Rivian commits to Georgia EV plant
Rivian remains committed to building an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Georgia.
The EV automaker recently brought the R2, R3, and R3X to Morgan County, Georgia. During the event, Rivian also stamped out any concerns about its presence in the Peach State.
Tony Sanger, Rivian's Vice President of Production Facilities, answered some lingering questions about the company's factory in Georgia. Sanger commented that he has assured the State's Joint Development Authority (JDA) that Rivian will move forward with the EV manufacturing facility in Georgia.
"So we wanted to come out—it's our community. We wanted to come and show the community out here what the new vehicles are that we're gonna be producing here in Georgia when we come back from our pause.
"It's the R2 product that we're gonna build in Illinois, but not at the volume we need to hit the mass market, so at some point in the very near future we need to pivot back and come build these here and build the R3's here as well," Sanger told The Covington News.
In November 2023, Rivian received approval to start construction on its $5 billion new manufacturing plant outside of Atlanta, Georgia. By December 2023, Rivian had selected the construction company to handle the EV factory's construction.
In March 2024, the EV company announced that it would delay the construction of its Georgia plant and focus on developing an R2 production line in Normal, Illinois. Rivian explains that it wanted to reduce the capital required to start initial R2 production. As a result, it decided to start R2 production in the Normal Plant and pause construction in Georgia until it was more stable.
"The main reason for us is building the facility here in Georgia, it was basically completely greenfield. I had to bring all the infrastructure in, all the utilities in, had to bring all that in, whereas in Normal Illinois we already had those there and we had a facility that wasn't at full capacity.
"So it just made a lot of good fiscal sense to pivot to Normal, add that capacity to Normal and then come back when we can build it here in earnest at the full capacity," said Sanger.
Sanger estimated that Rivian would resume construction on its Georgia plant after it ramps the R2 and R3 production lines at the Normal plant.
"It will be after our ramp. We are keenly aware of our obligations to the State and the JDA (Joint Development Authority) for when we need to have our facility up in the investments made," he said.
Check out some of our cool Rivian accessories for your R1T and R1S!
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