Rivian Gets $6.6B DOE Loan Commitment for Georgia Plant Construction

[Bullwinkle]

I'm happy for Rivian, but as a taxpayer I get really sick of corporate welfare (sorry, the rates & terms are exactly that). This announcement together with the $8 billion Intel gift means taxpayers lose again. At BH's 2023 annual meeting Warren Buffett stated S & P 500 tax credits now exceed the gross tax receipts paid by individuals (which is $2.2 trillion). China says it is why they subsidize their exports. Trying to compete with US corporate tax credits. Believe that or not, but the practice is WAY out of hand.

China would be lying about their motivation. Everything in Walmart and Target is Chinese because they subsidized their factories at the peril of US manufacturing in 80s and 90s. Most solar panels are made in China now because of subsidies. Low wages, subsidies, subpar safety and environmental regulations--we couldn't compete because it was not a level playing field.

Now they are trying to win the EV, battery, and semiconductor businesses with the same dirty tricks. We will not only lose the factories and jobs when this happens, we lose the R&D expertise and the technology.

I understand the laissez faire sentiment, but in this case it is short sighted. If we give China these key 21st century industries, the US economy will suffer as will our kids and grand kids. The poorly named Inflation Reduction Act is brilliant legislation and helps put the US on equal footing.

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[Dave Cundiff]

I'm not unhappy about subsidized grants or loans, provided (1) they relate to objectives needed for the common good; (2) they're actually designed and operated to achieve those objectives; (3) the objectives are unlikely to be met in a timely way by market forces alone; (4) the recipients are chosen by a reasonably fair method; (5) the amount of the subsidy is reasonably proportional to the public benefit; and (6) the program is re-evaluated periodically to see if it's working and if it's still working.

It's unusual for government to meet all six conditions all the time, because we're human. But we can try.

Personally, I'm biased by WANTING Rivian to succeed, because I think it's in the country's and humanity's best interest for Rivian to succeed. Rivian isn't perfect, but they're moving in the right direction.

I also trust that the feds have a process for deciding these things fairly, especially under the outgoing administration where there are few if any back-channel ways to enrich the President or other policy-making officials.

Even Rivian's sale of emission credits makes sense in the big picture, I believe, because (a) it makes it possible for the USA as a whole to achieve increasingly stringent fuel efficiency goals, while (b) transferring a portion of profits from more-polluting manufacturers/customers to less-polluting manufacturers/customers.

Best to all!

 

[dleepnw]

Good and bad news. Good that Rivian is securing the funding it needs to build the Georgia plan and scale R2/R3 production. Bad news that the R3 is pushed out to end of 2028 at the earliest.

Its got me thinking that they revealed the R3X too soon. I think they should have stopped with the R3. Now they've given competitors ideas for what to build next. And now its just such a long wait for enthusiasts, some are just going to move on to other vehicles.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Assuming this is finalized without any speed bumps, it's hard to fully quantify how big of a deal this is combined with the VW JV in terms of Rivian's long term success.

 

[mkhuffman]

It is up today and up 20% in the last 5 trading days.

I'll celebrate when it gets back to $115.

 

[Zoidz]

I’m not terribly worried about the loan getting cancelled. It’s going to be really hard for Trump to talk about America first while tanking money for American jobs by an American company. That doesn’t mean he won’t do it, he’s been known to not be the most rational, but it’s not a given it will be cancelled.

Don’t underestimate the “DJT Reality Distortion Field” and what he can make some people believe.

 

[COdogman]

That didn't take long

https://www.rawstory.com/biden-administration/

“Biden is forking over $6.6B to EV-maker Rivian to build a Georgia plant they’ve already halted,” Vivek Ramaswamy wrote to his followers on X. “One ‘justification’ is the 7,500 jobs it creates, but that implies a cost of $880k/job which is insane. This smells more like a political shot across the bow at @elonmusk & @Tesla.”

 

[Redline]

That didn't take long

https://www.rawstory.com/biden-administration/

Sigh….

 

[Dave Cundiff]

That didn't take long

https://www.rawstory.com/biden-administration/

How perfectly appropriate to quote "efficiency experts" who appear to conflate a capital loan with an operating subsidy, and who appear to think the only purpose of EV subsidies is job creation....

The quote, while it appears accurate without obviously missing context (below), might have been cherry-picked by raw story.com .

mediabiasfactcheck.com rates rawstory.com as "Left Bias" (second-most left-biased category, where four is midpoint), with "High" factual reporting (second most factual category of six).

Best to all!

Dave C.

 

[Hillbilly]

Good and bad news. Good that Rivian is securing the funding it needs to build the Georgia plan and scale R2/R3 production. Bad news that the R3 is pushed out to end of 2028 at the earliest.

Its got me thinking that they revealed the R3X too soon. I think they should have stopped with the R3. Now they've given competitors ideas for what to build next. And now its just such a long wait for enthusiasts, some are just going to move on to other vehicles.

Nah, gives me reason to be optimistic about their future.

 

[rraj2k81]

Let’s hope this comes to fruition. New administration in a few months. With Elmo in the presidents ear I could see him trying to kill the loan to hurt Rivian.

And provided there is a DOE after January 2025.

 

[Biturbowned]

That didn't take long

https://www.rawstory.com/biden-administration/

Got to love it when people suck at math but have a platform. If they hired 7500 people for 1 year then yes that’s correct, but that’s not how jobs work.

edit: I’m convinced Elon is shorting RIVN.

 

[Billyk24]

Assuming this is finalized without any speed bumps, it's hard to fully quantify how big of a deal this is combined with the VW JV in terms of Rivian's long term success.

If my memory serves me correctly, VW is currently field testing solid state batteries (in limited/small numbers) from QS an American based company. I don't know if Rivian has a side agreement to use such battery tech in the future.

 

[emoore]

I'm happy for Rivian, but as a taxpayer I get really sick of corporate welfare (sorry, the rates & terms are exactly that). This announcement together with the $8 billion Intel gift means taxpayers lose again. At BH's 2023 annual meeting Warren Buffett stated S & P 500 tax credits now exceed the gross tax receipts paid by individuals (which is $2.2 trillion). China says it is why they subsidize their exports. Trying to compete with US corporate tax credits. Believe that or not, but the practice is WAY out of hand.

It’s a loan not welfare.

 

[Evan1]

I am sure the blueprints for the new factory and contracts are already finalized. It typically takes 1 year to build a plant and perhaps another 3-4 months for testing production intent vehicles and then another 3 months to build and ship the vehicles over to you. Let's hope in early 2026.
Rivian needs these to sell and people really don't like to wait, lol.

This is an American product that Trump promised to help.

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