The electric vehicle (EV) battle is here. This year alone, nearly every major automaker has publicly announced plans for some degree of electrification, and several new models have hit the market. Fully electric pickup trucks haven’t yet hit the streets, but it appears that an unlikely frontrunner will be first to market. Rivian, a well-funded startup that counts Ford Motor Company and Amazon among its backers, will deliver its R1T pickup by September of this year, according to a letter written by CEO R.J. Scaringe and obtained by Electrek.
Rivian initially expected to deliver the trucks in early summer 2021, but growing pains for the new company and a brutal global pandemic caused it to shift its target delivery date to September. Thankfully for pre-order holders, it appears that the automaker will meet that goal.
In the letter, Scaringe described the quality and testing processes Rivian has implemented in five key areas: stamping, body, paint, assembly, and propulsion. He noted that many vehicles caught on camera testing on public roads were part of Rivian’s non-customer build phases to validate processes and accumulate mileage to refine the product.
Scaringe also delivered some exciting news to hopeful Rivian reservation holders. He noted that Rivian has started production and said that the vehicles meet quality and design refinement standards. Lastly, he stated that Rivian is “currently working with various governing agencies on the final approvals needed for us to make the first deliveries to pre-order customers in September.”
As Electrek points out, it sounds like the automaker is waiting on approval from the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration before deliveries can start. Service for delivered vehicles is also a concern, and to address that, Scaringe listed five service centers that are currently open and said that more would come. Rivian Service Centers are currently open in:
The automaker plans to open over 100 centers by the end of 2023 and employ a fleet of mobile service vans to perform onsite customer vehicle repairs. The CEO’s letter also addressed charging, stating that the company’s goal of more than 3,500 DC chargers and 10,000 waypoint chargers relies on finding “great locations.” Scaringe promised that more chargers would pop up in the coming months and said that the effort would accelerate rapidly by the end of 2021.
Electrek is the source of information for this article. It was accurate on August 26, 2021, but it may have changed since that date.
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