Rivian airs EV model plans / GM is off the table
The electric car startup Rivian plans to expand its fleet to six pickups and SUVs of different sizes by 2025 and also to produce electric vehicles for other companies. Meanwhile (and with Amazon on board) the negotiations regarding the participation of General Motors appear to have failed.
Rivian Automobile founder R.J. Scaringe has now announced the model plans at the New York Auto Show. At the same time, Bloomberg reports, negotiations with GM closed without a deal. The reason seems to be that Rivian did not want to grant exclusivity to the US car manufacturing giant. A 700 million dollar financing round led by Amazon will likely have helped the startup to gain a stronger sense of independence.
Rivian now wants to produce its own electric vehicles at their Illinois plant by 2025, which includes half a dozen pickup and SUV models. And, these are only the vehicles that Rivian intends to market under its own banner. There are also potential contract manufacturing projects in the pipeline, and Rivian says, it has some interested parties.
Not so long ago, Rivian presented an electric pick-up truck and the the R1T is scheduled for launch in autumn 2020. The five-seater runs with four electric motors, whereby you can configure the total output to different levels between 300 and 562 kW.
According to Scaringe, there are now “tens of thousands of advance orders”, how many exactly is open. The Rivian boss has already announced that he is looking for ways to increase production capacity in Illinois. The startup is planning three battery variants with capacities of 105, 135 and 180 kWh, which will enable ranges of more than 230, 300 and 400 miles (370 to 644 km) for its electric vehicles respectively.
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