Rivian is an off-road electric vehicle manufacturer that has caught some attention in the past but has yet to sell any cars off the production belt. Rivian has raised well over $5 billion since last year, from investors that include Amazon and Ford, among others.
Now, the electric vehicle company has announced the close of a further $2.5 billion funding deal. The investment comes advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. The vast expenditure includes money from billionaire investor George Soros, regarded as one of the greatest investors alive.
Founder and CEO, Robert Scaringe founded Rivian back in 2009 in the US. In 2016 they opened up a research and development facility in Michigan and by 2017 Rivian had a manufacturing plant in Illinois. The company now employs around 1,000 people and together they unveiled two prototypes at the LA auto show in 2018. The R1T and R1S prototypes showed off high-tech looks with off-road ruggedness.
It’s speculated that Rivian wants to seize the gap in the market for all-electronic adventure vehicles. With enough interest, and investment that seems continuous, they could leverage themselves to a position that would compete with Tesla. Both companies have headquarters in the US and Rivian is expected to provide software-based updates to their vehicles. We may be comparing the Cybertruck with Rivian products in the future.
Despite the funding, Rivian doesn’t have any plans to go public anytime soon so we can expect more funding rounds to come. Amazon has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian and they were expected to be in use in 2021, but after delays caused by the Coronavirus, we can expect them on roads in 2022. Rivian has also pushed the start of production on the R1T and R1S to 2021.
CEO Robert Scaringe says: “Our teams are working hard to ensure our vehicles, supply chain and production systems are ready for a robust production ramp-up.”
The Coronavirus has naturally caused delays to many manufacturers including electric vehicle producers. However, we can’t expect that no more hold-ups will appear as after all the company is in the early stages. Either way, with this latest investment it’s safe to say there is still great interest in an electric off-road experience.