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Rivian has again delayed the first deliveries of its long-awaited electric pickup truck, this time until September. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe broke the news to buyers in an email sent Friday morning.
The Amazon-Ford-backed EV startup originally planned to begin shipping its electric pickup, the R1T, and SUV, the R1S, in 2020. But it scuttled those plans early in the pandemic and told ‘time she would start deliveries in 2021 instead. Rivian finally decided to start R1T deliveries in June of this year, pushing that back to July, and now September.
“We know you can’t wait to get behind the wheel of your vehicle,” Scaringe wrote in the email. “Earlier this summer, we announced that deliveries would begin in July; however, the schedule for the first deliveries of the R1T was postponed to September, the R1S soon after in the fall. I wanted to make sure you heard it directly from me.
Scaringe said that “the cascading impacts of the pandemic have had a greater aggravating effect than expected.”
“Everything from building facilities to installing equipment, supplying vehicle components (especially semiconductors) has been affected by the pandemic,” he wrote. Scaringe also said it was difficult to try and launch the pickup truck, SUV and delivery van being developed with Amazon while building a manufacturing facility in Illinois, calling it “a complex orchestra of development. ” coordinated and interconnected activities where small problems can be reflected. in ramp delays.
Scaringe also faced poor communication with reservation holders. “I have spoken with a number of you and know we need to do a better job of communicating the details of the deliveries. Our guides will continue to reach out to schedule deliveries and will be there for any questions throughout the process, ”he wrote. He promised to give more updates in the coming weeks.
Rivian was founded in 2009, but kept an extremely low profile until 2018 when it presented the R1T and R1S at the Los Angeles auto show. Since then, he has raised an incredible amount of money – over $ 8 billion – from Amazon, Ford and other institutional investors. The company is also working on going public, which would add even more money to its war chest. Its workforce has also grown to more than 7,000 employees, Scaringe said in the email.
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