Arrival’s first Microfactory operation to be in Little Rock, South Carolina
By Jim Gibbins - 1st November 2020
UK / USA - Electric vehicle start up, Arrival Ltd of London, UK has announced its first electric vehicle ‘Microfactory’ is to be built in the USA. The electric van and bus builder, which raised private equity funds of USD118m last month from investment company, BlackRock Investment Group Inc (BlackRock) of New York, USA – see article in this issue – says it will invest USD46m to build its first US Microfactory in the city of Rock Hill, South Carolina, creating 240 new jobs.
The company’s South Carolina operation is to use a new cell-based assembly method to produce vehicles rather than a traditional automotive production line, allowing the production of any vehicle from Arrival’s portfolio. With this model, Arrival says production occupies a smaller footprint, hence the name ‘Microfactory.’ Arrival also says the Microfactory design is key to its approach to bringing down the cost of electric vehicles to accelerate mass adoption.
