Rivian Rolls out R1T Electric Pickup Truck
Rivian, a U.S. electric vehicle startup, has released the world’s first electric pickup truck, ahead of Tesla and General Motors. Of note, the vehicle is loaded with batteries from Samsung SDI.
On Sept. 14, CNBC and other U.S. economic media outlets reported that Rivian rolled out a commercial electric pickup truck called the R1T from its plant in Illinois. The mileage of the R1T is 314 miles or 505 kilometers based on standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The lowest selling price of the new vehicle is US$67,500. It is powered by cylindrical 2170 battery cells (21mm in diameter and 70mm in length) supplied by Samsung SDI.
Pickup trucks accounted for more than 20 percent of the U.S. new car market in early 2021. In addition, pickup trucks accounted for half of the 10 bestseller models in the United States in 2020. This is why Rivian's launch of an electric pickup truck is drawing attention.
Rivian is a company founded by RJ Scaringe, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009. In the initial phase of the company, Ford and Amazon invested US$500 million and US$700 million, respectively, but it remained an obscure company for nearly a decade.
However, in 2018, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos visited a Rivian research facility and met with RJ Scaringe and pre-ordered 100,000 electric vans, drawing keen attention from the market. Amazon decided to convert all delivery vehicles into new energy-powered vehicles and replace 100,000 vehicles with Rivian cars by 2030 starting with 10,000 units in 2022.
Rivian recently received an additional US$2.5 billion investment from Ford and Amazon. The funds will be used to expand facilities, including a second plant. It also submitted a private listing application document to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an IPO. According to Bloomberg, Rivian's corporate value after listing is estimated at up to US$80 billion. The amount eclipses the combined market capitalization of Hyundai Motor Co. (45 trillion won) and Kia Corp. (33 trillion won).