Rivian's Electric Van Finally Gets 129 kWh Battery and AWD, Deliveries Underway

Rivian has quietly pushed out the biggest hardware refresh its commercial electric van has seen since the vehicle entered production back in 2021. Deliveries of the upgraded variant kicked off in early October, according to the company’s Q3 2026 shareholder deck.

The headline number is a 129 kWh usable LFP pack, which replaces the 100 kWh unit Rivian had been selling. That works out to roughly 29% more energy on board, and Rivian is quoting a round 30% range increase alongside an optional dual-motor all-wheel-drive layout.

Key Specs: 129 kWh usable LFP battery · ~30% range gain · dual-motor AWD option · EDV 700 only (652 cu ft cargo)

What the EPA paperwork actually says

Certification documents filed for the 2027 EDV 700 on September 17 list the larger pack. Those figures are unadjusted lab numbers, so they run optimistic — they skip the real-world correction cycle. Even so, the deltas matter:

• Current EDV 700 (FWD): 261.7 miles unadjusted
• New EDV 700 FWD: 355.5 miles unadjusted, a 36% jump
• New EDV 700 AWD: 322.25 miles unadjusted, a 23% jump

Rivian advertises the outgoing 700 at “up to 160 miles.” Apply the 30% claim and the front-drive version should land near 208 miles. The AWD model gives back a chunk of that gain through the EPA test cycle, putting it in the 195–200 mile neighborhood.

Losing roughly a third of the range improvement to all-wheel drive is a trade most fleet operators will happily make. Rural routes mean long gaps between stops, plus gravel, mud and snow — conditions where a front-drive van loaded to the roof with parcels tends to struggle.

A four-year-old promise, finally kept

Back when Amazon first started taking deliveries in 2022, Rivian was talking about roughly 200 miles. The rated figure settled closer to 160 instead, and it stayed there for years. This upgrade closes that gap.

One caveat: the new pack and AWD are limited to the 700 model, the van with 652 cubic feet of cargo space. The smaller 500 sticks with its existing battery and front-wheel drive.

Rivian describes the new configuration as built “specifically designed to expand route coverage into more rural networks” — a polite way of saying the old van couldn’t reach a lot of customers.

Beyond Amazon

The sales angle is the real story here. Rivian’s van business remains overwhelmingly tied to Amazon, long after the exclusivity window closed in late 2023. A Rivian van wearing Walmart+ livery was spotted on a car hauler in Indiana this week, though neither company has confirmed anything.

The competitive field has also emptied out. GM stopped building BrightDrop vans in Ontario, Canoo collapsed into bankruptcy, and Ford’s E-Transit now stands as the main full-size electric alternative in the US market.

That leaves Rivian in an unusual position: actually shipping an improved product while rivals retreat. Whether it can convert that into order books outside Amazon is the open question. A wrap on a transporter isn’t a purchase order — but it’s a start.