Dead on Arrival: British EV-maker Enters Bankruptcy Without Shipping a Single EV

Arrival, a U.K headquartered EV manufacturer has entered administration just a week after it received notice from Nasdaq, the U.S.’s tech-heavy index, that its trading would be suspended.

According to Fortune, the company had a valuation of USD13 billion. It had failed to file its 2022 accounts to NASDAQ and was delisted from the stock exchange.

Arrival manufacturers (or plans to) lightweight commercial vehicles and its claim to fame was an electric bus made for social distancing. It was announced in 2020 and was never shipped.

They had also shown the Arrival Van previously but was never delivered.

U.S.-based United Parcel Service (UPS) had placed an order for 10,000 delivery vans from Arrival, with the option for an additional 10,000, but at the time of reporting, there are no reports of delivery of the delivery vans, ironically.

While the UK-based company may have been dead on arrival, the announcement has not affected its overseas operations.

Also, while it has lost 99% of its valuation, its current market valuation is still at USD2.76 billion.

The company reported a net loss of USD1 billion in 2021 and 2022 and had gone through restructuring exercises as they burned through cash.

The latest victim of the EV industry in the UK may point to the difficulties of manufacturing EVs at scale and at a profit.

Even though China’s BYD and Elon’s Tesla make it look easy, the reality is that many EV startups fail to launch and die at the concept stage.