EV Maker Rivian Halts Production of Amazon Delivery Vans amid Parts Shortage

An Amazon EV van powered by Rivian is parked at the Amazon Logistics Facility in Chicago, Illinois, US, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
An Amazon EV van powered by Rivian is parked at the Amazon Logistics Facility in Chicago, Illinois, US, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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EV Maker Rivian Halts Production of Amazon Delivery Vans amid Parts Shortage

An Amazon EV van powered by Rivian is parked at the Amazon Logistics Facility in Chicago, Illinois, US, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
An Amazon EV van powered by Rivian is parked at the Amazon Logistics Facility in Chicago, Illinois, US, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Rivian has temporarily suspended production of its commercial delivery vans used by retail giant Amazon.com due to a shortage of parts, a spokesperson for the electric vehicle manufacturer said on Friday.

Shares of the Irvine, California-based company were down 1.7% in premarket trading.

The production halt is the latest in a series of supply chain challenges for Rivian, which, like other EV makers, has grappled with significant production issues over the past two years due to supplier shortages, according to Reuters.

Amazon, Rivian's largest investor with a 16% stake, has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans to be deployed by 2030. Last year, sales to Amazon represented approximately 19% of Rivian's revenue.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

"A part shortage has temporarily impacted our Electric Delivery Van (EDV) production. We expect to recover all missed production," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The company did not disclose any information about the specific part and supplier in question, and also declined to comment on when the production stoppage began and if it has resumed.

The part shortage would not affect the production of other Rivian vehicles, including its R1S SUV and R1T pickup models.

Earlier this month, Rivian had maintained its production forecast and said that deliveries would be slightly lower in the current quarter after it shut down its factory in April for retooling and modifications.



Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Dies at 56 of Lung Cancer

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki attends a conference at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in Cannes, France, June 19, 2018. (Reuters)
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki attends a conference at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in Cannes, France, June 19, 2018. (Reuters)
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Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Dies at 56 of Lung Cancer

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki attends a conference at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in Cannes, France, June 19, 2018. (Reuters)
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki attends a conference at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in Cannes, France, June 19, 2018. (Reuters)

YouTube's former chief executive and long-time Google executive Susan Wojcicki died on Saturday at the age of 56 after a two-year battle with lung cancer.

"It is with profound sadness that I share the news of Susan Wojcicki passing. My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after 2 years of living with non-small cell lung cancer," Dennis Troper, Wojcicki's husband, said in a Facebook post.

"Over the last two years, even as she dealt with great personal difficulties, Susan devoted herself to making the world better through her philanthropy, including supporting research for the disease that ultimately took her life," Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

One of the most prominent women in tech, Wojcicki joined Google in 1999 to become one of the first few employees of the web search leader, years before it acquired YouTube.

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

Before becoming CEO of YouTube in 2014, Wojcicki was senior vice president for ad products at Google.

After nine years at the helm, Wojcicki stepped down from her role at YouTube in 2023 to focus on "family, health, and personal projects". She was replaced by her deputy, Neal Mohan, a senior advertising and product executive who joined Google in 2008. Wojcicki at that time planned to take on an advisory role at Alphabet, Google's parent company.

"Twenty-five years ago, I made the decision to join a couple of Stanford graduate students who were building a new search engine. Their names were Larry and Sergey .... It would be one of the best decisions of my life," Wojcicki wrote in a blog post on the day she left YouTube, referring to Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

"Today we at YouTube lost a teammate, mentor, and friend, Susan Wojcicki," Mohan said in a post on X.