Rivian revamps its Amazon exclusivity agreement for EV delivery trucks

Rivian And Amazon are in talks to adjust the exclusivity clause of their agreement for the electric vehicle maker’s electric vans, a company spokeswoman said on Monday.

Rivian and Amazon agreed in 2019 to hand over 100,000 electric trucks to the e-commerce giant. Amazon started delivering packages with the vehicles in July and Rivian last month 10 million packages touted delivered via the vans.

But Amazon, Rivian’s largest shareholder, has since been underwhelmed with its order numbers, telling Rivian it plans to buy about 10,000 vehicles this year — according to the low end of a previously stated range The Wall Street Journalwhich first reported on the end-of-exclusivity discussions.

Amazon said in a statement to CNBC that 10,000 vehicles was the original pledge and that the order size or partnership with Rivian has not changed.

“While our agreement with Rivian hasn’t changed anything, we’ve always said that we want others to benefit from their technology in the long term because it’s good for our communities and our planet to have more electric delivery vehicles on the road,” so Amazon spokesman said.

Rivian spokeswoman Marina Norville said in a statement that the company’s relationship with Amazon is and remains positive.

“We continue to work closely together and, like many companies, navigate a changing economic climate,” she said.

Removing the exclusivity portion of the agreement would allow Rivian to woo new customers while it works to ramp up production of the vans and its R1-series pickup and SUV. The company is also working on an upcoming R2 model and needs cash.

Last week, Rivian announced plans to raise $1.3 billion through the sale of convertible bonds to fund the development and launch of R2.

Rivian shares fell about 3% in premarket trading on Monday.