Rivian debuts new US-made electric truck and SUV with 400-mile range

Rivian

If Ford’s decision earlier this year wasn’t proof, then GM’s announcement this week should remove all doubt: Americans are done with the sedan. Like it or not, the trucks and SUVs have won. Which bodes well for one of the newest entrant into the market, a startup called Rivian. This week, it finally revealed its first two products, the R1T, an all-electric pickup truck starting at $61,500, and the R1S, a seven-seater electric SUV that starts at $65,000.

Both are ground-up designs, sharing a skateboard platform (common to most battery electric vehicles, with the battery pack living between the axles and underneath the passenger compartment). Rivian will offer three different sizes of battery in both vehicles; at launch you can pick either 180kWh (and 400 miles/640km of range) or 135kWh (310 miles/500km) packs, with a third configuration of 105kWh (240 miles/390km) coming six months after production starts in 2020. The batteries are capable of recharging at up to 160kW on a DC fast charger, and are also equipped with an 11kW onboard charger.