Why Ford Changed its Plan Regarding Rivian-Powered EV
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley made an interesting comment regarding Rivian. According to Jim Farley, Ford no longer plans to make an electric vehicle with EV startup Rivian. The decision to abandon the project stated above was mutual according to EV startup Rivian.
The Detroit-based company originally announced it wanted to make a Rivian-powered EV in 2019, when Ford made its first investment of $500 million into the startup. Last year, the company founded by Henry Ford and Rivian canceled a vehicle they planned to make for Lincoln.
Ford invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Rivian seven months before it revealed the Mustang Mach-E. This year, the company unveiled the F-150 Lightning. The company achieved great results thanks to those EVs. The company from Detroit already made more than the 50,000 it planned to build in 2021, the first full year of Mustang Mach-E production.
Ford and electric vehicles
The carmaker plans to double the number of EVs it will build globally by the end of 2023 to 600,000. The company also plans to construct two new battery factories in Kentucky and a “mega campus” in Tennessee. Ford’s “mega campus” in Tennessee will build batteries as well as electric vehicles. Ford and other companies are trying to compete with Tesla.
Its partner Rivian, meanwhile, certainly has its hands full. The startup started shipping its R1T electric pickup trucks and is aiming to ship its R1S electric SUVs by the end of 2021. The company is also working on electric delivery vans for e-commerce giant Amazon. The company founded by Jeff Bezos heavily invested in the startup.
Rivian continues to develop its business empire. It recently went public in one of the biggest IPOs ever, raising some $12 billion in the process. Thus, Ford’s 12% stake in Rivian is now worth more than $10 billion.
