Arrival SA, the UK- and US-based electric vehicle maker, reported a smaller quarterly loss and strong growth in orders for its vans and buses ahead of the delayed start of public road trials.
Current non-binding orders and letters of intent totalled roughly 59,000 vehicles at the end of the second quarter, lifted by a recent bus win in India,
The Oxfordshire-based outfit, which became a publicly listed company on NASDAQ in the first quarter, confirmed that public road trials will begin in the first quarter of 2022 for its van with UPS and for its bus with FirstGroup (LSE:FGP) PLC’s First Bus arm. It had previously said trials were expected this year.
Calling its production facilities 'microfactories' to emphasise their small size compared to Tesla's giga equivalents, Arrival said its Bicester plant was "progressing ahead of plan" with composite production lines installed and capital expenditure forecasts "on track", while a North Carolina van microfactory site has been identified in Charlotte and the leased building is due to complete construction in October.
Still in the pre-revenue stage, Arrival lost €1.02bn in the first half of 2021, with quarterly losses almost halving to €38.7mln quarter on quarter.
At the underlying level, EBITDA losses rose to €29mln compared to €12mln a year earlier.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at €445mln at the end of June, having raised €560mln in May’s IPO.
Among various partnerships in the quarter, Arrival agreed to work with Hitachi Europe to deliver new bus and infrastructure solutions, plus collaborations with Microsoft, STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) and Ambarella.
The shares are trading 1% lower at $12.7 in pre-market trading on Thursday.