Electric vehicle (EV) company Rivian has revealed its tentative plans to return to Stanton Springs for vertical construction, thanks to some help from the federal government.
It was announced on Nov. 25 that Rivian had received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (AVTM) Loan Program for a loan of up to $6.6 billion. The loan simplifies to $6 billion of principal and around $600 million of capitalized interest.
The loan, if approved, would support vertical construction of the Stanton Springs project and the production of the R2/R3 vehicles. The facility is set to be built in two phases of 200,000 units of annual production capacity.
According to a Rivian news release, work will begin in 2028.
The electric vehicle company also claims that the project will create 7,500 operations jobs through 2030 as well as 2,000 full-time construction jobs.
Rivian initially announced back in 2021 that it planned to build a $5 billion facility at the industrial area known as Stanton Springs. However, in March of this year, the EV company announced its plans to postpone vertical construction indefinitely, citing a need to cut costs.
The plant, which was set to generate the initial production of the R2 and R3 vehicles, was instead moved to Normal, Illinois, where the company reportedly saved $2.25 billion in overall costs. Rivian has said that they expect R2 production to begin in 2026 at its Normal plant.
Since the March announcement, Rivian has done site grading work so that they could one day return. The EV company has been widely quiet on when they may return to Stanton Springs for vertical construction up to this point.
While the conditional commitment is a step in the right direction for those at Rivian, there is no definitive guarantee that the loan will be finalized at this point. The Department of Energy and Rivian will need to settle a number of conditions that would meet the government’s requirements.
However, one thing to consider is that this commitment is being processed under current President Joe Biden’s administration. There have been talks that President-elect Donald Trump could get rid of the $7,500 consumer tax credit for EV purchases once he goes into office in January, according to a report from the national outlet Reuters.
Should this occur, it may have an impact on how this loan proceeds. There is no timeline listed on when the loan will be completed.
Despite the ambiguity surrounding the changing of presidencies, Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe remained optimistic that the loan will help the company move forward with the Stanton Springs project and production of EV vehicles.
“This loan will help create thousands of new American jobs and further strengthen U.S. leadership in EV manufacturing and technology,” said Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, via a news release. “This loan would enable Rivian to more aggressively scale our U.S. manufacturing footprint for our competitively priced R2 and R3 vehicles that emphasize both capability and affordability.”
