Navigating the EV Shift: A Rivian Perspective

CALSTART is a North American non-profit organisation helping to drive the advancement of clean transportation, with a focus both on the U.S., and on a global scale through its ‘Drive to Zero’ initiative, in which countries, regions, and businesses have signed a pledge to make zero-emission technology the dominant propulsion method for commercial vehicles.

CALSTART is also one of the partners of this year’s World EV Day™, the internationally recognised day that looks to underline a positive narrative about how EVs are better than their internal combustion engined counterparts: better to drive, better for affordability, and of course, better for the planet. With Rivian one of CALSTART’s members, let’s take a closer look at how pure EV player Rivian is navigating the zero-emission transition.

Rivian is a fairly new name within the automotive space, having only been founded in 2009, with its first model, the R1T electric truck, beginning with customer deliveries back in late 2021. That was joined soon after by the R1S, an electric SUV based on the same platform. Rivian’s investment on the commercial side is also significant with its Electric Delivery Van (EDV), with initial investor Amazon already operating over 20,000 EDVs in its fleet. These three EVs are currently built in the USA at its Normal, Illinois plant.