Rivian can now deliver its new all-wheel drive and long-range Electric Delivery Vans to Amazon. The EPA certified the model year 2027 variants on September 17, and Amazon has told its drivers to expect them later this year.
That’s about seven months after Rivian said in its Q4 2025 shareholder letter that both versions were in development. I’d call that a quick turnaround for a commercial vehicle program.
Both new variants move to a 129 kWh pack, up from the 90 kWh pack in today’s vans. The EPA filings, shared by @Rivian_DD, show test cycle range climbing 36 to 39% for the front-wheel drive version and 23 to 26% for the dual-motor AWD version. On the FWD side, that beats the roughly 30% gain Rivian first talked about.
The bigger pack is only offered on the 700 size, as the EDV 700 Large FWD and EDV 700 Large AWD, while the 500 and standard 700 stay on the 90 kWh pack. The same configurations carry over to the Rivian Commercial Van that other fleets can order, since the filing notes the only differences are the paint and the missing Amazon badging.
For drivers, AWD should make a noticeable difference on snowy and muddy routes where the FWD vans have struggled, and the extra range gives some breathing room on longer rural routes, especially in cold weather.
This is the first time Rivian’s van has had a meaningful hardware update since it launched in 2021, and it opens the door for Amazon to push electric deliveries well past the dense city routes where the current van has been living.
Nice pic. Bunch of Rivian vans in Germany with Munich license plates. Europeans driving vehicles made in the USA :-).
A great improvement to the lineup. Hopefully this helps sales of the Commercial Van finally take off with customers beyond Amazon!
This is going to be great for rural routes but also for winter-state driving where range limitations can cause Amazon to retire the CDV for gas alternatives for weeks at a time. CDVs can’t drive in the harsh winters either/both because the slippery roads and range decreasing limitations of the battery packs.
And I’ll just say it, it prepares CDV for Van-Life modifications to start happening!
Is this article a joke? These vans have been delivering in my neighborhood for months and months. Depot is in Stafford, VA.
Long range AWD is new.
Maybe a passenger van at some point.
If if comes in awd large battery and 500 size I would buy for my business. 700 is just way to big.