Aaron Brzozowski 
Things are going okay for one of Tesla’s most promising challengers: Rivian. The EV manufacturer has started deliveries of its very first volume passenger vehicle, the Rivian R1T battery-electric pickup truck, and its stock market IPO was one of the biggest in history – although shares have come down substantially in price since their $179.47 peak. Now, plans for a second Rivian factory have been finalized, the company announcing last week that its next manufacturing facility will be located in Georgia, as expected.
“We’re happy to partner with Georgia on our new manufacturing site, which will build our next generation of products that are important for scaling our business,” said Rivian Chief People Officer Helen Russell about the announcement. “We’re excited for Georgians to bring their creativity and ideas to Rivian. We’re confident that, alongside Illinois, Georgia is the place for Rivian to continue to scale and thrive.”
Rivian factory number two will be built on a “carbon-conscious” campus east of Atlanta, on a parcel of land in Morgan and Walton counties that measures nearly 2,000 acres in size. In all, the project will cost the fledgling automaker some $5 billion in site development and other investments, employing up to 7,500 people and producing as many as 400,000 vehicles per year by the time the facility becomes fully operational.
Construction on the new Rivian factory is slated to start in the summer of 2022, and the start of production is planned for some time in 2024.
While we don’t know what Rivian will actually build at its new Georgia-based factory, the EV manufacturer appeared to go on a bit of a trademarking spree this year, securing the US rights to six new nameplates that seem destined for potential future truck and SUV models. The company had at one time planned to follow up the Rivian R1T and R1S with a “rally raid-style performance car,” in the words of CEO RJ Scaringe, but that car has been shelved for the time being.
