And it surpasses Ford, GM and Tesla
The first production The Rivian R1T electric van in “Blue Rivian” left the assembly line Tuesday morning at the company’s factory in Normal, Illinois, marking a milestone of more than a decade in the carmaker’s manufacturing and manufacturing. its founder and CEO, RJ Scaringe.
The company, which started in 2009 as Mainstream Motors before adopting the Rivian name two years later, has experienced explosive growth in terms of people, sponsors and partners in recent years. Today, Scaringe tweeted the news and a photo of the first production truck painted in Rivian blue.
“After months building pre-production vehicles, this morning our first customer vehicle left our production line at Normal.” He wrote. “The collective efforts of our team have made this moment possible. I can’t wait to put them in the hands of our customers! ”
What is not clear is who will get this first customer vehicle.
Rivian operated in relative darkness, also known as stealth mode, for years before unveiling prototypes of its all-electric R1T truck and R1S SUV at the LA Auto Show in late 2018.
Since then, Rivian has raised billions of dollars ($ 10.5 billion since 2019); expanded the Normal, Illinois factory; hired thousands of employees; got Amazon as a commercial customer; and, more recently, filed confidentially for a IPO. Today, in addition to its Illinois plant, Rivian has facilities in Palo Alto and Irvine, California; in Plymouth, Michigan; and an office in the UK
When it first unveiled the two electric vehicles in 2018, Rivian had about 600 employees. Today it has 8,000.
Scaringe’s announcement on Tuesday, marking the official start of R1T production for customers, comes after at least two delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and global chip shortages. Earlier this summer, Scaringe wrote in a letter to customers that R1T deliveries would begin in September, and that R1S would follow “soon”.
Rivian has been juggling the priorities of preparing and eventually producing R1T and R1S for consumers and commercial vans for Amazon. The Illinois factory has two separate production lines that produce vehicles. One is dedicated to R1 vehicles and the other line is for their commercial vans.
Amazon ordered 100,000 of these vans, with deliveries starting in 2021. Earlier this year, Amazon began testing the electric delivery van in several cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Earlier this month, Rivian announced that the first version of the R1T van has an official EPA range of 314 miles, while its R1T SUV reaches 316 miles.
The official fuel range and fuel saving values posted on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website match Rivian’s previous estimates, which he advertised at 300 miles.
Timing is also important because it means Rivian has the advantage of being the first electric truck on the market. Ford’s F-150 Lightning, which is not expected to hit the market until the spring of 2022, has a target range of 230 miles on the standard and up to 300 miles on the expanded version. The EPA has not issued official ranges for the Ford Lightning.
Rivian’s R1T “Launch Edition” truck and R1S SUV come equipped with a 135 kWh battery pack that is branded as the “big package”. Deliveries of Launch Edition vehicles are scheduled to begin this month.
Clarification: Rivian has raised $ 10.5 billion since 2019, not in total. Rivian has not shared the total amount, but sources have said it is about $ 11 billion.