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Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

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Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#111

Post by VectorLock »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #26
x3haloed wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's actually quite the opposite. If you need a truck for its utility which one makes more sense? The Cybertruck is less expensive, has more range, bigger payload, higher towing capacity, access to the best charging network in the world. Why would you buy a Rivian instead? The only reason I can think of is that it looks more conventional. If you need a truck, you buy the Tesla. If you want a lifestyle truck t…

I'm not convinced that the Cybertruck prices Tesla advertised during the unveiling were anything beyond promotional.

I hope you're wrong but I suspect they're right. If they're accurate I and I think a ton of other people will buy them. The performance per dollar just seems too good to be true.

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#112

Post by bob33212 »

amayne wrote: post #99
varjag wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still better than 2900 million and 0 cars tho?

Not to mention that at this same point 10 years into Tesla’s existence the Model S was in full production of 1,000 cars a week and Motor Trend Car of the Year.

Tesla had the advantage of being the only car company which was 100% committed to electric at that time.

1000 a year is pretty good for luxury eco friendly car in 2009.

Rivian cannot sit in the same place. They have to carve out some market segment that loves electric but hates Tesla or get enough funding to stick around for 10 years when Tesla may be vulnerable to competition.

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#114

Post by _ea1k »

clouddrover wrote: post #105
DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of me wants to believe Elon et al. at Tesla has a soft-spot for Rivian and - yes - while the Cybertruck could crush Rivian - they want to see Rivian succeed because an EV monopoly over all vehicle classes might mean an own-goal for combating global climate change: competition is important, and the appearance of competition even more-so.

If Tesla's priority was combating global climate change then Tesla would open its chargers to all EVs. Other charging networks charge all EVs (including Tesla cars) whereas Tesla's charging network only charges Teslas. Tesla's lack of reciprocity is disappointing.

Tesla has said that they are willing to do so, just not for free. I also get the impression that they don't want every slow-charging electric vehicle to have access to their network, and I honestly can't blame them. They have capacity issues as it is, it would be much worse if slow-charging Bolts were able to use it.

Its the early days still, though, so hopefully this will change as Tesla's competitors become more competitive.

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#115

Post by _ea1k »

x3haloed wrote: post #56
nickik wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only actual reason I have heard is that Cybertruck makes it harder to load from the side. However I have heard why the utility of the frunk, integrated Ramp, the automatic cover, active suspension and so on would not make up for that.

Right. You tell me which truck you'd rather load boxes and furniture into. https://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TeslaElectri...

The issue is that the comparison is to the Rivian which only has a 4.5 ft bed. The rear 4.5 feet of the Cybertruck isn't too hard to access, its the front 2 feet that is problematic.

The rivian doesn't have that feature.

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#116

Post by _ea1k »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #9

> On Monday, Rivian announced it had raised $1.3 billion in its fourth funding round of the year, led by T. Rowe Price, bringing its total for 2019 to nearly $2.9 billion. > Rivian has been quietly developing vehicles for a decade, but it seized the industry’s attention in late 2018, when it unveiled a pair of eye-catching, high-end electric trucks. Rivian raised $2.9 billion over four funding rounds in the span of o…

> Does this not set off alarm bells?

Not really... the automotive business is capital intensive, especially when the plan is to start with (relatively) high volumes of production.

Tesla is much farther along, but it also took billions to get there.

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#117

Post by shrubble »

Surprised that no one has yet mentioned the US Postal Service and their fleet of 30+ year old LLV vehicles.

Surely someone is trying to convince the USPS to upgrade to an EV based solution? There are 140,000 plus LLVs out there. The last one was made in 1994.

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#118

Post by cavisne »

threeseed wrote: post #85
jakelazaroff wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am skeptical that Rivian has "proven its chops". Consider Magic Leap, a company with a some impressive prototypes that used its $2.6 billion of funding to… sell 6,000 headsets, out of a goal of one million. https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/06/report-magic-leaps-early-d...

You really think Amazon and Ford would place such large orders for vehicles if Rivian hadn't "proven its chops". And Rivian is a variation on a proven technology. Magic Leap is a completely new one. Not comparable in the slightest.

Neither company loses much if rivian disappears.

For amazon the equity investment fell under corporate social responsibility, the alternative would be something like carbon offsets which are a pure loss.

For ford it just means one less competitor, and they might be able to salvage some IP in the fire sale.

If rivian is just a variation on a proven technology whats their competitive advantage? They have zero manufacturing scale, zero experience selling cars, and with the “platform” model no way to differentiate the cars over any other EV (no vertical integration).

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#119

Post by [deleted] »

fastball wrote: post #12
jcims wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I think the innovation here is in the business model, not the engineering. I really do like the four motor design on the Rivian platform though. It opens up a lot of possibilities for improved performance/handling/safety and off-road capability. The 'tank turn' demo is kind of a gimmick but also not - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwM8KE2L3I Edit: Add mecanum wheels and you could strafe (at least until they f…

Could you not do that with the three-motor cybertruck?

[deleted]

Re: Rivian's platform approach to electric vehicles helped it raise $3B this year

#120

Post by clouddrover »

_ea1k wrote: post #114
clouddrover wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Tesla's priority was combating global climate change then Tesla would open its chargers to all EVs. Other charging networks charge all EVs (including Tesla cars) whereas Tesla's charging network only charges Teslas. Tesla's lack of reciprocity is disappointing.

Tesla has said that they are willing to do so, just not for free. I also get the impression that they don't want every slow-charging electric vehicle to have access to their network, and I honestly can't blame them. They have capacity issues as it is, it would be much worse if slow-charging Bolts were able to use it. Its the early days still, though, so hopefully this will change as Tesla's competitors become more co…

Tesla only has capacity problems in North America because they've stuck with a proprietary plug. If they switch to CCS and provide a CCS adapter for older cars then their capacity problems will be solved.

There don't need to be any special deals for them to open their network to other EVs. Tesla can just keep the old proprietary plug on their chargers, add on a CCS plug as well, and get on with it.

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