Rivian releases progress update with look at electric pickup prototypes, production, and more

Rivian has released a new progress update with a look at electric pickup prototypes, production images, and more.

We have been reporting a lot about Rivian’s production over the last few months in anticipation of delays following the pandemic.

At one point, Rivian was on track to beat everyone to market with an electric pickup truck a full year before the competition.

Last month, they confirmed that the Rivian R1T is not going to make it to market until June 2021.

Nonetheless, it could be the first electric pickup to make it to market as it already started pre-production last month.

Now Rivian has shared a new “progress update” of the road to full production at their factory in Normal, Illinois:

The video gives us the best look we’ve seen at the electric vehicle factory that once was a Mitsubishi plant producing gasoline vehicles.

They shared some interesting images of the production – including the “marriage of the chassis with the battery pack:

We also get a look at Rivian’s drivetrain for the R1T electric SUV:

The video is showing some great progress at the plant, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

CEO RJ Scaringe said that they still need to build the body manufacturing line, which is expected to be done this fall.

The general assembly line also needs to be built and they need to install about 500 robots.

Rivian is expected to update the specs of the R1T closer to production but based on the specs released at the launch in 2018, the R1T is equipped with 4 electric motors, each with a 147 kW power capacity at the wheel, while the total power output can be configured to different levels from 300 kW to 562 kW (input to gearbox).

The different power levels match different choices of battery packs, which is another impressive feature since they have the highest capacity of any other passenger electric vehicle out there: 105 kWh, 135 kWh, and 180 kWh.

Rivian says that it will translate to “230+ miles, 300+ miles, and 400+ miles” of range on a full charge.

They’re talking about a charge rate of up to 160 kW at fast-charging stations and an 11-kW onboard charger for level 2 charging.

It has a towing capacity with a trailer weight rating of 5,000 kg – that’s 11,000 lbs.

Rivian announced that the vehicle will start at $69,000 before incentives, but after Tesla announced the Cybertruck with similar specs for much cheaper, the company said it will lower its price.

A final price is also expected closer to production next year.