EV Brief 5/11/21 EV Brief 5/11/21

Ford to reveal all electric F-150 pickup truck on May 19 - updated with Livestream link

You know time are a-changin’ when the best-selling vehicle in the United States ditches its internal combustion engine.

The F-150 Lightning will be revealed May 19 at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn and live-streamed for millions to watch, and will also be presented at 18 key locations for the brand including Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas Boulevard, otherwise known as ‘Las Vegas Strip’.

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You know time are a-changin’ when the best-selling vehicle in the United States ditches its internal combustion engine.

The F-150 Lightning will be revealed on May 19 at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn Michigan via live-stream on YouTube, and will also be presented at 18 key locations for the brand including Times Square in New York City and Las Vegas Boulevard, otherwise known as ‘Las Vegas Strip’.

Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said “Every so often, a new vehicle comes along that disrupts the status quo and changes the game … Model T, Mustang, Prius, Model 3. Now comes the F-150 Lightning. America’s favorite vehicle for nearly half a century is going digital and fully electric. F-150 Lightning can power your home during an outage; it’s even quicker than the original F-150 Lightning performance truck, and it will constantly improve through over-the-air updates.”

Americans love their pickup trucks, and Ford clearly doesn’t want to be left behind the competition, with General Motors planning an electric Chevrolet Silverado, Rivian moving swiftly on the development of their R1T, and Tesla hoping to start production of its Cybertruck this year.

The F-150 Electric will be manufactured at the new Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.

Source: Ford Media

EV Brief 1/22/21 EV Brief 1/22/21

Rivian announces new funding windfall; company valued at $27.6 billion

Rivian has raised USD$2.65 billion as it readies itself for production of the all-electric R1T pickup truck this July.

Rivian closes January 2021 investment round with $2.65 billion

Rivian has raised USD$2.65 billion as it readies itself for production of the all-electric R1T pickup truck this July.

Spearheaded by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc, investors included Fidelity Management and Research Company, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Coatue and D1 Capital Partners as well as “several other existing and new investors” according to Rivian.

Rivian has already raised close to $USD8 billion since early 2019, but as we all know, manufacturing a vehicle is not an inexpensive task. Rivian has spent almost $1 billion on the former Mitsubishi factory in Normal Illinois where it plans to commence manufacturing operations this year. The company plans to produce the R1T Pickup, R1S SUV as well as the Rivian/Amazon delivery van there.

Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe said in a statement “The support and confidence of our investors enables us to remain focused on these launches while simultaneously scaling our business for our next stage of growth,”

According to Chicago Business, a person familiar with the workings of Rivian’s funding said that the company is presently worth around US$27.6 billion. Any suggestions that Rivian might be going public with an IPO sometime soon have been quashed by Scaringe, who stated in the video below that “the company is focused on the product and back-end operations for the next year”, indicating we’re unlikely to see an IPO in the shirt term.

Source: Rivian

EV Brief 10/30/20 EV Brief 10/30/20

Rivian R1T Goes Offroad, Tests Real World Range

Rivian R1T prototypes have covered thousands of miles around the world testing, and production looks set to begin in June 2021. Reporter Emme Hall from Roadshow brings this story from the Californian desert, where Rivian invited journalists on a 5-day offroading adventure.

The test vehicle featured the 135kWh battery, which has a claimed range of 300 miles (644km) but understandably, when running on soft ground, laden with 600 pounds of people and equipement, that quickly drops and Hall estimated the R1T achieved 137 miles of range.

With 826lb-ft (1120Nm) of torque, the R1T is a performance beast, but it also works wonders off road. Hall states “The R1T might not have locking differentials, a two-speed transfer case or any kind of tough-guy wizardry you'd associate with off-road prowess, but none of that matters when you've got an absolute ton of torque. I can slowly pick my line up a steep, rocky hill, never worrying about keeping momentum. The sophisticated traction control system moves the torque where it's needed most, and before I know it, the R1T hits the top of a peak while the Jeeps behind me are still switching into low gear.”