Rivian snags $6.6B conditional federal loan to build Georgia factory

Rivian mentioned late Monday it has secured conditional dedication for a $6.6 billion mortgage from the Division of Power, funds that may assist the EV maker restart development of an enormous manufacturing unit in Georgia.
The funds will come from DOE’s Mortgage Applications Workplace Superior Expertise Automobile Manufacturing Mortgage Program. Rivian mentioned it expects to start operations on the Georgia manufacturing unit in 2028 — 4 years later than initially deliberate. The manufacturing unit will make use of 7,500 folks by the top of 2030, a determine that’s tied to an incentives package deal authorised a number of years in the past by Georgia’s Division of Financial Improvement.
Rivian introduced in December 2021 plans to construct a second manufacturing unit east of Atlanta that the corporate mentioned would have doubled the annual manufacturing capability of its plant in Regular, Illinois, and value an estimated $5 billion to construct. On the time, Rivian mentioned the Georgia manufacturing unit would have a focused annual manufacturing capability of 400,000 autos a 12 months and start manufacturing of its next-generation EVs in 2024. The corporate landed a $1.5 billion incentives package deal to construct manufacturing unit in Georgia, based on paperwork to the state’s Division of Financial Improvement.
Confronted with a money crunch, Rivian paused development on the manufacturing unit and altered plans to construct its next-generation R2 midsize SUV there. As an alternative, Rivian introduced in March 2024 through the R2 reveal that the brand new EV can be produced at its Regular, Illinois, manufacturing unit. That shift was projected to save lots of the corporate $2.25 billion.
A couple of months later, Rivian was awarded $827 million in incentives from the state of Illinois to assist constructing its R2 on the Regular plant.
The federal loans program has supported quite a few corporations in recent times for EV-related initiatives, together with $465 million to Tesla in 2009, a $9.2 billion conditional dedication in June to assist a Ford three way partnership with SK to finance two battery factories in america, and a $2 billion mortgage to assist battery supplies and recycling startup Redwood Supplies finance the expansion and growth of its headquarters in Nevada.