Plans for Rivian‘s $5 billion plant in Georgia were announced in late 2021, with the state of Georgia assuming the project site in early 2022.
The manufacturing plant in East Atlanta will support production of the upcoming R2 with the R3 and the R3X following at a later stage.
Production of the $45,000 SUV — for the entry-level trim — will first start at its main factory in Normal, Illinois, in the first half of 2026.
Construction of the Georgia site was delayed due to several zoning-related lawsuits by local citizens.
The new facility is expected to take approximately 36 months to build, with partial operations projected to begin in the third quarter of 2027 and sales of its production expected to begin in 2028.
Rivian is supported by both the state of Georgia — which has invested over $1.5 billion in incentives to develop the 2,000-square-foot factory.
The deal with the state requires the company deliver 80% of its promised 7,500 jobs and investments by 2030.
Earlier this year, Rivian has further secured conditional approval for a loan of up to $6.6 billion from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to finance construction of the plant.
However, the EV maker must restart construction of the facility before being granted access to the loan.
Questioned by CNBC on Tuesday morning about whether Rivian is concerned that the loan might be pulled by Trump, who is “not a fan of the EV industry,” founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said that the company has a “great partnership” with the DOE.
“The really important thing to keep top of mind here is that the administration and the president’s objective is to bring jobs to the United States,” he noted.
Scaringe reaffirmed that the R2 will be “a global product,” with “world-class technology,” which will be produced in the US. He further added that “companies like Rivian are really important to the United States.”
The Irvine-based company held an official groundbreaking cerimony on Tuesday, where both its CEO and the Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, were present.
“Rivian intends to build the facility in two phases, each resulting in 200,000 units of annual production capacity, for a total of 400,000 units of annual capacity–supporting the sale of American EVs in international markets,” the company stated.
According to Rivian, the current work is focused on site preparation and installing utilities, while full structural construction, including foundations and vertical construction, is planned to start in 2026.
“We are cementing Rivian‘s future at our Georgia plant, helping ensure America maintains its technology leadership and excellence in automobile manufacturing,” RJ Scaringe said, during the cerimony.
“Our Georgia facility will support our global expansion,” which includes European markets in 2027, “and provide the scale necessary to get millions of future drivers in our incredible all-electric vehicles, both in the United States and overseas.”
Prior to the cerimony, the EV maker hosted a community event at the site on Sunday.
According to X user and Rivian owner ‘RivianUpdates,’ who was invited by the company to join the event at the facility, “state/county power lines are in place as Rivian prepares for vertical construction.”
He added that Sunday’s event “was a community celebration for anyone interested from employees, families, and local residents and even owners. Food, music, Gen 2 Quads, show vehicles, merch, R2, R3, family activities and lots of networking!”
According to Rivian’s founder and CEO last week, “all the infrastructure is there, so that when we start to build the site, it will go up pretty quickly,” he added.
Georgia also “funded a full highway that goes right into the site,” and there’s a railway where the plant is going to sit, the CEO stated then.
User ‘RivianUpdates‘ posted several images showing the “four-lane ‘Frontage Road,’ built by the state of Georgia.”
“This is where all the inbound and outbound delivery trucks will go to keep congestion off the local roads, it has its own exit and on ramp,” he added. “It even has a bike lane and sidewalk!”
On Monday, a local judge has rejected part of Georgia’s request to be reimbursed for legal fees it incurred in while defending against multiple citizen lawsuits over Rivian‘s planned $5 billion factory in the state.
“The lawsuits filed by the plaintiffs were designed to delay progress, costing taxpayers and the community,” the development authority had argued.
The government asked for a $337,000 compensation, and $200,000 more in a similar case filed in Atlanta.
The judge started, however, that “no truly aggrieved citizen should be prohibited from suing to test the legality or constitutionality of the government’s claims.”
In a statement, state and local officials said the courts have consistently allowed construction to move forward, adding that “this ruling doesn’t change the status of the Rivian project.”
