While we couldn’t possibly say what it’s actually worth, burgeoning EV manufacturers have performed incredibly well on the stock market lately. Rivian would almost assuredly see its valuation balloon to the targeted sum through an initial public offering. It already has a product line, 3,600 employees spread between the Midwest and California, some serious marketing under its belt, and a relatively strong relationship with a few of the world’s largest companies. We’ve seen more done with far less on Wall Street.
It also has the right kind of people interested in it — at least that’s how most big investors should feel. Bloomberg noted that Rivian’s last big round of investments included raising $2.65 billion from a team headed by the T. Rowe Price Group.
From Bloomberg:
Rivian also has a deal with Amazon to build 100,000 custom electric delivery vans by 2030. In the near-term, the companies say 10,000 of the vans will be on the road making deliveries by 2022. Rivian will build three different models of the van, which is capable of going about 150 miles on a single charge.
Rivian has a decent chance. I think they already have a few prototype Amazon trucks running around doing Real Work, so that will help their credibility.
One the regular automakers release EV trucks, Rivan is dead in the water.
Oh absolutely. That explains why Porsche and Ford are so far ahead of Tesla and Tesla’s stock has cratered. The legacy automakers are killing these upstart EV companies.
Wait a second….
If Tesla had designed their truck as more conventional pickup like Rivian’s, they would likely be able to destroy Rivian in the market, given Tesla’s access to cells and their powertrain technology.
The ultimate test of any EV is how much the batteries will cost, how long they last, the cost of replacement batteries, and the difficulty of disposing/recycling the spent batteries.
As a resident of California, I’d add the availability of electricity to recharge the batteries, and the cost per kWh, but that’s a whole different discussion.
“how much the batteries will cost”
Definitely, and I’d add in the power density relative to weight. WIth a lighter battery, the car is more efficient and you get better range and shorter full-charge times with a smaller capacity battery. They seem to be making progress on both areas.
“how long they last, the cost of replacement batteries, ”
They’ve made great progress in the lab, but I’m not sure how much of the advances have made it into production. Reading the patents and whitepapers etc, they should be able to produce batteries that outlast the car, but recent real world longevity tests make it unclear if those advances have made it into production vehicles yet. I think they can do it, but when is the question.
” and the difficulty of disposing/recycling the spent batteries.”
It’s not difficult. The materials in the batteries are valuable. There are also aftermarket companies refurbishing packs. Used Tesla packs are in demand and command a high price. Chevy Volt packs are popular within the EV conversion community. The new electrode coating technologies should give us multimillion mile batteries, so we may not need to recycle them for a number of years.
I’m going to add solar and probably a couple of powerwalls. The price has been dropping fast and I get reliable power for the house and the cars. With a gas car, the gas stations depend on electricity for pumps and access by tankers. Home solar or even a solar power/powerwall backed public charging station is more reliable than gas stations. As EVs start gaining market share, in places like California, you’ll start seeing gas stations become less common, so gas cars will start dealing with range anxiety at some point in the future. That gas station off the interstate that you are depending on might not be there anymore when you need it. Especially when the stations realize they can make more money charging that pumping gas and get rid of their pumps.
The Amazon project should give them a nice program to build reliability while monitoring a relatively limited number of fleet locations.