STMicroelectronics and Arrival Partner on Next-Generation Electric Vehicles Technologies

The partnership will bring STMicroelectronics’ automotive microcontrollers and power and battery-management devices to Arrival’s whole vehicle portfolio. ST’s technology will also enable Arrival to deliver zero-emission commercial vehicles as part of an integrated mobility ecosystem.

The Arrival EV Van. Image used courtesy of Arrival.

An EV-focused Partnership

Thanks to the new collaboration, Arrival’s entire vehicle portfolio will now feature ST’s technologies.

Arrival’s vehicles currently include only vans and buses, but the company has recently announced a car model, currently being designed in partnership with Uber for ride-hailing. That, too, will feature ST’s components.

A concept image showing the inside of the Arrival car. Image used courtesy of Arrival.

“We have been working with Arrival since their early stages, and we are proud of the journey accomplished together as they head towards production,” commented Michael Anfang, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Europe, Middle East, and Africa Region at ST.

According to Anfang, STMicroelectronics has in the past few years invested substantial efforts in the mobility industry’s transition to electrified and digitized platforms.

For instance, at the beginning of last year, the firm collaborated with Innolectric on the development of an on-board charger for EVs, and later in 2020 with Exagan on GaN-on-silicon technology to enable the design of smaller and more efficient electrical converters.

More recently, ST partnered with Schneider Electric to develop renewable energy solutions.

The partnership with Arrival represents ST’s most recent collaboration aimed to foster the spread of EV technologies.

“Arrival’s vehicles using ST technology will be an additional step towards our shared vision of cleaner mobility,” Anfang concluded.

The point was echoed by Sergey Malygin, EVP of Technology at Arrival, who referred to STMicroelectronics’ EV technologies as some of the best on the market.

“At Arrival, choosing the most advanced technologies for our vehicles is crucial to extending the life of our products, improving their value whilst making them even more sustainable by extending their usable life,” Malygin said.

 

A Next-Generation EV Manufacturing Approach

Arrival believes its vehicles represent the next generation of EVs. The company reportedly develops all its EVs from the ground up using an innovative new method of design and production.

The vertically integrated approach takes advantage of in-house developed hardware, software, with robotics and automation production taking place in decentralized Microfactories. 

According to these manufacturing and distribution procedures, Microfactories can be deployed globally to service demand and foster the growth of local communities by hiring local talent, utilizing local supply chains, and paying local taxes.

The partnership with STMicroelectronics will now enable Arrival to utilize ST’s technologies across all its Microfactories.

The Arrival bus. Image used courtesy of Arrival.

Specific components provided by ST will include high-performance, secure automotive microcontrollers to be used with Arrival’s modular ECU platform, together with other ST technologies including smart-power and battery-management devices for efficient vehicle electrification.

The company has already signed a contract with UPS for up to 10,000 electric vehicles, with the option for 10,000 more.

Arrival will see trials of its vehicles embedding ST’s EV components starting later this year.