Rivian, an electric vehicle startup (EV), has received $500 million in equity investment from Ford Motor Company in order to expand the automotive OEM’s EV push.
As part of the investment, the companies have agreed to work together to develop a next-generation battery EV for Ford’s EV portfolio using Rivian’s skateboard architecture.
The vehicle that will be developed is in addition to Ford’s existing plans to develop a portfolio of battery EVs. Ford is already developing two vehicles that are fully electric as part of a recent $11 billion EV investment and commitment to non-combustion engine vehicles. The two vehicles will be a Mustang-inspired crossover coming in 2020 and a zero-emission version of the F-150 pickup.
Rivian already has two vehicles under development — the five-passenger R1T pickup and seven-passenger R1S SUV — that provide up to 400-plus miles of range and are slated for availability starting in late 2020.
“This strategic partnership marks another key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility,” said RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO, in a statement. “Ford has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, with Bill Ford being one of the industry's earliest advocates, and we are excited to use our technology to get more electric vehicles on the road.”
