Rivian head says it can’t wait to meet its Australian customers but at the same time has downplayed plans for Rivian release date any time soon. The comments about Australia come at the same time stories about Rivian’s expansion are exploding across the internet.
In recent days Rivian has confirmed potential plans to build a second plant in the US, reports have emerged of another assembly plant being considered for the UK or Europe and the brand has registered six new badges pointing to a dramatic model expansion. All these will be to set up the launch of the electric SUV Rivian in and around Australia.
Photos published by the Australian-based website Chasing Cars appear to show the same two Rivian prototype electric vehicles recently spotted in New Zealand for cold-weather testing, a blue R1T ute, and an R1S SUV wrapped in striped camouflage. Wonder why?
Though not spotted at Sydney airport, a new dedicated electric delivery van was also seen testing in New Zealand alongside Rivian’s two vehicles, produced by the electric car maker for online retail giant Amazon.
Founded in 2009, Rivian originally planned to begin delivering its first production cars by October but has been forced to delay the launch due to the global semiconductor shortage.
Rivian spokesperson Chris Wollen said to an Australian press that it is an important market with right-hand-drive models planned for the future.
Rivian has flown in two EV models for testing. Their arrival has sparked intense interest with many prospective buyers keen to own an electric Australian ute truck with the capabilities and luxury that only a Rivian can offer.
When will the Rivian R1T electric ute and R1S electric SUV be on sale here, is the question on everybody’s drooling lips as they watch the first salable models drive off the production line in Normal today.
Both the R1T and R1S are propped up by the same all-electric skateboard platform, offering up to 644km from a 180kWh battery pack for the dual-cab ute. Four electric motors will deliver a claimed 0-100km/h sprint time in around three seconds, with up to 550kW of power and 1124Nm of torque said to be available.
Rivian has been on a campaign to test its battery-powered vehicles in the most extreme conditions across the globe.
In 2020, the company offered R1T dual-cab utes as support vehicles to Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s Long Way Up documentary, in which they rode electric Harley-Davidson motorcycles from the southernmost tip of South America to Los Angeles.
The 2022 Rivian R1T and 2022 Rivian R1S are expected to begin customer deliveries in January 2022.
On an explanatory note, Rivian made it clear there were other priorities for Rivian ahead of Australia.
“There’s a lot of focus on the US right now, beyond that there are many steps involved in entering new markets and we’re excited to share more details around specific locations, timings and experiences once we have them,” said the spokesperson.
The $A99,415 launch edition of the Rivian electric SUV is going to compete with Tesla and win most probably. It is the brand’s first model and after some delays are due to launch in the US in September. Other versions are set to start delivery in January 2022. The R1S also launches in 2022. As confirmed now.
Separately, investor Amazon has ordered 100,000 battery-electric vans from Rivian, with production expected to start in months. Meanwhile, the six names registered by Rivian are for new models that are all expected to be built by 2025.
They are the R3S, R4S, R5S, R3T, R4T, and R5T. And if you’re wondering what happened to R2T and RTS, they’re already owned by Rivian. The brand has previously said it wants to add models smaller than the full-size R1T and R1S in its electric SUV Rivian range in the future.
Other names by Rivian include R1A, R1C, R1V, R2A, R2C, R2R, and R2X. The R1T and R1S use the same in-house-designed skateboard architecture that bundles batteries into the chassis.
There are currently four 147kW/350 Nm motors making a combined 588kW and 1400Nm, which Rivian says will propel the ute to 60 miles per hour about 96km/hr in three seconds, which is massive!