Electric truck launch announces $ 700 million funding round led by Amazon
On Friday, the Rivian electric car illuminated a $ 700 million funding round led by Amazon. The announcement is remarkable, not only for the size of the investment, but also because of Amazon's commitment.
The e-commerce giant has made a number of investments in mobility, and electric trucks and SUVs such as the Rivian debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November could help the company further its ambitions in that regard.
Rivian's R1[ads1]T pickup and R1S SUV made a splash at their announcement. The startup is seen as a potential competitor to Tesla, who has promised to develop an all-electric pickup truck in the future. Rivian's trucks are expected to be pricy: start-up takes precedents, and in November, it said that when R1T and R1S go on sale at the end of 2020, they start at $ 61,500 and $ 65,000 after ] $ 7,500 IRS tax credit . (Rivian has not sold any trucks to date, so vehicles from this company will still be eligible for full electric vehicle tax. The full tax credit begins to phase out after a company has sold more than 200,000 electric vehicles.) [19659004] Part of the attention that Rivian has attracted comes from the extraordinary area that truck and SUV are said to have. The most expensive version of these vehicles is claimed to have an area of 400 kilometers.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Amazon and General Motors both expected to invest in Rivian, "in a deal that would appreciate the US electric pickup truck manufacturer between $ 1 billion and $ 2 billion." According to Bloomberg on Friday, Rivian continues In talks with GM, but with the $ 700 million funding round, Michigan-based startups have now increased $ 1.15 billion. GM seems to either invest or otherwise collaborate with Rivian.
CEO of Rivian R.J. Scaringe said the company "will bring on more partners, but less because of the main reasons and more because of a need to have strategic relationships that we scale against our broader vision," by Bloomberg.
