Rivian Automotive, the Irvine, California-based electric vehicle maker, is in talks to build its second factory south of Fort Worth, according to documents from Bloomberg News.
Here are five things you should know about the company that could potentially spend $ 5 billion to make Texas its second manufacturing base in the United States
Who is behind the company? What types of vehicles do they make?
Rivian was founded in 2009 by current CEO RJ Scaringe after Scaringe received his PhD in mechanical engineering from the Sloan Automotive Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The company markets its vehicles as “electric adventure vehicles” and targets outdoor enthusiasts as some of its key customers. Both Rivian models, a truck and an SUV, have a “skateboard platform design” in which the battery pack, drive units, suspension, braking and thermal systems are placed below the car’s wheel height and space above Passengers and equipment storage remains. The low centers of gravity of the vehicles should help the vehicle to adapt to different terrains.
The first editions of Rivian’s R1T truck and R1S SUV are priced at $ 73,000 and $ 75,500, respectively. The 2022 models are available for pre-order for a little less, with the truck costing $ 67,500 and the SUV $ 70,000.
The company had to contend with pandemic-related bottlenecks in the supply chain in 2021. Scaringe wrote to customers last month that the first deliveries of the company’s R1T truck, which was postponed for July, would be further delayed until September. The launch of the R1S SUV was postponed until later in the fall.
Pictured is the electric R1T truck model from Rivian. The company hopes to appeal to outdoor enthusiasts with its environmentally friendly approach.(Rivia)
How does Rivian compare to other electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla or Lucid?
Tesla Inc., seen as the dominant player in the electric vehicle industry, currently has four vehicle models: the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y. The company has also announced it will manufacture a pickup truck called the Cybertruck, but the Production was postponed until 2022 at the earliest, according to Tesla’s website. The single-engine base model of the Cybertruck starts at $ 39,900.
Tesla’s newest manufacturing facility in Austin is nearing completion.
Lucid last month completed its merger with special purpose vehicle Churchill Capital IV, which injected the company with $ 4.4 billion and increased its pro forma valuation to $ 24 billion. The company plans to begin shipping its $ 169,000 Air luxury sedan to customers in the second half of this year.
Canoo, who announced earlier this summer that it had selected Oklahoma across Texas for its “mega-factory” manufacturing facility, has developed a van, pickup truck, and sedan, all of which are front, rear, and all-wheel drive. The base-model sedan, dubbed the Lifestyle Vehicle, starts at $ 34,750. Canoo plans to deliver its vehicles to US customers in the fourth quarter of 2022.
How much did the company collect? When will it be public?
Rivian has raised $ 10.7 billion in total capital, including $ 2.5 billion in new funding announced last month, according to tracking site Crunchbase. Rivian’s supporters include some pretty big names: Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, D1 Capital Partners, Ford Motor Co., and Fidelity Management.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that the company is working with underwriters such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley to prepare for an IPO later this year. According to reports, the company could aim for a valuation of around $ 70 billion when it goes public.
How is Amazon involved?
Amazon is over its $ 2 billion
In addition to its investments in the company, Amazon has ordered up to 100,000 electric vans from Rivian by 2030. It is expected that around 10,000 of these vans will be on delivery routes by 2022. The company has already begun testing versions of the vehicles on delivery routes in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and plans to expand the vehicles to 16 cities this year.
Where else does the company manufacture vehicles?
The company’s first US assembly plant is located in Normal, Illinois, in a former Mitsubishi factory. The Normal plant has over 2,200 employees and plans to increase this number to between 3,000 and 4,000 by 2022.
According to a report by Sky News, the company is reportedly in talks to build its first plant outside the US near the English city of Bristol. According to the report, the company is also considering potential locations in Germany and the Netherlands.
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