Rivian’s Quest to Build the Ultimate Truck Burns Through Billions - Losing $33,000 per truck

[RickLightning]

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[astricklin]

Tesla lost money for years and look where they are now. As long as there are investors willing to keep the money flowing, hopefully Rivian will be successful.

 

[brtnstrns]

Yeah this article seems to be a continuation of the current trend in (*cough*Murdoch*cough*) media to make people doubt the viability of EVs while their popularity accelerates beyond what anyone expected a decade ago.

Tire tread wear. Brake dust pollution. Battery replacement costs. Running out of juice in the middle of nowhere. Investment losses. Power grid reliability. Blah blah blah FUD. Sorry doubtful folks, EVs aren’t going to die out.

 

[stevey_frac]

Ya, it's the same deal with the Lightning. Yes, the EV division is losing money... But it's also investing in multiple engineering efforts to design and build multiple EVs, constructing multiple battery plants, and expanding production capacity like crazy. Yes, of course in those settings, the division is losing money. It's made investments that haven't yet gotten a return...

 

[sotek2345]

Tesla lost money for years and look where they are now. As long as there are investors willing to keep the money flowing, hopefully Rivian will be successful.

I suspect Bezos will keep it going as long as needed, just to keep competing with Tesla.

 

[F150ROD]

I think the biggest difference is Tesla has a cult that will not move to another EV brand no matter what. Rivian I suspect doesn’t have a cult or has owners who dislike Musk but won’t be trading in their Rivian because the new one now has black trim around the windows. Just my guess….

Same with all other manufacturers

 

[invertedspear]

Rivian is paving the way for EV RVs. Not sure if that's their plan or not, but they are. The EDV is a great base for a Class-B, and as they prove things out in the passenger side, we'll see those lines come together for some seriously cool RV vans. I'm sure they're going to continue to burn through cash to get there, but I'm really looking forward to seeing where that goes.

 

[hturnerfamily]

maybe, but the numbers of RVs PALE in great comparison to everyday vehicles... any 'rv' would likely be a base battery chassis, sold to others, in the Elkhart area, who then 'upfit' that into an 'rv'...

 

[RaptorEV]

When I test drove a new Lightning, the Ford dealer had a Rivian truck with 8K miles on it (taken in on trade I think). I test drove the Rivian too. It felt like a kit car, or some sort of Beta test vehicle. It's a cool design, no doubt. But the quality felt lacking. Also, several of the moving parts were all messed up, including the bed locker cover that refused to latch. The young salesman was a real big boy, and he jumped up and down on it trying to get it to latch, no dice. Also, the cover on the steering wheel was coming apart on the back side seams. It drives nicely, but it's a lot smaller than I expected, esp. the back seat, and it just did not inspire confidence that it would be reliable. It was a hard pass.

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