The first customer-bound example of the Rivian R1T all-electric pickup truck rolled off the assembly line in Normal, Illinois this week. The Rivian R1T will face competition from numerous battery-driven pickups from several established automakers, including General Motors.
“After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal!” Tweeted Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe on Tuesday. “Our team’s collective efforts have made this moment possible. Can’t wait to get these into the hands of our customers!”
The first production Rivian R1T produced is finished in Rivian Blue. Range-per-charge is rated at 314 miles, with four electric motors (one motor per wheel) providing the propulsion. Pricing starts at $69,000.
The Rivian R1T is the first of several all-electric pickups slated to hit the market in the next few years. First out the gates for General Motors will be the all-new GMC Hummer EV Pickup, slated to roll out from GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck facility in Michigan, recently renamed Factory Zero, later this year. The first GMC Hummer EV Pickup to roll out will be the range-topping Edition 1, which is significantly pricier than the R1T, starting at $112,595. Reservations for the Edition 1 are now full, but three other trims will roll out after the Edition 1, including the EV3X (starting at $99,995), the EV2X (starting at $89,995), and the EV2 (starting at $79,995).
General Motors has also teased an all-electric iteration of the popular Chevy Silverado, which should be more affordable than the GMC Hummer EV Pickup.
The Rivian R1T will also face competition from Ford, which offers the all-electric Ford F-150 Lighting, priced at just under $40,000. The new F-150 Lighting is slated to arrive in dealers next spring.
Meanwhile, Ram is set to release an all-electric Ram 1500 pickup around 2024. Tesla is also looking to make headway in the segment with the new Cybertruck, which starts under $40,000, but won’t arrive until 2022, if not later.
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Comments
Good for Rivian. It’s nice to have another electric car start-up finally getting product built. This will only push the industry forward.
Shut your mouth!!!
How a start up company doesn’t manufactures fire bomb, congrats
With all the competition, I can foresee big leaps in battery technology. It’s the new battleground.
@ma7mgte
I have been trying to tell everyone the same thing for years. A BEV 10 years from now will not be like anything we can imagine today. I feel like the Pack sizes will shrink and the charging times will become almost the same as pumping Gasoline while getting amazing ranges per Charge.
Crazy to think this all started with a tiny fast as hell little Roadster from some company nobody ever heard of and now the entire Globe is in the process of shifting.
But will it be better than ICE in 10 years? That same time period will have a whole new generation of ICE engines. That’s what EV zellots just ignore. That would be like saying the LT1 was never invented and Corvette stuck with the LS3. The LT1 isn’t even 10 years old and it’s being phased out. Just like they ignore that’s the fastest street car 0-60 is still the Ferrari SF90, as the model S plaid only beat it when tested on a NHT prepped track. Kinda cheating really.
What are your metrics for “better”? Labs are already testing different battery technologies that support extremely fast charging. Charge times are just an engineering problem. It’ll get solved.
Yes, yes they will be better than ICEs. No question asked. For one thing, ICE development is winding down as automakers develop EV powertrains and batteries. ICE’s are a mature idea and most innovation is iterative. EV’s and batteries are still in the relative infancy of development meaning there are still a lot of BIG improvements to come.
The other thing is, for most day to day driving, EV’s are better already. We have a model 3 and a WRX. at this point the WRX is our road trip car and for occasional towing. Everything else, our Tesla. We dont even have 220v in the garage. 110 has been fine for us for the past 2 years since we got it. Also, no maintenance is pretty awesome.
I agree they will be better luckily once they catch fire and burn your house down you will not only get insurance money for the vehicle but also on your house so it’s a win win situation.
Good. Mother Barra needs to get a move on I guess lol.
Interesting. I followed one down the road back in mid July on vacation in Outer Banks, North Carolina. I didn’t think they were in production yet. Wonder if it was someone who works for Rivian.
That is awesome. I have yet to see one in person.
I think they look cool and they chose a good size to start out with.
I bet it was MotorTrend doing their overlanding trip with the Rivian trucks. The story just came out this week. They started in Nags Head, NC i believe.
In my opinion Rivian will become what Land Rover should have started to become five years ago.
The Luxury off-road EV Truck/SUV Brand for outdoor adventures. Good for Rivian.
Glad to see another American startup.
I want Rivian to succeed, but I’m always skeptical about these start-ups. We’ll see how this goes.
Land Rover is in a great position there new defender is a great success and it will be electric in the coming years they have positioned themselves exactly where they need to be. I have a new defender coming soon I was lucky enough to get selected for one. Once the electric one gets here I will buy that one to.
Like I would ever buy an EV from the company that consistently for years has been a cellar dweller in quality and reliability surveys of the industry.
What company are you referring to exactly?
And the battle begins. Just like the beginning of the automobile business there will be companies that do not make it. Reliability and quality will be the hallmarks of the survivors. Billions of dollars bring wagered by manufacturers and stockholders.. It will be fun to watch.
At least gm won’t be in that battle.
I hope the competition drives the price down in a few years. Just saw an article where Ford is hiring 450 new employees to double output of the new electric F150 Lightning priced at about $40,000.
The batteries will charge much faster and burn much hotter!
I’m not even a fan of ev but in my opinion both of the rivian products look great.
I don’t know how sure anyone can be that increasing range and shortening charging times will happen. Look at smart phones and tablets, they really have made minimal progress on those issues in the 10 plus years they’ve been out.
Looks like a nice truck, well though out and had to pass crash safety requirements. I just can’t get used to those headlights.
As with any type of rechargeable battery, the faster the charge or discharge rate, the more heat generated. Heat slows up the charge rate because of internal resistance and too much heat shortens the battery life. With each small step to increase range and charge rates takes a lot of engineering and testing. It will get better in time