are just waiting to get them. Can't wait!!
This is honestly really cool how much thought was put into this van to be more delivery driver-friendly. I can’t wait to see what the new USPS electric delivery vehicles will look like in depth. Hopefully they let Doug make a video with one when the time comes!
They will probably be absolute garbage and horrifically expensive (because government).
i do not think it is "driver-friendly" - all i can see in this video is cost-time optimization and a lot of sensors that will send data to people who run their excel files
Ngl, the only thing that separates this from an average delivery van is that it has 2 steps instead of 3, the modern tech, and the sheer amount of Amazon blue slapped on.
I suggest watching Friday Adventure Club's YT video about the EDV which is a review from an actual Amazon driver.
In full Doug Heffernan brown!
Rivian always has some really clever design and features ideas, it's really nice to see an automaker bringing up so fresh ideas
im so glad Tesla started so Rivian could be the real future auto maker. they make real complete vehicles. Tesla has issues with interior and quality control
I work at a delivery station (in the warehouse not a driver) and our site is making massive upgrades to the parking lot to accommodate these. also I have worked a little with getting drivers set off before heading out, some still use panel vans or smaller box trucks, meaning they have to get out and open the back to get in, this will be super nice for them , so long as they don't limit AC times or heater settings while out on delivery (Amazon told drivers not to keep the vans running with the AC on to not waste gas during stops)
So long as these vans are getting charged up every night that hopefully shouldn't be an issue, especially with how much extra range they have, unless Amazon is worried about electricity prices too.
@@DesuVR When you're talking about thousands of vans, they're going to worry about any extra cost because it's going to add up quickly.
@@DesuVR Electricity bill won’t be an issue with solar panels and batteries. Our warehouse has been getting solar panels installed to accommodate our charging ports
@@DonMr-Sir That's great to hear Amazon is using clean energy to charge them!
@@DesuVR That is not clean energy lol
Amazon driver here! Overall, it's a great van - tons of space, great power, quiet, lots of head height, excellent visibility, massive rear display for backing up, and more.
However, there are a few dismal failures!
1) music/radio - max volume is about one third of every vehicle i've ever driven. I hate loud music but if there's any kind of background/road noise, or you're running the fans, be prepared to barely hear.
Worse than that: our delivery app auto syncs with the system, helping us navigate to our stops, and interrupts the sound system for every departure, arrival, and turn - i.e., constantly. And to my knowledge there is no way to customize this or over-ride it. It's torture trying to catch a good news story. "Lampeer is reported to have whispered to Trump that if it ever happened again" - In 100 feet, turn right on S Dawson St...
2) thanks to its long wheelbase, evidently to hold one continuous battery pack, it has a turning radius like the Titanic
3) the key fobs have a poor range and are constantly low on batteries, which is why half the slider door handles are broken on our fleet - the driver is trying to open the door but the fob isnt putting out a signal, which sometimes leads to, uh, pulling too hard... Also, in the morning, when trying to locate your van in a sea of vans, you often have to be very close to the van before it makes the noise. At my DSP the EDV drivers look the walking dead trying to find their van in the morning
4) the air vents are undersized, and the phone mount blocks one of the two forward ones. Weak AC - adequate for any regular cabin but not for these oversized cabins - and this is in Seattle, not midwest (or Southern) summers. You have to crank the fans way up, but then it's noisy and still impotent. And the temp changes lag by 10-20s sometines, which is very confusing
5) finally, touch screen controls are awful for certain features, such as when you're bumping around a little and trying to adjust the air controls - instead of increasing temp you descrease, or exit out, or switch modes.
The immense attention to detail, clever use of resources, employee comfort, and utilitarism really seem to make the work better and easier for the delivery person! I suppose specifically the van being electric makes the combination of all these features possible.
I’ve been seeing these everywhere the past couple months, it’s great that delivery drivers can drive around in something way better and newer than the old vans
I bet they like that built in camera recording them. 11:19 upper right of the screen
Hopefully companies who don’t provide air conditioning in US model cars but do in European cars get the hint to stop exploiting workers and switch over
@@MarkTrades__ That's probably also there for safety and insurance purposes
@@MarkTrades__ almost All companies do that now.
@@jesualdocortez6426 Air conditioning is standard in the US now. The only cars that don't have AC standard are low-trim two-door Jeep Wranglers, and you'll have to look hard to find one without AC. I don't know how things are in Europe but in the US you have a choice of who you want to work for. If you don't like the working conditions at a job, you go find another.
Only Doug could get in depth talking about a step in a van and still keep it interesting.
No... the theory behind that kind of sound is that it is wide band sound. It is made from a lot of frequencies and not only on tone beep. So people with part hearing aid can still be warned.
This, is what an electric vehicle platform is really good for. Glad to see this van developed.
When it comes to unique vehicles, Doug delivers.
Very clever
I see what you did there
He really drives it home.
DRUG DeMuro delivers DRUGS to schoolyards.
Smart
Remember when everyone was like ... "Wow. Elon Musk works 100 hours a week and sleeps at the factory to help get the model 3 up to production."
Meanwhile, Rivian has released two vehicles and a commercial van in almost the same span of time that it's taking Tesla to release the Cybertruck. And no one speaks a word about that accomplishment.
Rivian doesn't have a CEO/Mascot constantly screaming "LOOK AT ME!!" so the things they do don't get as much press.
Rivian is scaling up well but they aren't even in the same conversation for production. Rivian aims to deliver 25k vehicles this year. Tesla delivers 25k every 5 days
And Tesla is STILL nowhere near delivering their first cyber truck.
Rivian had just started up when the doorstop truck was announced, right? And they've already made 3 truly fantastic vehicles.
@@Bobspineable that's because rivian's ceo is busy WORKING
And no nationwide supercharger system or self driving 😂😂😂
As an Amazon Driver and been driving the EDV for almost 2 months they do have a AM/FM radio its right above the phone on the music setting. Also the Wireless charger doesnt work when you have an Iphone with a case and when taking the case off it still didn't charge lol I do have Iphone 13 Pro Max so idk. Also the small little red lights in the back where back up lights are the red lights come on if you turn on rear fog lights and those lights turn on, pretty cool
As an Amazon delivery driver this looks amazing we need this everywhere asap
Been delivering with it for a couple months now. It's amazing!!
I’m amazed at how quick they got these on the road and EVERYWHERE. Amazon truly is a scary corporation
The hard part is working to design all this customization with Rivian, and then Rivian ramping up production. Doesn't seem like a hard thing for Amazon to deploy once its in their hands to be honest.
Not really, Rivian is focused on EV's, unlike Tesla which is being led by someone that can't stay focused on any one project long enough to complete anything substantial.
@@commoguru Elon living in the factory is not focused?
@@benmlee there just butt hurt cuz Elon gutted his newly acquired venture and is in the process of eliminating the communistic censorship that twitter users have learned to abide by. 😂
It just shows you how inefficient things are when it goes through the government.
I love the reflectivity on the front bumper. Improves pedestrian safety dramatically
Rivian definitely has a bright future especially working with Amazon like this, I see Rivian sticking around for at least a few decades.
😂😂😂😂
I never thought I'd watch and so enjoy a delivery van review, but Doug does it with classic aplomb. Thanks for sharing what will be a major lift in labor and morale for so very many deliverypeople.
along with the less annoying nature of the sound, the main theory is people in cities are used to hearing the typical beeping all the time, and overtime people start to ignore it, creating a safety issue. The new sound is new and unusual, increasing the chance of people actually moving out of the way.
gas amazon vehicles and fedex vechiles in my locatin already do this
The first time I heard it I was in my garage with the door shut and a UPS truck turned around after delivering a package, it startled the hell out of me! Then I laughed when I ran to the door and saw the truck and thought his beeper was broken and making a hiss sound!
The problem is not that people are used to hearing beeping so they ignore it. In fact it's hard for our ears to pinpoint the direction of a tone like a beeping sound. The whooshing sound gives your body a cue for where to look.
@@mattv5281 both are problems, and both are solved by the sound
@@xavierramcoomar6086 the people getting used to it problem is only solved temporarily until everyone is using the same whooshing sound
I worked as an Amazon delivery driver for 6 months. I couldn't wait to watch this review! I knew Doug was going to review it.
Is the life of the delivery workers as horrible as is told on the internet for warehouse workers?
@@pitecusH for warehouse workers it is very challenging, depending on where, yes.
That reversing noise has been common (in the UK at least) for about a decade. It's directional, the problem with the beeps is they can easily eco off things, but that white noise can only come from one source, the ecos distort and aren't as audible! A second benifit of this is its easier to tell where a reversing vehicle is, on a building site where you could have lots of these at once the beeps were basically useless, but this noise litterally saved lives!
Another benefit is it doesn't travel as far reducing uneccessary noise for those who are too far away for the warning to be relevant.
My family and I saw one driving down the road the other day while we were out. It sparked a major debate amongst my family members trying to figure out what it was. The fact that it didn’t have any noticeable make or model logos even more intriguing.
Seeing Rivians around is bitterweet! I worked for Rivian before the pandemic hiring the engineers that developed it. Their Headquarters in Detroit is Amazing, I was so sad when the pandemic hit and it all shut down!
This van is beautiful, efficient, simple, ergonomic and innovative. Good job to Rivian and Amazon 👍
The best delivery driver I've ever seen threw a package all the way to the balcony of a third floor and it landed perfectly. No rivian fancy stuff can ever beat that.
20 years from now when these vehicles are on the surplus market, I can already imagine the videos of van-life people showing us how they converted them into campers.
The batteries will be dead. They will be scrapped because it won't be worth buy them because you will need to buy and install a new battery and that will be expensive.
@@zaco-km3su In 20 years, battery price won't be a significant issue.
This is SO exciting!!! Hopefully with technology like this Amazon might be able to start treating their staff like human beings!
o LOL come on now
The goal is to replace humans.
They absolutely won't. The treatment of their staff and the purchasing of these vans are for the same reason. Marginalising costs for higher profits. They won't stop treating their staff poorly unless people start shopping elsewhere for ethical reasons.
Pffft! You're so optimistic.
Yeah good luck with that one
As someone who have university degrees in both industrial design and transportation design, I have to say this van is a perfect combination of those two branches of design. I love the styling and all the rational and innovative thinking that has gone in to it. Well done Rivian and Amazon! And big thanks to Doug for making this video!
Best comment on this video!
@@brianb5723 Thanks!
How many deliveries have you made? How many vehicle repairs have you done? This crap will fall apart in a NY month, if not less.
We have these delivering in Baltimore. They’re silent! So much nicer especially in the residential areas of the neighborhoods!
I hope rivian makes it. I really like their more traditional looks of their passenger vehicles, and more competition is always better.
They're doing pretty well right now. Their new inhouse Enduro drive unit reduced costs and supply chain issues while increasing range. Q2 production numbers just came out, and it looks like Rivian might shatter their 2023 production and delivery targets 😊
ive seen some in chicago
They are everywhere in my neighborhood now. SUV and truck. Been great to see
it’s crazy how fast they’re producing these vans, i heard about these months ago and now i see between 10-15 of these in my city
Doug, long time fan. As with many others here, I never thought I would be watching a video about a delivery truck, and enjoying it this much. Not even that much of a truck version. Speaking of which, this is not only the most impressive delivery van I have ever seen by many miles, it is one of the most impressive examples of thoughtful industrial design I have seen in years.
I'd buy one in a heartbeat when they offer them to the public. Vehicles like his are exactly what the EV market needs.
their website now has a "fleet vehicle" that looks similar to the Amazon van, so hopefully that will happen eventually. At first they'll probably have to priorize the large orders from delivery companies before we can buy them :(
There is a company called Canoo that makes electric delivery vans,
@@iKingRPG I'm pretty sure they are only surivivng off of amazons order/investment. The cars they make aren't doing well. I think it's likely they would have gone under already if not for the amazon association.
The driver's door is heavy, the height is huge, the wipers don't turn on until you turn off the notification about the open door (which is closed) and many other small details. The fan sound is still the same
Only Doug could make a delivery truck seem like an object of desire 😄
I love that you've been previewing your reviews. Cant wait for that Silverado EV review. I have one reserved
Rivian did a phenomenal job designing this van; great work!
I have never heard someone have so many voice-cracks all the time... Love it!
Awesome! I would also love if Rivian made a smaller-sized delivery van (similar to an auto rickshaw, kei truck, or even tricycle with a cargo compartment) for densely populated areas. Last-mile delivery has always been a tough challenge, but innovations among EVs have definitely made the problem a lot easier!
I agree, what about a electric dolly built-in slot of the van?
That would be awesome. But in the US and Canada, most last mile deliveries that would use a smaller vehicle, like for food, are owned by the driver. So that size vehicle is unappealing due to cost. Many delivery folks in NY, BOS, DC, SF, LA and other cities are getting e-bikes for that.
He literally mentions at the end of the video they make a smaller version of this van for urban areas and Europe.
@@evangalinsky2499 It's still a full-sized van with a slightly narrower footprint. I'd definitely like to see that in the US, but I was thinking more of three-wheeled, slow-speed vehicles that'll only travel a few miles at most and primarily serve more densely populated areas. Cargo bikes have become a lot more popular, and an auto-rickshaw or kei-truck style van would be a great complement to these larger vans, especially considering these vans aren't always full.
Check out the Arcimoto Deliverator. It’s a 3 wheeled, electric, last mile delivery vehicle
Doug is the kind of guy to review an MC12 and a delivery van on the same channel and with the same level of dedication and ethusiasm.
Purpose built to the max, as it should. Love it how it's entirely made to be a heavy duty tool, full focus on ergonomics, and then make it look cool while at it.
Definitely gives a good feel of both engineers and designers working together in perfect harmony.
you think this grey brick looks cool? Pahahaha
Will be driving these in the coming weeks out in riverside CA. Cant wait.