Currently reading: Arrival to deliver 20 vans this year, down from 600

British EV start-up will deliver first vans to UPS in third quarter but forecasts no revenue in 2022

British EV start-up Arrival will deliver only around 20 vans this year, it has said, well down from its April prediction of 400 to 600.

As a result, the company doesn't expect to generate any revenue this year “given delivery times and customer acceptance requirements”, it said in a statement.

Arrival has taken a number of steps to preserve its dwindling cash balance, including reviewing its headcount with the possibility of laying off 800 staff and reportedly halting development of its ride-hailing car.

The company said it was focused on keeping to its promised van production start date of the third quarter this year from its first microfactory in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

The first vans will go to its shareholder, logistics provider UPS, it said.

Arrival has also pushed back the start date of van production in its microfactory in Charlotte, Virginia, to 2023, the company said, without giving a specific quarter.

The US factory was due to start production in the final quarter of this year, Arrival wrote in a filing back in April. 

The company plans to raise an additional $300 million (£245.5m) by selling fresh shares, it said. Its share price has fallen by 94% from its height in 2020, meaning that it will have to sell a proportionally a far higher percentage of its remaining stock to raise the money, indicating that it has run out of options to access more capital.

It would raise around $90m (£73.7m) this year and $210m (£173.8m) in 2023 using this method, it added.

Arrival uber car

The extra capital would allow Arrival to continue with trials of its electric bus,and restart investment at its bus microfactory in Rock Hill, South Carolina, it said.

Analysts at Berenberg Bank had warned in May that Arrival was in danger of running out of cash as early as next year.

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Arrival was among the first to capitalise on the frenetic stock marker interest in first EV start-ups when it listed in 2020. Investors were impressed with its ability to attract investment from Hyundai, which took a 2.57% stake, and UPS, which placed a non-binding order for 10,000 vans with an option for a further 10,000.

That pushed the company’s stock market valuation to around $13.6bn when it first listed, but a combination of events this year has made valuations of EV start-ups collapse, with Arrival now worth $1.2bn, based on its current share price.

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