American EV workhorse startup Rivian is back in the automotive news this month. And the news is good for buyers waiting to pick up a U.S.-made next-gen-powertrain pickup: the company’s R1T truck will soon be delivered, and a new service center headquarters is in the making.
We first met the attractive 21st-century working-class hero back in 2018; at the time, first deliveries were scheduled for 2020. Ah, the innocence. Like most EV startups, things took a bit longer than expected.
But the wait was worth it from the outset. The company’s design was compelling; lacking the macho pretentions of the usual Freudian compensatory four-wheeler, the R1T comes off as a quiet warrior, entirely capable and perhaps bulletproof. Here’s hoping the ownership experience reflects this impression.
Rivian gave the world an update on the R1T this summer, giving their brand an exposure boost while revealing a few nifty new features of the vehicle that hammered home the brainy utilitarianism expressed in the design. Among them: a hideaway kitchen, part of Rivian’s ‘Camp Kitchen x Snow Peak’ package option.
Now the company is talking deliveries — full federal regulatory approval secured — and the building of a nearly $5 million service support site in its home state of Michigan. The range of the R1T is going to be around 300 miles in the first flush of production; not quite the 400 hoped for in 2018, but plenty respectable.
And, what of Rivian’s R1S, one of the best-looking SUEV to appear to date? It is slated for an inaugural production model year of 2022.
