Car production’s micro revolution Start-up Arrival is pioneering the ‘microfactory’ manufacturing process for its new EV
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ne of Britain’s most advanced vehicle factories, owned by EV start-up Arrival in Bicester, is gearing up to make its first parcel delivery van, and Autocar has been given an exclusive first look. The site is the first in the world to use a ‘microfactory’
Aluminium platform and frame will be clad in composite panels
22 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 13 APRIL 2022
production system, in which the usual assembly line is replaced by flexible manufacturing cells, with the design, layout and low output of the site established for supplying the local market. “We’re all about being local, selling locally, configuring our plant to local demand and being flexible in production,” said EV
platform boss James Broomer. Arrival’s manufacturing revolution is revealed by its van’s high-tech interior, rather than the exterior of its two anonymous industrial sheds. One building of 120,000sq ft houses the body plant, where composite thermoset panels are heat-formed on two lines
of vacuum presses, while the second, 180,000sq ft building is the assembly hall, fitted out with Kuka robotic-arm manufacturing cells and logistics handled by a fleet of 150 computer-controlled Wemo mobile robots. When we visited, Bicester was bustling in the ramp-up
phase, with engineers and factory staff focused on trialling production processes, installing robotics arms in the production cells and fine-tuning the programming of the Wemos. Capacity is 5000 per year, doubled with a second shift, but Arrival has delayed delivery of its first vans until the second
W H AT A BOUT L A RGE GOODS V EHICLES? All new large goods vehicles must have zero-emissions powertrains from 2035, the heaviest articulated trucks following in 2040. Currently, most are diesel-engined. Industry stalwarts like Mercedes-Benz already have a range of batteryelectric trucks, such as the Fuso eCanter 66kWh in service with DPD and the eActros rigid/artic, with a 448kWh battery for a 250-mile range.
And for intercontinental long-haul haulage, Mercedes will employ hydrogen fuel cells, with its first tractive unit due in service in 2027. Just like on the car side, there are also EV start-ups,
like Volta. Its Zero 18-tonne rigid truck, equipped with a 150kWh battery for 125 miles of range, is scheduled for first deliveries in 2023. Truck operators face even more upheaval in the next 10 years than car drivers as net-zero policies close out 100 years of diesel truck operations. Even last year, just 1% of the new trucks sold in the UK were battery-electric.
