- Rivian applied for a federal loan to help build a factory in Georgia
- The loan application indicates the production facility would begin operations in late 2027
- The smaller Rivian R2 and R3 SUVs are to be built at the Georgia facility
Rivian has applied for a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund construction of its paused Georgia factory, Reuters reports.
In the loan filing, Rivian calls for plans to begin partial operations at the factory in the third quarter of 2027, and to have the first "production capacity block" fully operational in 2028. Situated east of Atlanta, the facility is Rivian's second assembly plant. All Rivian EVs currently are assembled at a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois.
Rivian R2
When Rivian announced the $5 billion Georgia factory in 2021 the automaker said it would begin construction in 2022. The goal was to start vehicle production by 2024.
Rivian has since paused construction, opting to use production capacity in the current Normal plant to produce the $45,000 R2 electric SUV alongside current models. The automaker expects this move to save $2.25 billion while speeding up the R2's launch, according to Reuters.
Scheduled to launch in 2026, the R2 is forecast to substantially increase Rivian's production volume. The automaker said in May that it planned to build 155,000 R2s annually in Normal, which by itself would be more vehicles than Rivian has delivered cumulatively since its first customer vehicles arrived in fall 2021. With its other models—the R1T pickup truck, R1S SUV, and EDV van—Rivian expects to be making 215,000 vehicles at Normal annually by 2026, up from 57,232 in 2023.
Rivian R3X
The increase in production capacity will be funded in part by an $827 million incentive package from the State of Illinois, Reuters reports. Rivian said in 2022 that it had secured $1.5 billion in state and local incentives for the Georgia factory, although tax breaks that were part of that incentive package were later challenged.
With R2 production moving to Normal, the Rivian R3 and R3X may end up being built in Georgia. Rivian hasn't set a firm timeline for these models; CEO RJ Scaringe has only said the automaker will launch them "as soon as we possibly can" after the R2, with the sportier R3X arriving first.