Rivian Automotive, Inc. is an OEM EV manufacturer focused on pickup trucks and SUVs. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in San Jose, California. Rivian is among the greenest of the EV makers choosing to achieve carbon neutrality well ahead of the Paris Climate Accord timeline. Rivian Automotive went public in 2021.
The company designs, develops, manufactures, and sells electric adventure vehicles and accessories through direct sales to consumers and commercial markets. The company vehicles are designed for sustainability and long lifespans across all components with repairability and reusability key to the end result. That includes engineering specifications such as easily removable batteries and batteries that can be easily recycled or repurposed into stationary power packs when their EV lifespan is spent.
The company offers five-passenger pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles under the R1T and R1S labels. The R1T is a highly configurable pickup while the R1S is an off-road capable SUV. The R1T is hailed as the world’s first EV adventure vehicle, it began production in early 2021 and the first deliveries were made later that same year. By mid-2022 the company had delivered more than 8,000 vehicles with production ramping quickly.
The R1T comes with 8 different drive modes geared for offroading, city adventures, and everything in between. Among the choices is the “Drift” mode which proactively distributes power to offset traction control and increase the “fun” factor. The vehicle comes with a 240 to 400-mile range depending on the battery and motor combination and individual driving styles. In regard to its capabilities, the truck can go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds, tow up to 11,000 pounds, and wade through 3 feet of water with no problems.
The Rivian R1S began production in 2022 and began deliveries later that year. The R1S comes with a 260 to 320-mile range and can also wade through 3 feet of water. The R1S also boasts the ability to rock crawl up a 100% incline or 45-degree slope.
Rivian is also developing a final-mile delivery van solution in collaboration with Amazon.com The Fleet Ecosystem begins with the FleetOS which is the company’s propriety operating system. The OS allows for end-to-end unification of telematics, charging, and maintenance. The Fleet system also includes charging and powering solutions to ensure maxim efficiency and uptime. The partnership with Amazon included an initial 100,000-vehicle preorder that equates to years of production for this product line alone.
Rivian is also building the Rivian Adventure Network, a series of charging stations along popular routes and out-of-the-way destinations. The charging stations can add up to 120 miles of range to a battery pack in just 20 minutes. The company is planning to launch at least 2500 stations nationwide.