Electric van builder Arrival’s UK arm goes into administration

British electric car and van maker Arrival has entered into administration just a week after being de-listed from the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Once one of the shining start-ups of the electric vehicle segment, Arrival was founded back in 2015 and had its headquarters in Banbury, Oxfordshire alongside nine further sites across the country. The Royal Mail trialled nine of its vehicles in 2018 while in 2020 Hyundai and Kia announced a $100m (£85m) investment plan with the firm to help develop next-generation electric vehicles. It currently employs 400 people worldwide.

Arrival was also seen as one of the UK’s most promising tech firms and was invited to present at the Global Investment Summit in 2021.

Now, however, the firm has appointed EY as administrators after failing to rectify issues. This latest announcement comes at the loss of 39 employees, according to EY, while a remaining 133 staff are ‘being retained to assist with the sale of the Company’s business and its asset’.

In a statement, EY said: “The Group’s liquidity position has been impacted by challenging market and macroeconomic conditions resulting in delays in getting the Group’s products to market.

“As such, the Joint Administrators are now exploring options for the sale of the business and assets of the Companies, including its electric vehicle platforms, software, intellectual property and R&D assets, for the benefit of creditors.”

To date, more than $1.5bn has been invested in the firm, which aimed to specialise in ‘last-mile delivery vans, intracity buses and ride-sharing passenger cars’.