Rivian restarting work on its Georgia manufacturing unit, emails present

Rivian will resume prep work on its deliberate Georgia manufacturing unit in August and remains to be trying to break floor early subsequent yr, in response to emails TechCrunch obtained by a public information request.  

The restarted effort comes months after the Biden administration’s Division of Power permitted a $6.6 billion mortgage meant to fund development.

Rivian has invested greater than $80 million within the venture as of June 20, 2025, up from $41 million in July 2024, in response to a progress report submitted to the native joint growth authority included within the emails. The venture has created 46 full-time jobs thus far. Rivian will start putting in “deep utilities” in August, with “vertical development” set to start within the first quarter of 2026, in response to the emails. 

The corporate can be reaching out to current suppliers to see which of them would possibly need to co-locate close to the Georgia manufacturing unit, the emails present. Rivian additionally requested the state’s financial growth division for a listing of suppliers already within the area that might be able to assist construct the R2 SUV and R3 hatchback on the manufacturing unit when it opens in 2028.

Amid this push to restart the venture, Rivian’s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe met with the state’s governor Brian Kemp on the finish of Might. The corporate’s company affairs director instructed the governor’s workplace in an electronic mail that the assembly was a “prime precedence” for the corporate.

Peebles Squire, a spokesperson for Rivian, mentioned the assembly between Scaringe and the governor was a “common check-in.” 

“We mentioned our ongoing work in Georgia and gave normal venture updates in addition to mentioned methods wherein we will proceed to have a powerful partnership with the state,” he wrote in an electronic mail to TechCrunch. The governor’s press secretary didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Rivian first introduced the Georgia manufacturing unit shortly after its IPO in late 2021. The corporate initially deliberate to begin development in 2022 and have automobile manufacturing up and working by 2024. It promised to take a position $5 billion within the facility, and in Might 2022, Rivian lined up $1.5 billion in state incentives to assist make that occur.

The manufacturing unit shortly confronted native opposition. And the venture took a again seat as Rivian labored round provide chain shortages throughout the ramp-up of its R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV at its authentic manufacturing unit in Regular, Illinois.

Rivian finally pushed again the timeline for the Georgia venture in favor of increasing the Regular manufacturing unit, for which it nabbed $827 million in incentives from Illinois. The corporate introduced this delay in 2024 when it confirmed off the R2 SUV and R3 hatchback for the primary time.

In late 2024, Rivian introduced it had secured the $6.6 billion mortgage from the Division of Power’s Mortgage Applications Workplace. Particularly the mortgage can be coming from the Superior Know-how Automobiles Manufacturing program, which is similar effort that helped Tesla navigate the Nice Recession greater than a decade in the past. 

That mortgage settlement was finalized only a few days earlier than Donald Trump was sworn in for his second time period, and by that time the deal had already develop into a goal of a number of the individuals within the new president’s orbit. Vivek Ramaswamy, who at one level was presupposed to co-lead Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity, mentioned he needed to look into clawing again the mortgage.

After Trump took workplace, his administration froze all types of spending. A few of these freezes have been reversed by decrease district courts, whereas others have remained in place because the Supreme Court docket has largely allowed the president to function extra freely.

In February, because the administration was shotgun-blasting these spending freezes throughout the federal government, Governor Kemp instructed an area information station he wasn’t certain of the standing of the mortgage. 

(Squire, within the electronic mail, mentioned Rivian continues to work “with DOE and the administration to convey 1000’s of high quality, good paying jobs again to the US. Electrical automobiles are a world strategic trade, and the U.S. ought to preserve its management position in new applied sciences.”)

Only a few weeks later into March, the emails present, Rivian started coordinating with the governor’s workers for a face-to-face between Kemp and Scaringe. Initially slated to happen on April 9, the assembly needed to be rescheduled as a result of the Rivian CEO had a “private battle come up.” 

Andrew Capezzuto, the company affairs director for Rivian, mentioned the assembly was “a prime precedence” in an apologetic electronic mail concerning the rescheduling.

As Capezzuto hashed out a brand new time for Scaringe and Kemp to fulfill, he was additionally in common contact with Georgia’s financial growth division (GCED), the emails present. 

“[W]e are fascinated about choosing again up on provider conversations,” he instructed that workforce on April 8. 

“I consider some time again GDEcD had ready an outline of current suppliers inside Georgia and the better South East area. Would it not be attainable to mud that record off in order that we will see what suppliers and components are already out there? We wish to use that record to judge the prevailing provider base and decide whether or not we will leverage any current suppliers. That can then additionally assist us decide which suppliers we’d like to contemplate find [sic] in Georgia to help the SSN facility.”

In an electronic mail to TechCrunch, Squire mentioned that “Georgia and the Southeast have a really sturdy automotive provider base. We need to leverage that base to optimize logistics prices and reinforce a powerful provide chain. It’s good for jobs, regionally and nationally, and promotes American manufacturing and financial growth.”

As Rivian ramps up that provider exercise, the corporate can be beginning to rent employees to help the buildout of the manufacturing unit. It has posted seven open roles to LinkedIn inside the final month, together with one for development supervisor.