Alongside Amazon, Rivian can now count Ford as one of its backers. The Blue Oval will invest $500 million in Rivian, and will use the company’s
Rivian is working to get an all-electric pickup truck into production, and it’s getting help from the company that makes the best-selling pickup truck of all time: the F-150. Ford will invest $500 million in Rivian, and will use the company’s “skateboard” platform for a future electric vehicle. As part of the deal, Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of automotive, will join Rivian’s board.
Rivian turned heads at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show with its R1T electric pickup truck and R1S electric SUV. Both will be offered with multiple battery-pack options, but the biggest, 180-kilowatt-hour pack will offer 400 miles of range and 700 horsepower, according to Rivian. The company plans to build both vehicles at a former Mitsubishi factory in Normal, Illinois, and deliver the first ones to customers in 2020.
