Ben & Jerry’s Scoops Up Two Rivian Electric Delivery Vans

Many Americans are becoming accustomed to the sight of Amazon drivers running around town in all-electric delivery vans produced by Rivian. Well, now if you’re looking for some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, hunt down a Rivian.

The Vermont-based ice cream maker famous for flavors like chocolate chip cookie dough, Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey, is known for its environmental activism. The company kept up the pace with the purchase of two Rivian Commercial Vans.

The vans, now decorated in a Ben & Jerry’s livery, are now “scoop trucks” and are headed to South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. For the next week or so, the trucks will make easy for attendees at SXSW to get some of their favorite flavors.

Green works

“Working with Rivian, an industry leader that is committed to sustainability is an ice cream dream come true,” said Ben & Jerry’s Sean Slattery, U.S. Integrated Marketing project lead.

Unsurprisingly, Rivian officials were very happy to build the modern day ice cream truck.

“Collaborating with the Ben & Jerry’s team to build the next generation of electric scoop trucks has been an incredible experience. It’s one of those projects that just makes the team smile,” said Brian Gase, Senior Director of Prototype Development at Rivian.

After their weeklong tour in Texas, the two trucks will return to Vermont, making a few stops along the way bringing frozen confections to the masses. Once home, the trucks will be mainstays at Ben & Jerry’s events across Vermont.

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Why Rivian?

Ben & Jerry’s is seen by many as off-beat and quirky so choosing to partner with Rivian on the two vans fit with the company’s efforts to have “a positive impact on the community and the planet” and have some fun while doing so.

Officials noted the range of the vans — 161 miles — will allow them to be used a variety of events without the worry of being able to get there and back. Plus the vans have had plenty of real world testing miles put on them courtesy of Amazon, which also Rivian’s largest shareholder.

“Today, Rivian helped Ben & Jerry’s reduce our reliance on fossil fuels in a small way, while making things a little bit cooler … which, as an ice cream company, is extremely difficult to do,” Slattery joked.

Rivian’s produces two versions of its vans: the Delivery 500 and 700. The former starts at $79,900 while the latter at $83,900. The smaller Delivery 500 is designed for urban environments, while the larger Delivery 700 model includes extra space — 652 cubic feet — for additional cargo.

More delivery vans

The reveal of the scoop trucks comes just after Rivian opened up sales of its Electric Commercial Vans to all fleet buyers. The company had been committed to producing 100,000 delivery vans for Amazon.

Under their deal, Rivian is due to provide 100,000 of what was initially named the Electric Delivery Van to Amazon by 2030. It has so far handed over about 20,000. The 4-year deal ran through 2023. Though the exclusive arrangement ended more than a year ago Rivian faced component shortages that continued to limit availability of the electric vans.

“Over the last year we have been focusing our efforts on testing with some larger fleets, and we’re really pleased with how those trials have gone,” Tom Solomon, senior director, Business Development, Rivian, said in a statement. “As a result, we’re excited to now be able to open sales to fleets of all sizes in the U.S., whether they want one van or thousands.”

Rivian began a pilot program aimed at growing its buyer base after the Amazon exclusive was completed. It began by working with the wireless side of U.S. communications giant AT&T. It has not provided details on that program. There’s no word if Ben & Jerry’s plans to buy additional vans.