Recently, under investments from companies such as Amazon and Ford, Rivian has completed a funding round of $2.5 billion. Additionally, Rivian has confirmed the selection of a site for its second factory in the United States, which will include production of power batteries.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe stated, “As we near the start of vehicle production, it’s vital that we keep looking forward and pushing through to Rivian’s next phase of growth. The infusion of capital from our partners allows Rivian to expand new vehicle programs, build more factory infrastructure, and make our products accessible to more customers worldwide.”
What sets Rivian apart from other start-up electric vehicle companies is that Rivian has always focused on production. Even prior to the prototype’s release, they acquired a factory formerly owned by Mitsubishi, with an annual production capacity rumored to reach 300,000 vehicles. Additionally, the 100,000 electric delivery vans ordered by Amazon are expected to be produced at this factory in Fall 2021.
Rivian plans to release their R1T electric pickup truck, R1S electric SUV, and the electric delivery van of their investor partner Amazon on the same platform. However, last week Rivian announced that the release of their first product, the R1T electric pickup truck, has been postponed to September, likely due to the global semiconductor shortage in the automotive industry. Nevertheless, Rivian is steadily accelerating its expansion.
With increasingly strict emissions regulations worldwide, car companies are racing to enter the electric vehicle market. Apart from traditional car companies’ electrification efforts, more and more new players are emerging. Both Volkswagen Group and Tesla are building factories to produce their own pure electric products and batteries in order to improve their competitiveness. The addition of more new players will surely bring about unprecedented changes to the future car market.
🔗Source: electrek
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.