Electric van start-up Arrival is cutting 800 jobs in the UK and USA as it embarks on another round of cost-cutting measures.

This is third round of redundancies the firm has made in the last year.

Arrival cut 800 jobs in July 2022, as it struggled to secure funding to kickstart production of its electric van in Banbury.

In October, the business abandoned its plans to build the vehicle in the UK and decided to shift production to the US.

The company named Igor Torgov as its new chief executive, on Monday. He has worked for the business for the last two years and takes over from interim boss Peter Cuneo.

Torgov said: "Following a detailed evaluation of Arrival and the wider EV market during the past two months, the leadership team and the board have taken decisive action to ensure the most effective use of our current resources and optimise the efficiency of the business.

“The actions support our journey to become a champion in innovative products and new, more efficient methods of vehicle production, particularly in the important US market for commercial electric vehicles.

“We're keenly aware that these decisions, while necessary, will have a profound impact on a significant number of our colleagues. We're 100% committed to supporting our employees during this difficult process.”

Logistics giant UPS ordered 10,000 purpose-built electric vehicles from Arrival as part of its global project to transition to a zero emissions fleet. Delivery of the vehicles was originally expected to start in 2020, but none have been supplied to date.

A small fleet of Arrival vans were produced, in September, for testing, validation and quality control, rather than being sold to customers.

Arrival has since confirmed that production of customer vehicles will not commence until the second half of 2024.

Tristan Thomas, CEO and co-founder of Packfleet says: “Arrival’s shift to the US comes as a real blow to the UK’s electric vehicle manufacturing industry. It’s a shame to be losing our EV capabilities here in the UK, especially at a time when we need to be accelerating the green transition. With the expansion of the ULEZ on the horizon and the sale of new ICE vehicles set to be banned by 2030, the UK is in desperate need of electric vehicles – especially vans.

“Electric vans are in short supply. Logistics businesses across the country are competing to get their hands on new vehicles, and that presents a great opportunity for British-led EV manufacturers to capitalise upon. Courier companies are currently reliant on shipping vehicles in from abroad, and the industry would benefit hugely from a strong set of UK-based manufacturers.

“All-electric fleets will become ther norm in the next few years, and we need a manufacturing sector to keep pace and match demand.”