Let Elon Musk Go Giga: A U.K. Upstart Says Microfactories Are The Profitable Way To Build Electric Vehicles London-based Arrival is preparing to build battery-powered vans and buses at flexible $50 million “microfactories.” It’s lined up orders worth half a billion dollars and is backed by BlackRock, Hyundai and UPS, but has to prove that smartphone-inspired manufacturing beats big auto plants.