American EV startup Rivian is on track to become profitable by the second half of 2024, according to the company’s Chief Financial Officer Claire Rauh McDonough, who spoke at last week’s Bank of America Securities Summit, cited by Rivian Updates on Twitter.
Rivian’s CFO didn’t stop here, though, and added that the American electric carmaker aims to build 85,000 R1 vehicles next year, which is more than three times the number of EVs it made in 2022 as a whole (R1S, R1T, and Electric Delivery Van combined). This substantial ramp-up in production will go towards the backlog of orders it has amassed after the price increase in March, which extends “well into 2024.”
Regarding orders made before the March price bumps, Rivian anticipates that it will build and deliver all the necessary vehicles by mid-2023.
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However, some of the more important statements were made about the upcoming second-generation platform known as R2, which is expected to underpin several smaller and more affordable models.
Claire Rauh McDonough said that Rivian anticipates a start of production for this platform as early as 2025-2026, with the aim to manufacture 200,000 R2 vehicles during 2026 and 400,000 units after that.
Employing a tactic similar to that used by Tesla in the beginning, the R2 models are expected to be much cheaper than the current R1 vehicles, with a price point in the same neighborhood as the Tesla Model Y, so around $40,000 for a base trim. With this kind of MSRP (which hasn’t been confirmed yet), Rivian expects the R2 to be both a volume seller and a global vehicle, meaning that the American EV brand will finally expand to markets outside the US, with Europe most probably being the first in line, considering Rivian recently started to look for service workers in Germany.
With all this being said however, the Electric Delivery Vans (EDVs) made for Amazon are among the priorities list at the moment, besides ramping up R1 production, with the work vehicles being the first in line to get the brand’s Enduro electric motors over the dual-motor R1 models.
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Production of the EDV was even put on pause in the first quarter of 2023 because Rivian upgraded it with its new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack and the Enduro motor that was developed in-house. As a reminder, there are currently around 3,000 Rivian-made Amazon electric vans making deliveries across the United States.
Regarding the expansion of its so-called Adventure Network of DC fast chargers, Rivian plans on joining the Federal Charging Fund to rapidly expand the number of chargers, but by accessing the federal funds, the American EV manufacturer has to open up its network to all brands of EVs, similar to what Tesla did with the Magic Dock-equipped Superchargers. But considering the Rivian Adventure Network now has roughly 20 locations across the United States (with more billed as coming soon), it might be the smart thing to do.
As always, we’d like to know what you think about this, so head over to the comments section below and tell us your thoughts on Rivian’s plans.
