Rivian has completed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy that will see it get a $6.6 billion loan it will use to build a new factory in Georgia.
The loan was preliminarily approved in November and its closure came with urgency as the future of the department’s loan program for clean vehicle projects under the incoming Trump administration is unclear.
“This loan will help us accelerate the launch of our Georgia plant for R2 and R3, providing thousands of jobs in the state,” Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a news release.
“People are incredibly excited to get behind the wheel of our new models, and this additional capacity for our mass market products is key to U.S. leadership in the electric vehicle industry.”
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The factory was originally scheduled to open in 2026, but last March Rivian announced that it was delaying it as a cost-cutting measure.
The new timeline puts the start of production in 2028. Rivian plans to initially produce its new R2 and R3 electric SUV models at its existing factory in Illinois starting in 2026 and 2027, respectively.
The Georgia factory is being designed with the capacity to build 400,000 vehicles annually and Rivian has also received financial assistance from the state.
Rivian stock was up sharply in after hours trading on the news. It had already been up this year after the company reported a strong 2024 sales report with 51,579 vehicles delivered.