Electric commercial vehicle startup Arrival has been granted EU certification and received European Whole Vehicle Type Approval for its Bus model.
This represents a critical step towards Arrival Buses carrying passengers on public roads in Europe and the United Kingdom. The certification has been granted after the Arrival Bus successfully completed all required system safety testing.
Denis Sverdlov, Founder and CEO at Arrival described the certification as a key milestone for Arrival and “a testimony to our innovative technologies and our unique new method of design and production of electric vehicles. The Arrival Bus is different from any that has come before, employing technologies developed in-house to create benefits for operators, passengers, and the planet.”
Since the Arrival Bus shares technologies and components with the Arrival Van and Arrival Car, learnings from the certification contribute to all vehicle programs. The startup says this is one of the many benefits of its unique approach to the design of its electric vehicles.
The Arrival Bus has been developed to meet the needs of cities looking to transition their public transportation infrastructure into a sustainable ecosystem. The vehicle features flexible passenger seating capacity across the entire flat floor, improving comfort and creating more standing space.
The Bus also includes wrap-around exterior and interior screens, adaptable lighting, a transparent roof, and a suite of digital features. Arrival’s software ecosystem enables full connectivity, digital customisation, and deep access to vehicle behaviour and data.
The UK-based business plans to build all its products in rapidly-scalable and highly automated local microfactories, where multitasking robots will do most of the manufacturing work. Since setting up a microfactory costs a lot less than a traditional assembly plant and employs far fewer people, Arrival says this method should result in significantly cheaper products than other comparable electric vehicles and even today’s diesel-powered vehicles.
The company started trials of the Bus late last year and production is expected to commence imminently.
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