Sam Krahn 
The Rivian R1T and R1S just got one step closer to production, as the startup EV manufacturer has just announced Samsung SDI will supply their battery cells, according to Reuters. This is a huge announcement for Rivian, and a major client for Samsung, but it’s not been decided recently. Rivian says they’ve been working with Samsung throughout the development process of the vehicle and battery cells.
“We’re excited about the performance and reliability of Samsung SDI battery cells combined with our energy-dense module and pack design,” said Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. Rivian markets their R1T and R1S as Electric Adventure Vehicles, so that battery pack can’t just send it down the road a couple hundred miles and call it good. It needs to stand up to a variety of off-road conditions, from external and internal stressors.
Those batteries are expected to propel top spec Rivian R1T and R1S EVs over 300 miles on a single charge, and will provide around 750 hp in conjunction with the quad electric motors. This also means four wheel torque vectoring for off-road performance and on-road handling, and a three second 0-60 time.
Rivian hasn’t said anything about how many battery modules Samsung will produce for them, which could give a hint about expected production of the R1T and R1S this year. That being said, Rivian has said they plan to produce several hundred thousand vehicles per year. Deliveries for the Rivian R1T Launch Edition are slated to kick off in June, while the R1S Launch Edition will come in August. With lots of high profile funding from Amazon and Ford, Rivian may prove to be one of Samsung’s biggest clients, as they don’t work with Tesla.
Rivian is also working on solid state batteries, which promise longer range and faster charging. It’s unclear whether this project is also in partnership with Samsung SDI, but we are sure every battery supplier is currently researching the next big leap forward in EV tech. Whether Rivian gets there first with Samsung SDI will have to be seen.
