Sponsored

Administrator

Administrator
Joined
Nov 26, 2018
Threads
360
Messages
1,368
Reaction score
4,620
Location
Rivianforums.com
Vehicles
Rivian
Clubs
 
Rivian in talks for $5 billion Texas plant
A site near Fort Worth is the front-runner among other states and cities under consideration for the company's second U.S. plant.

August 11, 2021

Rivian Automotive Inc., the EV startup backed by Amazon Inc. and Ford Motor Co., is in talks to invest at least $5 billion to build a factory near Fort Worth, Texas, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News.

The factory -- codenamed “Project Tera” according to the document -- will be able to produce 200,000 vehicles a year, and will create at least 7,500 jobs by 2027. The presentation, made by the City of Fort Worth’s Economic Development Department to the City Council and dated Aug. 10, also includes a number of incentives including grants and county tax abatement of up to $440 million.

The $5 billion capital investment commitment from Rivian includes a minimum $2 billion in real property improvements and $1.6 billion in hard construction costs, the document shows. The company has committed to completing its initial investments by the end of 2024.

While a number of states and cities are still under consideration, the Texas site has become the front-runner for Rivian, according to people familiar with the matter. Rivian, and in particular CEO R.J. Scaringe, had previously been keen on a location in Arizona but concerns were raised around the available infrastructure, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

No final decision has been made and it could be some weeks before a deal is agreed with one of the cities or states, the people said.

Robert Sturns, the director of economic development for Fort Worth, said in an email that the city is “very excited to be a finalist for this project and looks forward to continuing the process.”
Sturns told members of the City Council during a presentation on Tuesday that several states were still under consideration by Rivian. The City of Fort Worth believes it offers a number of competitive advantages, including strong access to talent and the “ability to stand up production fast” it said in the document.

Texas, with its growing tech economy, access to ports and proximity to suppliers in Mexico. has caused some to call it the Detroit of the south. Toyota Motor Corp.’s North American headquarters are in Plano, and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. is building a new vehicle factory in Austin that is slated to be completed later this year.

Rivian didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Irvine, Calif.-based automaker is at the head of a large pool of EV startups trying to catch up with Tesla. The company has caught attention with its planned battery-electric pickup and SUV and a deal to build Amazon 100,000 electric delivery vans by the end of the decade.

It has raised more than $10.5 billion from a stellar list of investors including Ford and T. Rowe Price. The company already operates a factory in Normal, Ill., but recently delayed the start of production on its debut EV due to supply-chain disruptions.

The proposed 2,000-acre Walsh Ranch site in Texas is located 12 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth and on completion the plant would include 12 million square feet of vertical construction. Rivian will ensure minimum average annual salaries of $56,000, according to the document.
Sponsored

 

AdamsFan1983

Well-Known Member
First Name
Silence Dogood
Joined
Jun 22, 2021
Threads
73
Messages
1,063
Reaction score
3,821
Location
Pennsylvania
Vehicles
Rivian R1T LE in GW
Occupation
Public Relations
Rivian in talks for $5 billion Texas plant
A site near Fort Worth is the front-runner among other states and cities under consideration for the company's second U.S. plant.

August 11, 2021

Rivian Automotive Inc., the EV startup backed by Amazon Inc. and Ford Motor Co., is in talks to invest at least $5 billion to build a factory near Fort Worth, Texas, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News.

The factory -- codenamed “Project Tera” according to the document -- will be able to produce 200,000 vehicles a year, and will create at least 7,500 jobs by 2027. The presentation, made by the City of Fort Worth’s Economic Development Department to the City Council and dated Aug. 10, also includes a number of incentives including grants and county tax abatement of up to $440 million.

The $5 billion capital investment commitment from Rivian includes a minimum $2 billion in real property improvements and $1.6 billion in hard construction costs, the document shows. The company has committed to completing its initial investments by the end of 2024.

While a number of states and cities are still under consideration, the Texas site has become the front-runner for Rivian, according to people familiar with the matter. Rivian, and in particular CEO R.J. Scaringe, had previously been keen on a location in Arizona but concerns were raised around the available infrastructure, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

No final decision has been made and it could be some weeks before a deal is agreed with one of the cities or states, the people said.

Robert Sturns, the director of economic development for Fort Worth, said in an email that the city is “very excited to be a finalist for this project and looks forward to continuing the process.”
Sturns told members of the City Council during a presentation on Tuesday that several states were still under consideration by Rivian. The City of Fort Worth believes it offers a number of competitive advantages, including strong access to talent and the “ability to stand up production fast” it said in the document.

Texas, with its growing tech economy, access to ports and proximity to suppliers in Mexico. has caused some to call it the Detroit of the south. Toyota Motor Corp.’s North American headquarters are in Plano, and Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. is building a new vehicle factory in Austin that is slated to be completed later this year.

Rivian didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Irvine, Calif.-based automaker is at the head of a large pool of EV startups trying to catch up with Tesla. The company has caught attention with its planned battery-electric pickup and SUV and a deal to build Amazon 100,000 electric delivery vans by the end of the decade.

It has raised more than $10.5 billion from a stellar list of investors including Ford and T. Rowe Price. The company already operates a factory in Normal, Ill., but recently delayed the start of production on its debut EV due to supply-chain disruptions.

The proposed 2,000-acre Walsh Ranch site in Texas is located 12 miles southwest of downtown Fort Worth and on completion the plant would include 12 million square feet of vertical construction. Rivian will ensure minimum average annual salaries of $56,000, according to the document.
Ironic that a company whose entire business model is entirely dependent on a robust and well managed electric grid would locate itself in Texas, famous, for well, definately not those things.....
 

Sully151

Well-Known Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Threads
17
Messages
468
Reaction score
1,211
Location
Santa Margarita
Vehicles
2008 Jeep JkU
Occupation
Theater arts
Kind of funny that a state historically know for Big Oil, and more recently for its power outage issues is going all in on EV manufacturing.

Low taxes for the win, I suppose.
 

TXKidd

Well-Known Member
First Name
Harrison
Joined
May 28, 2019
Threads
0
Messages
145
Reaction score
243
Location
Dallas, TX
Vehicles
Model Y, R1T pre-order
Copied over from the other similar post:

This would be awesome if it actually happens. Bet they would also really enjoy building a bunch for Texans there, and then shipping them out of state to be able to sell them here ?.
 

E.S.

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2021
Threads
4
Messages
825
Reaction score
1,057
Location
Florida
Vehicles
Chevy Bolt
Occupation
Retired
Hmm, wasn't this supposed to originally go to Arizona? I guess the abundant dry heat there made it a consistent issue?
 

Sponsored

electruck

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Threads
74
Messages
4,155
Reaction score
7,728
Location
Dallas, TX
Vehicles
2023 Rivian R1S
Hmm, wasn't this supposed to originally go to Arizona? I guess the abundant dry heat there made it a consistent issue?
Multiple sites still in contention, no decision has been made. And, according to the article above, there appear to be concerns about available infrastructure in AZ.
 

E.S.

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2021
Threads
4
Messages
825
Reaction score
1,057
Location
Florida
Vehicles
Chevy Bolt
Occupation
Retired
Multiple sites still in contention, no decision has been made. And, according to the article above, there appear to be concerns about available infrastructure in AZ.

Not just infrastructure, but I do recall hearing there was issues regarding having a consistent and ABUNDANT water supply being just as problematic, but I would have thought them being so close to the sea and Texas, it could have been addressed. I guess it wasn't feasible enough.
 

electruck

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2019
Threads
74
Messages
4,155
Reaction score
7,728
Location
Dallas, TX
Vehicles
2023 Rivian R1S
Not just infrastructure, but I do recall hearing there was issues regarding having a consistent and ABUNDANT water supply being just as problematic, but I would have thought them being so close to the sea and Texas, it could have been addressed. I guess it wasn't feasible enough.
that would qualify as infrastructure concerns.
 

crashmtb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
4,725
Reaction score
7,238
Location
Man oh Manitoba
Vehicles
2002 aluminium garden shed TD5
Seems more likely to be in GA than TX.
 

Sponsored

Autolycus

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 2, 2021
Threads
15
Messages
2,234
Reaction score
3,430
Location
ATL
Vehicles
ICE only :(
Not just infrastructure, but I do recall hearing there was issues regarding having a consistent and ABUNDANT water supply being just as problematic, but I would have thought them being so close to the sea and Texas, it could have been addressed. I guess it wasn't feasible enough.
Well, if they need abundant water, they can't do much better than the site that Georgia is reportedly offering. It's literally in an area close to the Atlantic, a decent-sized river, and a very large swamp.
 

echerod

Well-Known Member
First Name
Rodolfo
Joined
Mar 23, 2021
Threads
50
Messages
204
Reaction score
422
Location
Costa Rica
Vehicles
Rivian R1S, Tesla Model 3, BMW i3
Occupation
Finance


Well, it looks Elon's not a true believer...
 

crashmtb

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2021
Threads
1
Messages
4,725
Reaction score
7,238
Location
Man oh Manitoba
Vehicles
2002 aluminium garden shed TD5


Well, it looks Elon's not a true believer...
Elon didn’t believe all the mfg people who told him it’s very difficult to build cars at scale. Rivian’s CEO has a doctorate in “making cars is hard” ?
 

CarterGee

Well-Known Member
First Name
Carter
Joined
Jan 12, 2020
Threads
8
Messages
123
Reaction score
914
Location
San Francisco
Vehicles
Toyota 4Runner Limited '16
[Crossposting from Reddit because I hate this so much]

This is extremely annoying IMHO. Elon says he's here for other EV manufacturers, but we really only see him being snarky on Twitter about how he accomplished the impossible or trash talking. Whatever. Putting Elon out of the way for a second...

Rivian likely has preorders to tide them over for at least two years as well as a contract to deliver 100k Amazon vans. Their runway for the next, let's say, 4 years is pretty clear allowing them to identify when they'll reach capacity of their current plant. We should also remember Rivian isn't public, so we don't know how many more commercial vans they'll make, their future vehicle plans, or, again, their reservations. Maybe they know when they'll hit capacity within a certain confidence interval and this second plant is necessary to meet demand. <--- that's very likely to be the case. It's not as easy to say, "Ah right, in the last investor meeting we know that Tesla needs another factory to build the Model Y," which can create some frustration from those watching, but you'll get that when they IPO :)

Factories take an extremely long time and this article is saying they're looking at places to expand. They haven't even made a commitment yet. But they have raised investor money to build plants so they should like... probably explore... how they spend... those billions... Tesla's first factory opened in 2010 with their second in 2014. We're probably looking at a similar timeline here with how long construction takes. (Again, ugh I hate Elon's persona so much) For those saying, "They should iron out everything before building something new!" They will. There's a lot to do before the robots start screwing screws.
Sponsored

 
 








Top