Following a recent lawsuit filed by Tesla against Rivian, the electric pickup and SUV manufacturer has delivered some good news: its pilot production line in its Normal, Illinois plant is up and running.
Like most vehicles manufacturers, Rivian has seen the troubles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic causing the company to push its original window for the release of its R1T and R1S. To date, the company has yet to produce a production version of either models.
The electric vehicle company now says to expect R1T pickup deliveries to begin in June 2021 with R1S SUV deliveries starting just two months later. Regardless of the hardships caused by the current global pandemic, Rivian is continuing with its production plans.
Although we probably won’t see any confirmed pricing for either vehicle until we get closer to the release date, we do know some specs about them. Rivian has promised 3 different battery pack sizes with the largest having 180 kWh and over a 400 mile range. The R1T will seat up to five people while the R1S will be able to hold seven. Both are expected to be off-road savvy, tow over 7000 pounds, and feature the ability to utilize auxiliary battery packs.
As range anxiety continues to be a key reason for some people to make the switch over to electric vehicles, the auxiliary battery packs could be an incentive to make the jump. Auxiliary battery packs have the ability to add enough capacity for any trip, whether it’s a long road trip or just a quick run to the corner store.
Despite all the setbacks, Rivian has had huge success as far as funding and investments. The company currently has an agreement with Ford with plans to produce a new vehicle, a contract with Amazon to produce 100,000 all electric delivery vans, and most recently it closed a funding round totaling $2.5 billion in investments led by T. Rowe Price.
Given the timeline and the company’s ability to stick by it, Rivian could beat top competitors, such as the Tesla Cybertruck and the GMC Hummer EV, to customers driveways come next year.