Michigan-based Rivian will open its all-electric ute and SUV configuration page for pre-order customers on Monday (US time), and for new customers the following Monday, CEO RJ Scaringe has confirmed.
It will sell its all-electric R1T ute (known as a pickup in the US) and R1S SUV for less than previously thought, but will first launch a more expensive “First Edition” version of each which it will start delivering in June 2021 for the R1T and August 2021 for the R1S.
The company first shot into the electric vehicle arena in 2018 when it wowed crowds with its R1T ute and R1S SUV at the LA Auto Show.
Since then the company has also caught the attention (and cash) of numerous big name investors, including Amazon, Ford, and Cox Automotive to the tune of more than $A2.2 billion.
Both vehicles are of particular interest to Australia, which has been pegged as a “key market” by the company.
In particular the R1T ute will likely appeal to weekend warriors who want to be able to take their EVs off road (and any doubts of its capability to do this were put to rest in the recent Apple series “Long Way Up”).
While the EV start-up originally envisioned a late 2020 start for US deliveries, like many things in 2020 due to the pandemic this was delayed.
But now, Rivian are making moves to bring their highly anticipated (and equally fitted out – the top-end variants will reportedly deliver almost 700km driving range) electric vehicles to market.
In a Saturday tweet, Rivian boss RJ Scaringe said that, “Our configurator is going live on November 16th for preorder holders!”
The entrepreneur obviously has his own one on order too, adding that in terms of colour preferences, “My kids want blue.”
Our configurator is going live on November 16th for preorder holders! My kids want blue. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/YP9MWoAKep
— RJ Scaringe (@RJScaringe) November 13, 2020
The company’s Twitter account had previously noted the configurator page launch date, noting details about updated pricing as well as a “Launch Edition” were also available on its website.
Those checking the details found a nice surprise: the R1T and R1S will both cost less than previously announced by the company.
Instead of the mid-range R1T costing $US69,000 ($A94,620 converted) and the mid-range R1S priced at $US72,000 ($A98,730 converted), the respective pricing now starts at $US67,500 ($A92,559 converted) and $US70,000 ($A95,987 converted) respectively.
Both of these will offer up to 480km driving range, although a higher-specc’d 643km range model will be launched in January 2022.
Rivian says on its website that it is also working on a seven-seater version of the long-range model, and will also be offering a shorter-range entry-level variant with about 400km driving range around the same time.
For those who select the Launch Edition will shell out slightly more – $US75,000, or $A102,840 converted for the R1T and $US77,500, or $A106,272 converted for the R1S.
An “adventure package” variant (which is an inclusion of the launch edition) costs the same and will be available outside of the launch edition from January 2022.
The adventure variant comes with upgrades that make it a true off-road machine, such as underbody protection on-board air compressor, a powered tonneau cover, and remote gear guard monitoring.
Both vehicles will be available in a big range of colours, too. According to a post by Rivian, there will be ten colour options including forest green, launch green, rivian blue, glacier white, red canyon, limestone, midnight back, L.A Silver, compass yellow, and “el cap” granite.
The company has also announced a date for the start of Canadian deliveries in November 2021, but sadly no timeline yet for Australia – we will keep you posted.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.