Rivian has made history as one of the first automaker to produce an electric pickup truck commercially. The American EV company rolled off its first R1T truck meant for a paying customer in its Normal, Illinois plant.
This pivotal moment came after Rivian delayed the release to September, but it appears it has sorted out all the issues.
CEO RJ Scaringe shared an image of the truck moving down the production line to the cheers of many company employees on Twitter.
“After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning, our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal! Our team’s collective efforts have made this moment possible. Can’t wait to get these into the hands of our customers!”
The company has had a few busy weeks leading to this event as it races to get ready for customer deliveries and, at the same time, make electric vans for Amazon. The online retail giant, an investor in Rivian, has an order for 100,000 electric vans to make deliveries. Rivian has been operating two production lines for its own truck and SUV and Amazon’s vans.
With the Launch Edition of the electric truck officially in production, Rivian is solidifying its position in the global EV industry, joining the likes of Tesla. The R1S SUV will come later this year, followed by more trims of the truck and SUV next year.
Rivian is back by many big names in tech, including Amazon and Ford. It has attracted $10 billion in funding as it marched towards full production. Rivian spent about a decade quietly working on its models before making a splash in the news cycle.
The R1T and R1S are marketed towards adventurers, and Rivian plans to install EV chargers in remote locations where adventurers like to go.
Specs of the R1T Launch Edition include a 314-mile range as certified by the EPA, 0 to 60 mph acceleration in 3 seconds, quad-motor all-wheel drive, towing capacity of up to 11,000 pounds, etc.
Other companies working on their electric pickup trucks include Tesla with its Cybertruck, Ford with its F-150 Lightning, GMC Hummer EV truck.