U.S. EV startup gets 6.6 bln USD loan to expand production: WSJ

NEW YORK, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — U.S. electric-vehicle startup Rivian Automotive received conditional approval for a loan of up to 6.6 billion U.S. dollars from the government to boost its production capability, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Tuesday.
The Irvine, California-based startup said the conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program includes 6 billion dollars in principal and approximately 600 million dollars in capitalized interest. Rivian said the funds will support the construction of its EV plant in Georgia and the production of more midsize vehicles.
The announcement follows Rivian’s recent collaboration with Volkswagen on a 5.8 billion dollars technology partnership earlier this month, said the report.
“The U.S. company has burned through over 19 billion dollars since it went public in 2021, with much of the investment focused on developing bespoke hardware and software,” the report noted. “That investment has yet to pay off, in part because the company produces too few vehicles — likely less than 50,000 this year — to turn a profit.”
The new plant in Georgia could help boost its production capacity. Rivian plans to build the facility in two phases, with each phase expected to produce up to 200,000 vehicles annually, it added. ■