Rivian is planning to get access to the US Department of Energy’s $6.6 billion loan for its Georgia factory to support production only after the plant is fully built.
Last January, Rivian has secured approval for the loan from the DOE to finance construction of the plant.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the company’s CFO Claire McDonough said the loan granted by the US Department of Energy (DOE), during the Biden Administration, will be drawn before the company starts production in 2028.
“It’d be prior to starting production in 2028 that we’d be drawing down the loan,” McDonough stated.
In mid-September, the EV maker held the official groundbreaking ceremony at its $5 billion plant.
Rivian is currently preparing and installing utilities, while full structural construction, including foundations and vertical construction, will begin in 2026.
The company was also supported by the state of Georgia, which has invested over $1.5 billion in incentives to develop the 2,000-square-foot factory.
The state assumes Rivian will fulfill 80% of its promise to create 7,500 jobs and make the corresponding investments by 2030.
However, the EV maker must restart construction of the facility before being granted access to the loan.
Shareholders have been cautious about the investment, as US President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to cut billions in funding for clean energy projects.
In late September, the Administration announced the termination of over 200 projects of the DOE, saving more than $7.5 billion.
Earlier this month, the Energy Department canceled grants for new factories in several states, including Alabama and Kentucky.
Rivian‘s plant in Georgia, however, remains unaffected.
Notably, 2028 is not only the year in which production is set to start at the Georgia plant, but also the year of the next Presidential election.
Claire McDonough further noted that Rivian‘s operating profit target will be hit in 2028, once its main plant in Normal, Illinois, reaches full production capacity of 200,000 vehicles a year.
“Ramping up the Normal facility to 200,000 [units] would get us to EBITDA [Earnins Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization],” she said.
Earlier this month, in a separate interview, CEO RJ Scaringe said that the Normal plant will be able to produce “up to 175,000 R2s,” for which the company will soon start production.
The upcoming Georgia plant is expected to support production of the R2 and R3 SUVs.
Plans for the factory were announced in late 2021, with the state of Georgia assuming the project site in early 2022.
The 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 to start in 2028.
Late last month, CNBC‘s Mad Money host Jim Cramer that investors should avoid buying Rivian stock now while criticizing the money spent at the upcoming plant in Georgia.
Cramer further advised that, “if we have a slowdown and the Fed doesn’t bail us out,” referring to the DOE loan, investors would get to “buy that stock lower.”
