Any "March-April" delivery people contacted?

[ksujeff99]

For those of you with March/April deliveries, is that for the launch edition?

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[Matty J]

For those of you with March/April deliveries, is that for the launch edition?

Yes, Launch Edition R1S.

 

[ksujeff99]

Yes, Launch Edition R1S.

Thanks.

I preordered the R1T 1/20/19 and my delivery date is June-July 2022. I wasn't able to move forward with the launch edition over the summer due to circumstances beyond my control, for which I'll be paying her for the next 13 years.

 

[SANZC02]

Thanks.

I preordered the R1T 1/20/19 and my delivery date is June-July 2022. I wasn't able to move forward with the launch edition over the summer due to circumstances beyond my control, for which I'll be paying her for the next 13 years.

That might be a clue for how many LEs are ordered. I have an LE R1S with the June/July 2022 window, interesting to see you have the same R1T window that is not an LE.

 

[Greenwater]

Thats the thing that annoys me about Rivian, I mean if they have parts shortages. They have very low volume and they had a long time to put in advance orders. Manufacturers were ramping up orders over a year ago since the possibility of a sh*tshow for supply chain was obvious back then. There is no way Rivian should be suffering due to supply chain issues if they had competent management.

You'd think with their low volumes they could get say 4k units of every part. But every other car company is facing this and struggling. Tesla seems like they are doing best, and their solution is (1) don't order so many parts, make more yourself, and (2) when you can't get a chip, get another chip and redo the part and software. I think that's a big deal compared to other makers.

 

[SANZC02]

You'd think with their low volumes they could get say 4k units of every part. But every other car company is facing this and struggling. Tesla seems like they are doing best, and their solution is (1) don't order so many parts, make more yourself, and (2) when you can't get a chip, get another chip and redo the part and software. I think that's a big deal compared to other makers.

Although the supply chain has killed the deliveries of the new Model S and Model X for Tesla.

 

[Scoiatael]

I predict we will be at the last week of April and people will be counting down the days until the next delay, just like for the Jan/Feb people.

 

[RWerksman]

I predict we will be at the last week of April and people will be counting down the days until the next delay, just like for the Jan/Feb people.

Baseball. Apple pie. Rock n Roll. Rivian delays.

I feel like we've been doing that since at least May of last year.

June, July, September, November, now February.

 

[SeaGeo]

Baseball. Apple pie. Rock n Roll. Rivian delays.

Oof. The dying sport and music genre. Couldn't you have chosen... curling and folk music or something?

 

[MurryR1T]

March/April timeframe. Launch Edition R1T, I am not expecting my truck before fall 2022 and truly believe it will be later than that

 

[AdamsFan1983]

Thats the thing that annoys me about Rivian, I mean if they have parts shortages. They have very low volume and they had a long time to put in advance orders. Manufacturers were ramping up orders over a year ago since the possibility of a sh*tshow for supply chain was obvious back then. There is no way Rivian should be suffering due to supply chain issues if they had competent management.

This is simply false. Im more than willing to take Rivian to task, but I’m sorry, to say management is inept while every single automotive company deals with the same issues is kind of laughable.

Now I’m sure we can all agree management has screwed the pooch on a variety of issues: investor outreach and squandering the goodwill of pre-order holders with crumby communication. Likewise, I’m sure there have been some execution failures that can and should be laid their feet, (the sexism lawsuit, the turnover in senior leadership re: manufacturing, the poor outreach to their future neighbors in ga).

I’m frustrated too, just not personally going to blame them for things I know to be out of their control.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

You'd think with their low volumes they could get say 4k units of every part. But every other car company is facing this and struggling. Tesla seems like they are doing best, and their solution is (1) don't order so many parts, make more yourself, and (2) when you can't get a chip, get another chip and redo the part and software. I think that's a big deal compared to other makers.

Tell that to model x customers who’ve been Rivianed by tesla for 8 months now. Yes I said it…. I believe I’m the first to make Rivian a verb: (to repeatedly and consistently miss delivery targets that have themselves been pushed back a half a dozen times or more).

 

[Zoidz]

Thats the thing that annoys me about Rivian, I mean if they have parts shortages. They have very low volume and they had a long time to put in advance orders. Manufacturers were ramping up orders over a year ago since the possibility of a sh*tshow for supply chain was obvious back then. There is no way Rivian should be suffering due to supply chain issues if they had competent management.

Your statement indicates you don't understand much about the automotive supply chian process. Not that everyone should, but if you're gonig to criticize and beat up Rivian, you should know the facts and reasons why Rivian (and the rest) are suffering. Some of this IS out of there control DESPITE placing orders YEARS ago.

Since "chips" are the frequent problem, let's use that as an example. First off, everyone assumes it's computer chips/microprocessors that are the problem. Partially, but it's also 50 cent voltage regulators and 1 cent capacitors - identical components used in everything from cars to video games to Keurigs to IV infusion pumps.

A foundry can pump out hundreds of thousands of devices a day. If that foundry shuts down for a week due to COVID, we are talking a shortage of MILLIONS of devices. MILLIONS. Starting to see the problem?

At this time, it appears Rivian is not vertically integrated on circuit board fabrication, although they are doing some of their own design from what I have read. So they are contracting with companies like Foxconn, Infineon, etc. to manage the details of chip and board fab/assembly, etc. For example, 18 months ago, Rivian would have said "Hey Infineon, we need 2,000 TLE984x Smart Lift window controller assembled boards per month starting in July 2021." It's a bit more involved than that, but it works for this discussion. So Infineon builds this into their bulk orders for custom foundry production of the Smart Lift window controller chip, and "off the shelf" components from bulk component suppliers.

But wait - there's a freeze in Texas that shuts down foundries, an earthquake in Japan destroys a foundry that takes 6 months to bring back online, COVID shuts down foundries across the globe creating shortages of TENS OF MILLIONS of "generic" components, and demand increases for electronics because everyone is working from home. Then more COVID shutdowns, etc.

So now, Infineon can't get the TLE984x Smart Lift window controller chip for 5 months, and a voltage regulator shortage causes additional delays once the window chips are avaialble.

This is how it works......... Is this Rivian's fault???? They placed the order 18 months or two years ago.

 

[KiloV]

Tell that to model x customers who’ve been Rivianed by tesla for 8 months now. Yes I said it…. I believe I’m the first to make Rivian a verb: (to repeatedly and consistently miss delivery targets that have themselves been pushed back a half a dozen times or more).

Come on, now. Rivian hasn't been good at communications and I wish they were moving more quickly at producing vehicles (bring me my damn truck!), but they haven't pushed back delivery targets a half dozen times. Here's the actual history:
1. Rivian announced in late 2018 that they intended to "start production" of vehicles in Dec 2020.
2. They announced, due to the pandemic and supply chain issues, that they would be slipping the start of production to Jul 2021.
3. They announced that the Jul 2021 start date for production would slide to Sep 2021. For my money, sliding the start of production 9 months due to the pandemic and associated problems isn't a big deal.
4. As far as I know, the first people that were disappointed by actual delivery window estimate slippage were a handful of people who were told that they could expect delivery in Oct/Nov. Those handful of people were slipped to Jan/Feb. Most of them, as far as I know, haven't received their trucks yet. Those people have a reason to be a bit bent out of shape.
5. The rest of us (starting with the Mar/Apr crowd) haven't missed our estimated delivery windows by even a single day...yet.
6. Are some of us going to experience delays? I'd bet some pretty good money that we are. And we should all feel free to be annoyed when that happens. But let's not engage in revisionist history.

 

[IlliniRivian]

Your statement indicates you don't understand much about the automotive supply chian process. Not that everyone should, but if you're gonig to criticize and beat up Rivian, you should know the facts and reasons why Rivian (and the rest) are suffering. Some of this IS out of there control DESPITE placing orders YEARS ago.

Since "chips" are the frequent problem, let's use that as an example. First off, everyone assumes it's computer chips/microprocessors that are the problem. Partially, but it's also 50 cent voltage regulators and 1 cent capacitors - identical components used in everything from cars to video games to Keurigs to IV infusion pumps.

A foundry can pump out hundreds of thousands of devices a day. If that foundry shuts down for a week due to COVID, we are talking a shortage of MILLIONS of devices. MILLIONS. Starting to see the problem?

At this time, it appears Rivian is not vertically integrated on circuit board fabrication, although they are doing some of their own design from what I have read. So they are contracting with companies like Foxconn, Infineon, etc. to manage the details of chip and board fab/assembly, etc. For example, 18 months ago, Rivian would have said "Hey Infineon, we need 2,000 TLE984x Smart Lift window controller assembled boards per month starting in July 2021." It's a bit more involved than that, but it works for this discussion. So Infineon builds this into their bulk orders for custom foundry production of the Smart Lift window controller chip, and "off the shelf" components from bulk component suppliers.

But wait - there's a freeze in Texas that shuts down foundries, an earthquake in Japan destroys a foundry that takes 6 months to bring back online, COVID shuts down foundries across the globe creating shortages of TENS OF MILLIONS of "generic" components, and demand increases for electronics because everyone is working from home. Then more COVID shutdowns, etc.

So now, Infineon can't get the TLE984x Smart Lift window controller chip for 5 months, and a voltage regulator shortage causes additional delays once the window chips are avaialble.

This is how it works......... Is this Rivian's fault???? They placed the order 18 months or two years ago.

I will grant that the scenario you describe is not Rivian's fault but missing your own delivery dates again and again is Rivian's fault at a certain point. No one but Rivian made those projections and forecasts. And, more importantly, the communication failures and basic customer interactions are in Rivian's control and it is worse at those today than it was last summer when it acknowledged its failures and said it would improve.

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