By Nick Carey
LONDON - UK electric van maker Arrival said on Thursday that LeasePlan, one of Europe's largest car leasing companies, has made an initial order for 3,000 vans and will become its preferred leasing partner.
LeasePlan has a global fleet of approximately 1.9 million vehicles in 30 countries. The Amsterdam-based company aims to achieve net zero emissions from its fleet by 2030.
Arrival went public earlier this year via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company and its largest public van order to date is for up to 10,000 vans for package delivery giant UPS, which also owns a stake in the startup.
The company has built a series of test models for customers and is due to launch production in 2022.
The British van and bus maker said in May that it will also develop an electric car for Uber Technologies Inc that will go into production in late 2023.
A bevy of commercial electric van startups are racing to win large orders and thus gain the manufacturing scale they will need to compete against established van makers like Mercedes and Volkswagen's MAN.
