The leaders of electric vehicle manufacturer Arrival said March 2 they expect to sell between 400 and 600 vans this year—deliveries that will mark the company’s first product revenues—and announced that their order backlog more than doubled in the fourth quarter to 134,000.
While previewing their preliminary fourth-quarter results, Arrival’s executives also said they now plan to build their initial set of buses only in the United Kingdom, where transportation company First Bus has submitted government funding requests that would bring nearly 200 buses into its fleet. The company’s vans will still be made both in the U.K., starting in the third quarter, and in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the fourth quarter.
See more: Arrival to start building batteries in U.S. and train technicians to service its electric vans
Mike Ableson, Arrival’s CEO of automotive division, said the company has run into some delays securing some parts and equipment but added that those haven’t yet materially affected production timelines. On a conference call with analysts and investors, founder and CEO Denis Sverdlov said the company’s microfactories approach is helping it adjust to supply chain kinks and be more flexible than its peers.
Read the full story on Arrival's announcement at our sister brand, IndustryWeek.