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What EV Start-Up Rivian Is Doing That Tesla Isn't - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
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Narrator: With Tesla's stronghold
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on the electric-car market
and multiple legacy automakers
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already taking a crack at the segment,
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it's hard for small
companies to make much noise.
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However, one particular American start-up
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seems to be on its way to
becoming a household name
[21]
when it comes to electric vehicles.
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Rivian is an electrical-vehicle start-up
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that was founded in 2009
[27]
and plans to start
producing its two vehicles,
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the R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck, in 2020.
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Rivian was recently thrust
into the global spotlight
[38]
when Ford invested $500
million into the company.
[42]
The unexpected partnership
happened only shortly
[44]
after Amazon made its own
investment of $700 million.
[48]
So what is it about Rivian
[50]
that has major investors
dying to get a piece
[53]
and publications likes Forbes
[54]
calling them Tesla's worst nightmare?
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- I knew very little about
Rivian prior to Rivian's CEO,
[68]
this guy named R.J.
Scaringe, coming to visit us
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here at Business Insider.
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You know, what they came in to talk to us
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about was how they were pivoting
[75]
from building an electric
vehicle of some sort
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to focusing on electric vehicles
for the high-performance,
[82]
outdoor, off-road, adventure market.
[85]
Narrator: So what made Rivian choose
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to place its entire focus
on such a niche market?
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To learn more, we caught up
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with the company's body
engineer, Brian Gase,
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at Overland Expo, a biyearly event
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that showcases popular adventure vehicles.
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- I think the answer, part of
it is obvious on the surface.
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You know, it's a white space.
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There's nothing out there.
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We're here at Overland,
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and we're the first electric
vehicle ever to be here.
[108]
We're the first
[108]
electric adventure vehicle in existence.
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And I think when you look
at some of those things,
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it's a really exciting place for us,
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but the reality is, it's core to our DNA.
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It's core to who we are.
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- So what Tesla did
when they hit the scene
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with the original Roadster,
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which was a high-performance
sports car, that's been done.
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And the market now, you
know, the vehicle market,
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broadly wants SUVs and pickup trucks.
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So what Rivian's done
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that's fairly genius here is they've said,
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"Our angle is gonna be
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that we're gonna sell a pickup and an SUV
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that have great off-road performance,
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high-performance generally."
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They're still gonna have
the versatility of a pickup,
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and still gonna have the
versatility of an SUV,
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and they're probably
gonna be able to charge
[145]
a lot of money for it.
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- So they're very similar in performance.
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Spec-wise, we've got air suspension.
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We've got up to 14.5
inches of ground clearance.
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But the big thing you want to hear about
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is the four electric motors,
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the all-time all-wheel drive,
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the 750 horsepower, 400-mile range,
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three seconds 0 to 60 vehicle
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that can go up a 45% grade,
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tow 10,000 pounds, and go
through 3 feet of water.
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Narrator: However, there are a number
[172]
of young electric automakers
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with plans to produce
battery-powered utility vehicles.
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How is Rivian standing up to
the traditional car industry
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that's making so much noise?
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They're not.
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- So Tesla for its entire history
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has sort of flipped the bird
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to the traditional auto industry and said,
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"We're gonna do things our way.
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We're a Silicon Valley company.
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We're a tech company.
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We're not a car company. We're
a tech company, and we're
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gonna do things the way that
tech companies do stuff."
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Whereas what RJ and Rivian have done,
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what they've decided to
do, is cozy up to Detroit.
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Get close to the
traditional auto industry.
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Sort of model themselves
after a big car company,
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even though they're not
a big car company yet.
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They're not gonna disrupt
the traditional industry.
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They're gonna be more like
the traditional industry.
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They're gonna use a factory in
Illinois that they purchased
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from a traditional automaker, Mitsubishi.
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They're gonna pair up with Ford.
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They might pair up with other automakers.
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I wouldn't rule that out.
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They showed their pickup truck
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and their SUV at the LA Auto Show.
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It was a big reveal, and they did it
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like a big car company
would do their reveal.
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Narrator: Those only just hearing
[238]
about this ambitious company
would be surprised to know
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that Rivian has been around
for more than a decade,
[243]
quietly developing its product
[244]
and acquiring sufficient financing.
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So why the lack of effort
[248]
to generate hype like other start-ups
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and instead choosing to
work behind the scenes?
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- Our philosophy is, always, always,
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always underpromise and overdeliver.
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We want to tell you that
we're gonna do something.
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We want you excited about it,
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and then we want to just blow you away
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with what we actually did.
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- Part of the reason why
they were quiet for so long
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was that they were working on their ideas
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and their vehicles very incrementally.
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Starting to unveil their vehicles
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towards the end of last year,
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about two years before they
want to start production
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might be decent timing
because on the one hand,
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it gives you enough time to build interest
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and get preorders and get
some deposits from customers
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before you actually start production.
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But it's not so much
time that it's gonna seem
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like you overpromised or underdelivered,
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or, you know, you're
gonna lose all that hype
[300]
by the time these cars
actually come around.
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Narrator: So Rivian has secured
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over a billion dollars in investments,
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partnered with major brands,
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modeled themselves after
successful legacy automakers,
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and created two products that
have captured the interests
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of adventure enthusiasts
and EV lovers alike.
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Now for the real question:
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Should electric automakers
like Tesla be nervous?
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- Rivian is probably a
"threat to Tesla" in the sense
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that they're gonna steal some bandwidth
[327]
from people who are obsessed
with electric vehicles.
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You know, so we won't just
be talking about Tesla
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and Tesla's electric pickup truck,
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we'll be talking about Rivian
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and Rivian's electric pickup truck.
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So Rivian gets the free press
[338]
as opposed to Elon getting
all the free press.
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So they're not really a threat,
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but it's an extremely encouraging sign.
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I mean, you want to see companies
[347]
that have that Tesla thing
show up in the marketplace.
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You don't want to have a
whole bunch of start-ups
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that just don't have
really anything going on
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as far as their overall master plan goes.
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So to have another company come in
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and attract this level of buzz, you know,
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if you were threatened by this,
you'd be out of your mind.
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You want this. You want to
have really viable companies
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that can get it done, coming in
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and growing the electric-vehicle market.
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Rivian is starting to
vacuum up some funding
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that's out there. Now, obviously
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Rivian's not a public company.
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Rivian's still at the kind
of start-up investment stage,
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even though it's been around for a while,
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but it is starting to rake
in some serious bucks.
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