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Rivian is Beating Tesla, For Now... - YouTube
Channel: Ben Sullins
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- Rivian recently received
an order for 100,000
[4]
electric delivery vans from Amazon.
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This is in addition to the
already 700 million dollars
[11]
that they have invested into the company.
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So needless to say, there is a lot of hope
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behind Rivian to succeed
here in this kind of
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niche electric vehicle space
that Tesla isn't even in yet.
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But that's about to change pretty soon.
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(upbeat music)
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As I mentioned, Amazon already promised
[33]
back in February of 2019
that it would be leading
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an investment round of 700
million dollars into Rivian.
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Now this doesn't even
include the additional
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500 million from Ford Motor Company,
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nor the very recent 350 million dollars
[46]
from Cox Automotive.
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In total, we're looking at
over 1.5 billion dollars
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that have been invested into Rivian.
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And all of that is without them actually
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even having produced a single vehicle.
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So there is a lot of people
really rooting for them
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and investing in their future.
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And it make sense.
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Rivian is interesting
because they were founded
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around the same time
that Tesla was founded,
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and they're also an American based company
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with their headquarters
in Plymouth, Michigan,
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a factory that they recently
acquired in Normal, Illinois,
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and other offices in
Irvine and San Francisco.
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Now, they are doing a lot of great things,
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but there are still a couple big gaps,
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and I wanna just talk
about what they currently
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are offering and then where I kind of see
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them going forward, or
where I think they can
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really kinda make progress down the road.
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Rivian currently offers two models:
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The R1T and the R1S.
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These different vehicles share
91% of the same components
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including the braking, suspension,
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cooling systems, batteries.
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And they have this sort
of skateboard design
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which is very Tesla-esque.
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In fact, Rivian even states that they plan
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to offer these skateboards themselves
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as a product that they will sell
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to other manufacturers
to make other different
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kinds of vehicles.
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Now as I mentioned earlier,
they've also already
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taken an order for 100,000 delivery vans
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which we haven't really
seen other than this
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mock up we have here.
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I personally love this because this is
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a really cool market segment to go after.
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One, because obviously
companies like Amazon
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are using them tremendously all over,
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but also because there
are so many other uses
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for this type of a vehicle.
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Imagine emergency services,
imagine ambulances.
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This format really makes a lot of sense.
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It helps other segments of the market
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which are still high in numbers
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convert to a renewable energy.
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And that's really the goal here.
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So I really applaud Rivian
on their product strategy,
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especially when it comes to the specs.
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The R1T truck from
Rivian starts at $69,000.
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It can go up to 400 miles
of range on a single trip,
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will have zero to 60 in three seconds,
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it will have a quad motor system,
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so one for every wheel.
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It'll have a wading
depth of over three feet,
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which is kind of nuts.
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I mean you can literally
drive through streams.
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It'll have up to 750 horsepower,
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and it will be able to
tow around 11,000 pounds.
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Now we did a video on this previously
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and I looked at kind of how that stacks up
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to Ford and to what we know of,
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or what's rumored of the
Tesla truck at this point,
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and it's pretty good.
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I mean, I really am stoked
that they are doing something
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where out of the gate, they
are impressing the market.
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Unlike the other auto makers like Mercedes
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or Audio or Jaguar who've come out with
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really substandard electric vehicles
[212]
that don't even match
up to a Tesla from 2012.
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So you gotta really say, you know,
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you're doing things right
here from the start.
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They also are coming out with the R1S
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which, as I mentioned,
shared 91% of the parts
[225]
of the R1T, meaning that it is a true SUV
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in the sense of that it's
built on a truck body
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and this hopefully will allow them
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to produce that much quicker instead
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of having to re-engineer
everything like Tesla did
[237]
from the model S to the model X.
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Now this one has a similar spec sheet
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with 72,500 as the starting price,
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up to 400 miles, zero
to 60 in three seconds,
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the quad-motor system, the
wading depth of over three feet,
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750 horsepower max, and a
max towing of 7700 pounds.
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So not quite as much as the truck,
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but still a tremendous deal.
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Now when I saw these in
person at the L.A. Auto Show
[261]
last year, I was definitely impressed.
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And prior to that, I actually
went to the unveiling
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where I got to to up close
and personal with the truck.
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They didn't have the SUV there.
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They didn't show it at that time.
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And I thought it was really cool.
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In my mind, it's maybe
a bit over-engineered.
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There's probably more
features than most people
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will really take advantage of.
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But you know, that's kinda the thing here
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is that when you start out
with something like this,
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you're not sure exactly
what's gonna take, you know?
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It's one of those funny things in design
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and product development where you have
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all this research that supports,
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yes, this is the thing.
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And then you go and find out that actually
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people use this other thing more.
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So we'll see exactly what
of all the kinds of quirks
[299]
and features that they have
told us are gonna be in there
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really make it to the final
product and are useful.
[306]
But overall, I think
both of these vehicles
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show a lot of promise,
and are really in a space
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that no one else is serving currently.
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Okay, I know there's an aside here.
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Yes, Tesla makes the model
X and the model Y upcoming,
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but neither of those
really fall into the true
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pure SUV category.
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Both of them are sort
of in the crossover SUV
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which is much smaller.
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I know a lot of times, as Tesla owners,
[332]
we like to think of the
Mile X as being very big,
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but really, when compared to a true SUV,
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like say a Chevy Tahoe, it's not even in
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the same category really.
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So this is the first time I think we have
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a legit electric truck,
and real electric SUV
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on the market with specs
that are compelling
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from a price, range, and everything else
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that they've offered.
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And yes, there is some
competition in this delivery van
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space from Daimler with the E Actros
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where it's this sort
of smaller delivery van
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that you can use in
cities, that kind of thing.
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But all the specs on
those just really aren't
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up to today's standards.
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Yes, they're electric.
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Yes, I am stoked on all that,
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and I hope it moves them forward,
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but no one else has really
come out with something
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and said, yes we are going
to put up top tier specs.
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Everyone else is really falling well short
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of the bar that Tesla has set.
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I really applaud Rivian.
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I think they're doing things right.
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There are a couple big gaps though
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that we need to talk about.
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We can't really overlook.
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One is batteries.
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Rivian is working on their
batteries in Irvine, California,
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and apparently LG Chem, one of the world's
[402]
largest battery manufacturers
is gonna provide
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the cells for them.
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They will then assemble the packs and then
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ship those off to Normal, Illinois
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where they will do general
assembly and everything else.
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Very similar to how Tesla
does it with Panasonic
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at Gigafactory, ships it over to Fremont
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to complete the general assembly
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and actually make the car.
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So it's a good approach.
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It's one that now has been proven.
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But the big challenge I feel is
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testing these things,
getting them in production
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is just a major hurdle that no one else
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has really been able to accomplish yet.
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I mean, to date, there are
no other Evs on the market
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that beat a 2012 model S.
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That's just kind of crazy and shows
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how incredibly difficult this is.
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So they haven't quite cracked that nut
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or at least publicly we
haven't seen it in action.
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However, they do have a
lot of great people there,
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and they do appear to be doing it.
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So I guess we can kind
of just chalk that up as,
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yes, we think that will happen.
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Along with this, you also have the concept
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of actually making a car
on a manufacturing line.
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A lot of what Tesla's
success has been driven by
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is their innovation in manufacturing.
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And every time they do a new line,
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it just seems to push
the boundary yet again.
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And so this is where I really wonder
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how well this is gonna go.
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Now, them with their headquarters
in Plymouth, Michigan
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and the factory in Normal, Illinois,
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I think you've got a
lot of great resources
[480]
and talent locally nearby
in that part of the country
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where they have a real shot here.
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But again, they bought the factory
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and we haven't seen an actual
car run off the line to date.
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That may change soon.
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I hope it does.
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But they basically still, you know,
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biggest gap number one
is they haven't really
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proven that they have a
track record of success yet.
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We think they will, but we
haven't actually seen it.
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The second biggest challenge
for Rivian going forward,
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I feel, is the charging network.
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This is one where it kind
of is universally thought of
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that Tesla has the best
charging network in the world,
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and so why would you
not partner with them?
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Now, Elon has repeatedly
stated that no one
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has came to him and asked for this.
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But it doesn't mean that someone else
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hasn't talked to Tesla about it,
[524]
and maybe just never got to him
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after they kinda went back and forth
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on the details of how it would work.
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But Rivian has an interesting
kind of approach here.
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They want to use the CCS
charging, which is great.
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It seems to support DC fast charging,
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and there is a fast
charging network growing
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in the United States, and they
also wanna make their own.
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Now this sort of makes
sense because they want to
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take these vehicles to places where
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it doesn't really make sense for Tesla
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to build out chargers, let's say,
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because it's not on a
path that is a road trip
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which is kinda their focus, right?
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Long distance travel.
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And an EV really was made possible
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by the Supercharger network,
and now if you're taking them
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to new places, maybe you
need to make your own
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in those places where
it doesn't make sense
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for anyone else.
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So there is some sense to that,
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but I really cannot understand why at all
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you wouldn't do everything
possible to partner
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with Tesla here.
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Now because maybe you
have these investments
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from Amazon and Ford,
and now Cox Automotive
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who reportedly is gonna
have someone on the board,
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it does beg the question
as to whether or not
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there's some sort of influence there.
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And these little fiefdoms that these
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billionaires like to have.
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To me, that is the worst thing that
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would be the outcome of those investments
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because really I think we
should all be looking at this
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as EV cars versus gas cars.
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Now all of this comes and all the hype
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and all the juice and the
love that they're getting
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right now is before the Tesla truck unveil
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which is set for sometime
in November of 2019
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as of the latest estimate.
[616]
Maybe when you're watching
this in the future,
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it's already happened.
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But as of right now, the
Tesla truck seems to be
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a winner in terms of the specs.
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However, the design and Elon sort of
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anti-selling approach
talking about I don't care
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if people buy it and it's gonna be
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a Blade Runner cyberpunk style.
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All of those things I don't
think bode well for it.
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And so even if the Tesla truck comes out
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and it's cheaper and better
in all the spec sheets,
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but the design follows what Elon said,
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I think Rivian still has a shot.
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There is still a market
here for people to get what,
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you know, you may consider
a normal looking truck
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versus whatever Tesla's
gonna come out with.
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And then you know eventually
Tesla will come out with
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a more normal kind of
watered down version of that
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just like they did for the
model S and the model 3
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and now the model X and the model Y.
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So whether or not Teslas really
blows it out of the water
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here with their specs,
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I don't think it's gonna be
a deal killer for Rivian,
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and I think Rivian is gonna have a really
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bright future ahead of them,
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assuming they can get through
some of those big hurdles
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that I just mentioned.
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So what do you think?
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Is the Rivian truck
and SUV gonna be a hit?
[682]
Are they gonna actually be
able to deliver on them?
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Current estimates show that 2020 is when
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they'll first be delivering them,
[688]
and then 2021 hopefully they'll
reach volume production.
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But even then, when I was talking to them
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back at the unveiling,
they were looking at
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20 to 30 thousand units per year.
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So really just a fraction of what
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the bigger auto makers are doing.
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And you know, possibly with the electric
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F-150 coming out, it may blow
that out of the water again.
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There's really a lot of variables here,
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but that's what makes this exciting.
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So let me know what you think below.
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Also please share this
video with anyone else
[713]
that is interested in an EV but has said
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they can't do it because
they need a truck,
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here it is.
[718]
This is it.
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I think this is an absolute winner,
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assuming they can get
over those big hurdles
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that I just mentioned.
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So let them know about this and then
[726]
that way they can kind of start to
[728]
understand this movement,
and hopefully go electric
[730]
when the time is right.
[732]
So thanks again for watching.
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And don't forget:
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when you free the data,
your mod will follow.
[736]
I'll see you guys back on the next one.
[740]
Hey thanks for watching the video.
[741]
I hope you got something out of it.
[742]
If you wanna dive deeper,
get more content like this
[745]
and join the Teslanomics community,
[747]
head over the patreon.omc/teslanomics
[749]
and consider signing up for any of
[750]
the different levels,
and really kinda help
[752]
dive in and understand what's going on
[754]
as we see this transition unfold before us
[756]
from where we're at now
to a more sustainable,
[759]
more bright future.
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