Rivian

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VW puts $5B into cash-hungry Rivian, and Rivian will help fix up VW’s software

Cars, Rivian, Rivian R1S, Rivian R1T, Rivian R2, Rivian R3, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Group / /

RivianWagen. VolksVian? —

Rivian gets a third major partner, and new cars arrive later this decade.

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Up-close image of Rivian's dash screen, showing on-road/off-road settings

Rivian

Volkswagen is committing $5 billion to upstart EV company Rivian, with $1 billion in cash upfront and $4 billion over time. The companies aim to use this joint venture to deliver new vehicles “in the second half of the decade,” according to the announcement, and the cash will likely help push along Rivian’s next generation of vehicles, including more affordable models.

Oliver Blume, left, CEO of Volkswagen Group, and RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian.

Enlarge / Oliver Blume, left, CEO of Volkswagen Group, and RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian.

Rivian

Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the partnership “brings Rivian’s software and zonal electronics platform to a broader market through Volkswagen Group’s global reach and scale.” VW Group, which also controls Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, and Ducati, among others, has a lot to gain from working with Rivian, particularly when it comes to software and ride control. Ars and most other reviewers have been impressed by Rivian’s drive engineering and display software on the R1T truck, R1S SUV, and the second generations of them both, which majorly reworked the underpinnings and offerings, largely through design and software choices.

Volkswagen’s recent software moves have been on an opposing trajectory. The Group’s 2019 moves to align all its brands’ software under one division, Cariad, with three platforms developed at once, has led to massive leadership shake-ups and restarts. We were not impressed with the ID.4’s infotainment system in 2021, and further bugs in both system and screen software plagued the car, undermining what was otherwise regarded as a good wheels-on-road experience.

Other car and tech companies previously invested in Rivian on its long, expensive path to EV production. Rivian took $500 million from Ford in 2019 after already picking up $700 million from Amazon that year. Part of Ford’s investment centered on a Lincoln SUV developed using Rivian’s battery and motor tech—or “skateboard” platform—but that project was canceled early in the pandemic.

Rivian, which was valued at nearly $86 billion during its public stock debut, has burned through a lot of cash, making well-liked cars that cost a lot to build. In the first quarter of 2024, it sold its cars for an average of $38,784 less than it cost to make them before expenses like research, development, sales, or marketing. Having paused production on a $5 billion truck plant and gone through rounds of recent layoffs, the firm lost $1.51 billion last quarter. Rivian reported $7.86 billion in cash on hand and $4.43 billion in debt.

Hence the likely very useful first $1 billion from VW to Rivian, a convertible note that becomes Rivian common stock after regulatory approval. Two more $1 billion payments should arrive in 2025 and 2026, with a $2 billion loan tied to the joint venture available in 2026.

VW puts $5B into cash-hungry Rivian, and Rivian will help fix up VW’s software Read More »

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Tesla may be in trouble, but other EVs are selling just fine

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relax, EVs aren’t dead —

Almost every other automaker is seeing double-digit EV sales growth.

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Generic electric car charging on a city street

Getty Images/3alexd

Have electric vehicles been overhyped? A casual observer might have come to that conclusion after almost a year of stories in the media about EVs languishing on lots and letters to the White House asking for a national electrification mandate to be watered down or rolled back. EVs were even a pain point during last year’s auto worker industrial action. But a look at the sales data paints a different picture, one where Tesla’s outsize role in the market has had a distorting effect.

“EVs are the future. Our numbers bear that out. Current challenges will be overcome by the industry and government, and EVs will regain momentum and will ultimately dominate the automotive market,” said Martin Cardell, head of global mobility solutions at consultancy firm EY.

Public perception hasn’t been helped by recent memories of supply shortages and pandemic price gouging, but the chorus of concerns about EV sales became noticeably louder toward the end of last year and the beginning of 2024. EV sales in 2023 grew by 47 percent year on year, but the first three months of this year failed to show such massive growth. In fact, sales in Q1 2024 were up only 2.6 percent over the same period in 2023.

Tesla doesn’t break out its sales data by region anymore, but its new US registrations were down by as much as 25 percent, month on month, as its overall marketshare of EVs closes in on 50 percent this year; by contrast, Tesla was 80 percent of the US EV market in 2020. (Overall, Tesla’s global deliveries fell by 8.5 percent.)

The other sick patient in addition to Tesla is Volkswagen. Despite local production of the ID.4 crossover in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the brand saw EV sales fall by 37 percent in Q1. It has also abandoned plans to bring the ID.7 electric sedan to North America, and the long-awaited ID. Buzz microbus has yet to reach US showrooms more than eight years after it was first shown here.

But all this noise has been enough to spook executives into action. Both Ford and General Motors took the embarrassing step of rolling back their electrification goals, all but admitting they bet on the wrong horse. Instead of turning away from new internal combustion engine products, we’re set for a new flurry of hybrids—just don’t expect any of them to show up before 2026.

GM’s difficulty in ramping up its new family of EVs built around the UItium battery platform has been well-documented. The end of production of the Chevrolet Bolt, which sold for less than $30,000, didn’t help; with the little electric hatchback (and the slightly stretched Bolt EUV) no longer contributing to the sales charts, GM’s Q1 EV sales fell by 21 percent.

The problems with assembling Ultium cells into battery packs appears to be in GM’s past now. Cadillac Lyriqs are starting to become a common sight on the road, and GM CEO Mary Barra told Bloomberg that GM expects to build between 200,000 and 300,000 Ultium-based EVs this year, a huge increase over the 13,838 it managed to ship last year.

Meanwhile, Ford’s EV “slump” is nothing of the kind. In May, it sold 91 percent more F-150 Lightnings than last year. E-Transit sales were up 77 percent. And the Mustang Mach-E showed growth of 46 percent. In total, Ford’s EV sales for the first five months of this year were up 87.7 percent on 2023, helped no doubt by the company’s price cuts.

High double-digit sales growth (in Q1 2024) has also been occurring at Hyundai and Kia (up 56.1 percent), BMW (up 57.8 percent), Rivian (up 58.8 percent), Mercedes (up 66.9 percent), and Toyota (up 85.9 percent).

“As anticipated, Tesla’s sales took a hit, influencing the overall market dynamics. However, a few brands saw significant EV sales increases, achieving over 50 percent year-over-year growth,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive. “As noted in January, we are calling 2024 ‘the Year of More.’ More new products, more incentives, more inventory, more leasing and more infrastructure will drive EV sales higher this year. Even so, we’ll continue to see ups and downs as the industry moves toward electrification.”

“We view the current headwinds that EV sales are experiencing in the US and Europe as short-term in nature. The buildup of charging infrastructure, availability of affordable EV models with a fall in battery prices, combined with government regulations, will drive sustainable BEV growth in the long run,” said Cardell.

Tesla may be in trouble, but other EVs are selling just fine Read More »

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Ars drives the second-generation Rivian R1T and R1S electric trucks

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no more car sick —

The EV startup has reengineered the R1 to make it better to drive, easier to build.

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A Rivian R1T and R1S parked together in a forest

Enlarge / The R1S and R1T don’t look much different from the electric trucks we drove in 2022, but under the skin, there have been a lot of changes.

Rivian

In rainy Seattle this week, Rivian unveiled what it’s calling the “Second Generation” of its R1 line with a suite of mostly under-the-hood software and hardware updates that increase range, power, and efficiency while simultaneously lowering the cost of production for the company. While it’s common for automotive manufacturers to do some light refreshes after about four model years, Rivian has almost completely retooled the underpinnings of its popular R1S SUV and R1T pickup just two years after the vehicles made their debut.

“Overdelivering on the product is one of our core values,” Wassym Bensaid, the chief software officer at Rivian, told a select group of journalists at the event on Monday night, “and customer feedback has been one of the key inspirations for us.”

For these updates, Rivian changed more than half the hardware components in the R1 platform, retooled its drive units to offer new tri- and quad-motor options (with more horsepower), updated the suspension tuning, deleted 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of wiring, reduced the number of ECUs, increased the number of cameras and sensors around the vehicle, changed the battery packs, and added some visual options that better aligned with customizations that owners were making to their vehicles, among other things. Rivian is also leaning harder into AI and ML tools with the aim of bringing limited hands-free driver-assistance systems to their owners toward the end of the year.

  • Usually, an automaker waits four years before it refreshes a product, but Rivian decided to move early.

    Rivian

  • The R1 interior can feel quite serene.

    Rivian

  • Perhaps you’d prefer something more colorful?

    Rivian

  • An exploded view of a drive unit with a pair of motors.

    Rivian

  • There are two capacities of lithium-ion battery, and an optional lithium iron phosphate pack with 275 miles of range is on the way.

  • Rivian’s R1 still looks friendly amid a sea of scary-looking SUVs and trucks.

    Rivian

While many of these changes have simplified manufacturing for Rivian, which as of Q1 of this year lost a whopping $38,000 on every vehicle it sold, the company has continued to close the gap with the likes of BMW and Mercedes in terms of ride, handling, comfort, and efficiency.

On the road in the new R1

We drove a new second-gen dual-motor 665 hp (496 kW), 829 lb-ft (1,124 Nm) R1S Performance, which gets up to 410 miles (660 km) of range with the new Max Pack battery, out to DirtFish Rally School in Snoqualmie in typically rainy Seattle weather. On the road, the new platform, with its revised suspension and shocks, felt much more comfortable than it did in our first experience with an R1S in New York in 2022.

The vehicle offers modes that allow you to tackle pretty much any kind of driving that life can throw at you, including Sport, All Purpose (there’s no longer a “Conserve” mode), Snow, All-Terrain, and Soft Sand, alongside customizable suspension, ride feel and height, and regen settings. The R1S feels far more comfortable from all seating positions, including the back and third-row seats. There’s less floaty, car-sick-inducing modulation over bumps in All-Purpose, and Sport tightens things down nicely when you want to have a bit more road feel.

One of the big improvements on the road comes from the new “Autonomy Compute Module” and its suite of high-resolution 4K HDR cameras, radars, and sensors that have been upgraded on the R1 platform. The new R1 gets 11 cameras (one more than the first gen), with eight times greater resolution, five radar modules, and a new proprietary AI and ML integrated system that learns from anonymized driver data and information taken from the world around the vehicles to “see” 360-degrees around the vehicle, even in inclement weather.

While the R1S has had cruise control since its launch, the new “Autonomy” platform allows for smart lane-changing—something Rivian calls “Lane Change on Command” when using the new “Enhanced Highway Assist” (a partially automated driver assist), and centers the vehicle in marked lanes. We tried both features on the highways around Seattle, and the system handled very rainy and wet weather without hesitation, but it did ping-pong between the lane markers, and when that smart lane change system bailed out at the last minute, the move was abrupt and not confidence-inspiring, since there was no apparent reason for the system to fail. These features are not nearly as good as the latest from BMW and Mercedes, both of which continue to offer some of the most usable driver-assist systems on the market.

With the new R1 software stack, Rivian is also promising some limited hands-free highway driver-assistance features to come at the end of the year. While we didn’t get to try the feature in the short drive to DirtFish, Rivian says eye-tracking cameras in the rearview mirror will ensure that drivers have ample warning to take over when the system is engaged and needs human input.

Ars drives the second-generation Rivian R1T and R1S electric trucks Read More »

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Rivian reveals three new, smaller electric SUVs: The R2, R3, and R3X

Cars, Rivian, Rivian R2, Rivian R3, Rivian R3X / /

no astromech droids were hurt in the making of this post —

The new EVs use Rivian’s new midsize platform, and R2 deliveries begin in 2026.

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Rivian R2, R3, and R3X SUVs parked together

Enlarge / From left to right, the Rivian R2, Rivian R3, and Rivian R3X.

Rivian

Today in California, Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe unveiled new additions to the electric vehicle startup’s model lineup. Details of the new R2 had leaked earlier this week, although not entirely accurately—the new smaller EV will start at $45,000 (not $47,000) when it goes on sale in 2026.

At first glance of the R2, you might be excused for thinking you’re looking at a Rivian R1S, for both SUVs share a lot of styling details—not just Rivian’s distinctive daylight running lights but also the overall shape of the vehicle. But the new car is shorter in both length (by 15.7 inches/400 mm) and height, and only offers two rows of seating, not three.

Convenience improvements include a pair of gloveboxes under the dashboard and a flashlight that’s stored in the door. At the back, the glass rear window can drop down to allow access to the cargo area. Both rows of seats fold flat, in case you want to camp in your car.

Rivian will build three different powertrain configurations of the R2: a single-motor, rear-wheel drive version, a twin-motor, all-wheel drive model, and a tri-motor option. Scaringe said that all three will have at least 300 miles (482 km) of range. The tri-motor R2 can accelerate from 0–60 mph in under three seconds.

The battery pack uses larger-format 4695 cylindrical cells, and Scaringe says that the R2 will go into production at the company’s first factory in Normal, Illinois. Reservations for the R2 opened today with a $100 deposit. Deliveries are scheduled for the first half of 2026.

  • The Rivian R2 looks a lot like the larger R1S.

    Rivian

  • Rivian says it will save $2.5 billion by starting R2 production in Illinois instead of waiting for the plant in Georgia.

    Rivian

  • A size comparison with the R1S.

    Rivian

  • Here’s the R2 interior

    Rivian

  • The addition of gloveboxes is a welcome touch.

    Rivian

  • The R2’s seats all fold flat.

    Rivian

  • A look at the R2 door cards.

    Rivian

  • The center console has plenty of cubbies.

    Rivian

  • Rivian plans a range of R2 accessories, including a camp kitchen and a tent.

    Rivian

Although details on the R2 had already leaked, the company prevented that from happening for another new model, introduced by Scaringe with a Steve Jobs-like “one more thing…” toward the end of the presentation. In fact, it was two new things: a pair of even smaller electric crossovers called the R3 and R3X.

Like the R2, these two new models use the same new midsize platform (as opposed to the larger platform that underpins the R1S, R1T, and the Rivian Delivery Van). The R3 and R3X keep Rivian’s distinctive light signature but eschew copying the larger SUV’s silhouette for a shape that looks more like a Fiat Panda or Lada Niva, at least to this observer.

The R3 has a wheelbase that is 5 inches (125 mm) shorter than the R2 but will also be offered with the same three choices of powertrains and have more than 300 miles of range. The R3X is much like the R3 but with wheel arch extensions and a rear spoiler.

Like the bigger R1 and R2, the R3 and R3X have a cargo frunk up front. Similar to the R2, the front and rear seats fold flat. The rear hatch glass opens independently of the hatch, which allows you to carry larger payloads.

The R3 and R3X will be built at Rivian’s new factory in Georgia, but for now, we can’t tell you when deliveries will start or how much you’ll have to pay to have one in your driveway or garage.

  • The same adorable face but in a small new package—the Rivian R3.

    Rivian

  • The glass in the hatch opens independently for large loads like a surfboard.

    Rivian

  • I’ll be honest, if Rivian was taking R3 deposits today I’d have sent in my $100.

    Rivian

  • The Rivian R3X is off-road coded.

    Rivian

  • Rivian

  • A look at the Rivian R3 interior.

    Rivian

  • The R3’s back seat will be a bit more cramped than the R2.

    Rivian

  • The R3’s door card, which also has a flashlight stored in it.

    Rivian

  • The R3X interior has the same layout as the R3 but with different materials.

    Rivian

  • The rear seats in the R3 and R3X are split 40: 20: 40.

    Rivian

DC fast-charging for all three models should take under 30 minutes to charge from 10–80 percent, Rivian tells us, and the cars will feature native J3400 charging ports. We also learned that later this month, existing Rivian owners will gain access to the Tesla Supercharger network, although these EVs will need to use a CCS1-J3400 adapter.

“I have never been more excited to launch new products—R2 and R3 are distinctly Rivian in terms of performance, capability and usability yet with pricing that makes them accessible to a lot of people. Our design and engineering teams are extremely focused on driving innovation into not only the product features but also our approach to manufacturing to achieve dramatically lower costs,” said Scaringe. “R2 provides buyers starting in the $45,000 price range with a much-needed choice with a thoroughly developed technology platform that is bursting with personality. I can’t wait to get these to customers.”

Rivian reveals three new, smaller electric SUVs: The R2, R3, and R3X Read More »

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Off-roading EVs find a home at King of the Hammers

Cars, Cybertruck, Electric vehicles, Features, King of the Hammers, off-roading, Rivian / /
A Rivian kicks up sand off-road

Enlarge / EVs are making in-roads at the annual King of the Hammers event in California.

Michael Teo Van Runkle

Electric vehicles are few and far between in the desert at King of the Hammers, a weeks-long off-roading event that often looks more like Burning Man than motorsport. Almost all EVs can be found at the Optima Oasis, a not-so-literal oasis of solar and hydrogen-powered chargers that the battery company erected smack-dab in the middle of nowhere for the past two years.

King of the Hammers takes place in Johnson Valley Off-Highway Vehicle Area, the nation’s largest OHV space by sheer acreage. But the vast expanse, about 100 miles as the crow flies from downtown Los Angeles, turns into a thriving metropolis once a year when a makeshift city dubbed “Hammertown” draws tens of thousands of four-wheeling enthusiasts to the sand and rocks.

I went to check out the festivities—especially the event’s EV-focused Unplugged rally.

Slow charging at King of the Hammers

This year’s attendance peaked at over 100,000, but that full number wasn’t quite present when I drove out on KoH’s first Sunday in an Audi Q8 e-tron to watch trophy trucks race at top speed across the desert. Range anxiety kicked in heavily on my 135-mile (217 km) commute, which included a few thousand vertical feet of climbing to truly test the Audi’s claimed 280 miles (450 km) of electric range.

Charging in the Optima Oasis.

Enlarge / Charging in the Optima Oasis.

Michael Teo Van Runkle

I arrived at the Optima Oasis with 78 miles (126 km) of range remaining and promptly plugged into a Level 2 charger, where I left the Audi charging for the rest of the day. I checked in a few times, noting that the charger, hooked into the KoH grid, managed to pump out an average of about 12 miles (19 km) worth of electrons per hour. At approximately 50 kilowatts, that rate would be enough to get me home later in the evening, but not if I’d been out four-wheeling in the car all day—and that slow rate certainly wouldn’t do the trick for the massive group of EVs that Optima expected later in the week as part of its second Unplugged rally. As the sun went down and I readied myself for the drive home, three massive tractor-trailers arrived with the solar and hydrogen setups to support EV owners for King of the Hammers’ main events.

The following Thursday, I drove back to Johnson Valley in a Ford Bronco Raptor, probably the greatest production vehicle ever built for the desert—if not the most fuel-efficient or eco-friendly. I planned to catch the home-built Every Man Challenge, as well as the most hardcore half-million-dollar-plus Ultra4 race that serves as the main event on the second Saturday. But first, I sheepishly pulled my gas guzzler back into the Optima Oasis to join a growing group of EV enthusiasts milling about the charging stations.

The sun began to warm us, the cars, and two massive solar arrays as more and more EVs pulled in—far more than I expected at an event that tilts heavily toward the joys of internal combustion. We’d definitely need faster chargers than I used on the Audi, I thought. Many owners topped up their batteries, while a team from Morrflate gave out lessons on airing down tires for better traction, a more comfortable ride, and reduced risk of flats while off-roading.

These solar arrays charge batteries in the trailer that can fast-charge four EVs at once.

Enlarge / These solar arrays charge batteries in the trailer that can fast-charge four EVs at once.

Michael Teo Van Runkle

And we needed that lesson, as Optima also chose a much more technical route than I expected—especially considering the smattering of bone-stock Kia and Toyota crossovers throughout the group, some of which wore eco tires or little more than all-seasons. But Rivian R1T and R1S owners made up the majority, and most of the vehicles still rode on factory Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrains. Optima allows plug-in hybrids into the Unplugged rally, too, and I spotted a few Jeep Wrangler 4xes and Toyota Tundra hybrids, plus one Cybertruck brought out for testing by Unplugged Performance.

I’m paranoid, and the weather forecast predicted heavy rain, so I packed my recovery gear and threw in a set of Maxtrax Lite recovery boards, a Yankum rope, and two soft shackles into the back of my borrowed R1T before we left Optima’s home base for the trail run. And not just for the “soft-roader” hybrids—also because I’d never actually driven a Rivian before and didn’t quite know what to expect.

Off-roading EVs find a home at King of the Hammers Read More »