Rivian postpones the supply of huge battery-powered trucks until 2023.
Thursday, December 30, 2021 | Chimniii Desk
Customers who ordered the Rivian R1T pickup vehicle with extended range battery pack will have to wait until 2023, a year later than the manufacturer originally predicted.
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe stated in an email to customers that the company is determining the best course of action for rapidly ramping up production.
"In order to accommodate the highest volume of preorders, we will prioritise producing the Adventure Package with large pack battery over the next year." Preorders for the Explore Package and vehicles equipped with the Max pack battery configuration will begin in 2023," Scaringe stated in a piece of the email obtained on Reddit.
Scaringe stated that the Max bundle accounts for around 20% of existing orders. The Max pack is estimated to have a range of 400 miles before requiring charging. Edmunds, an automobile website, evaluated Rivian's big pack battery and gave it a range rating of 317 miles before requiring recharge.
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Rivian has also designed a smaller battery package with a lower range than the large pack battery, though this has not yet been developed. The deferment of smaller battery sizes is comparable to a tactic Tesla used during the early stages of car production.
As of mid-December, Rivian has received approximately 71,000 orders in the United States and Canada for the R1T and R1S SUV models.
"In determining our delivery schedule, we optimised it around the build mix that would enable us to ramp up as rapidly as possible and hence have the greatest possible beneficial climate impact," Scaringe wrote.
Rivian released its first quarterly profit results earlier this month, during which Scaringe discussed manufacturing constraints such as chip shortages, other global supply chain constraints, the pandemic, and a tight labour market.
Rivian has also announced plans to develop a second manufacturing facility in the Atlanta, Ga., area to supplement the capacity of the Normal plant, however the Georgia site will not be operational until at least 2024.
Rivian has delivered about 400 automobiles to date. It is continuing to manufacture delivery vans for Amazon at the Normal facility and is anticipated to begin manufacturing the SUV early next year.
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