London-based electric vehicle (EV) company Arrival announced Charlotte, NC as the location for its North American headquarters. Initially, The Arrival plans to hire 150 people across an array of corporate positions, including human resources, marketing, finance and administrative professionals.
“Even with all the challenges that 2020 has brought to all of us, it's been an exciting year for Arrival, said Mike Ableson, CEO of Arrival Automotive during a press conference. Ableson was formerly vice president of EV infrastructure and global strategy at General Motors where he led efforts to develop the partnerships, incentives and investments needed to create the EV charging infrastructures needed to remove a critical barrier to consumer acceptance of electrification.
“Early in the year we announced partnerships with Hyundai, Kia and UPS. We announced a few weeks ago our very first US microfactory in Rock Hill, South Carolina,” says Ableson. “And, of course, very recently we announced our plans to publicly list the company on the NASDAQ. Announcing our North American headquarters is the real capstone to what has been a very exciting year as a company. We look forward to working with many cities around the world to lower emissions improve the quality of life.”
The five-year-old Arrival has developed a new method of designing and producing zero-emission vehicles using its proprietary hardware, vertically integrated technology and low cost microfactories. The company is developing commercial EVs - starting with van and bus models - at competitive prices to fossil fuel equivalents and substantially lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than comparable EVs.
“Today’s announcement is another exciting step for Arrival, as we build on our mission to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. I am personally thrilled to be partnering with the City of Charlotte, as we bring our North American Headquarters to the city, and work in tandem to develop solutions for their electrification and sustainability goals. This partnership forms a roadmap in how we design a regionally Integrated Transportation Ecosystem that pulls together components like EVs, charging infrastructure and digital mobility services, to enable more cities to achieve their zero-emission goals, connect local communities and future-proof transportation networks.” said Ableson in a prepared statement.
During the press conference Ableson said, “Private and public entities can work together to build integrated transportation ecosystems with data shared freely to achieve zero emission goals. We know that cities and communities benefit from products and infrastructure built for them, contextualized to support their specific needs in their specific region. Different cities have different geographies climate social economic structures and more. Arrival has pursued a strategy where with our microfactories, we deploy and distribute manufacturing our products in many communities around the world. It's localized micro factories that reduce the need for transporting materials, including our sustainable composite materials that can be reused repaired and remanufactured.”
