Rivian‘s sale of 977 EVs to the California Department of Transportation went through a mandatory state contract on which the R1T is now the only pickup truck, state documents show, as the approximately $97 million purchase faces questions over price and competition.
The agency, known as Caltrans, has bought 339 R1S SUVs and 638 R1T pickups in two orders since June 2025, according to state procurement records compiled in June.
At an average of about $99,400 a vehicle, by EV‘s calculation, the orders make Caltrans Rivian’s largest known fleet customer outside Amazon.
Neither Rivian nor Caltrans has announced either order, though Caltrans listed the first in a report to the state Legislature last year.
Caltrans did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Sacramento broadcaster ABC10 about why it chose Rivian when there are more affordable EV options, how the vehicles will be used, how many it bought and how many are already on the road, the station reported on Friday, putting the total spend at more than $100 million.
Two Orders, 977 Vehicles
Caltrans placed its first order in June 2025, for 138 R1S SUVs and 315 R1T pickups worth $44.3 million.
The vehicles first surfaced through sightings, including a Caltrans-branded R1T photographed at a state facility in West Sacramento in September 2025, with the agency’s fluorescent orange stripe.
Seth Parks, Rivian’s Senior Manager for Fleet Sales & Management, confirmed the order on LinkedIn on January 1.
“Yesterday, Rivian fulfilled the last of 453 units, all upfitted and delivered in just 200 days,” he wrote. “We are proud to serve Caltrans and the State of California.”
The second order, placed between April and May, covers 201 R1S SUVs and 323 R1T pickups valued at $52.7 million.
It is 15.7% larger than the first by units and 19% larger by value, and its blended average of $100,655 a vehicle is 2.8% above the first order’s $97,883.
Earlier reports of a roughly 600-unit order understated the total.
ABC10‘s figure of more than $100 million is about $3 million above the two orders identified in the records, and the station did not publish a breakdown.
What the Contract Says
Both orders run through statewide contract 1-25-23-01J for “Alternative Fuel Vehicles” between Rivian LLC and the Department of General Services (DGS), according to the contract record on the state’s Cal eProcure portal.
The contract was posted on February 18, 2025, for two years, with options for up to three one-year extensions on terms agreed by both sides.
A supplement on March 3, 2026 extended it to February 17, 2028, the contract’s user instructions show.
Its use is mandatory for all state departments, which need approval from the DGS Office of Fleet and Asset Management for each purchase order.
Cities, counties, universities and schools can also buy from it, with Rivian paying DGS a 1.25% incentive fee on those orders.
The current price list, Supplement 8 dated August 3, sets four contract prices.
The R1T Dual Large costs $80,610 and the R1T Dual Max $87,610, while the R1S Dual Standard costs $77,635 and the R1S Dual Max $91,635.
Factory options are added or removed at dealer cost, and third-party upfitting, such as a utility body, can be ordered under the same pricing provisions, the instructions say.
Sales tax, a $1.75 tire fee and a document fee of up to $85 a vehicle come on top.
The contract requires a bumper-to-bumper warranty of at least three years or 36,000 miles and battery coverage of at least five years or 100,000 miles.
A supplement on March 27, 2026 changed the contract prices, weeks before Caltrans placed its second order, though the documents do not show the earlier prices.
The averages in the purchase records are about $10,000 to $24,000 a vehicle above the current base prices, depending on version, by EV’s calculation.
The records do not break out configurations, upfits or taxes, so the gap cannot be allocated.
The Only Pickup on the List
The Rivian contract is one of 17, lettered A to Q, that DGS awarded under the same alternative fuel vehicle solicitation, covering cars, pickups, vans, SUVs and heavy trucks.
In the DGS master list dated May 8, the light-duty pickup category contains only two lines, the R1T Dual Large and R1T Dual Max.
The current list does not show which pickups were on offer when Caltrans placed its first order in June 2025.
The SUV category includes the Tesla Model Y, Kia EV9, Lucid Gravity and two R1S versions, among others.
State departments must also buy designated vehicle categories from manufacturers aligned with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a policy in force since 2020, according to the DGS purchasing restrictions.
The current list includes Rivian, Tesla, Ford, Stellantis, Hyundai, Kia, Lucid, Volkswagen, BMW, Honda and Volvo.
General Motors, which makes the electric Chevrolet Silverado, is not on it.
Caltrans bought 600 Silverado EVs between fiscal 2022-23 and 2024-25, its own figures show, and the Silverado EV is not on the current alternative fuel vehicle contract.
Ford said in December it would end production of the F-150 Lightning, and Rivian pitched the R1T to fleet managers whose Lightning orders had been canceled.
Rivian’s contract pricing marks all four of its models as CARB-aligned and as Drive Forward Leaders, a CARB program that succeeds the aligned list under Executive Order N-27-25.
California law requires zero-emission vehicles to make up at least half of the state’s light-duty fleet purchases from fiscal year 2024-25, under Section 25724 of the Public Resources Code.
Caltrans, however, classifies the R1T and R1S as Class 2b vehicles, with a gross vehicle weight rating above 8,500 pounds, and cites CARB’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule for that segment.
The rule requires 50% of its annual purchases above 8,500 pounds to be zero-emission from January 1, 2024, rising to 100% from January 1, 2027, according to Caltrans.
Prices and the 2% Discount
DGS told ABC10 that state contracts are awarded through competitive bids and that Rivian offered a price 2% below sticker at the time of its bid.
Rivian confirmed to the station that California received a discount of about $1,700 a vehicle.
That is consistent with 2% of the average contract price of $84,373, and amounts to about $1.7 million across 977 vehicles.
“If you procure a $100 million worth of products or a service, you would expect the state to get a discount,” legislative analyst Chris Micheli told ABC10.
“This is on the back of the California taxpayer,” said Susan Shelley of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Caltrans has made a single-brand fleet purchase before.
In 2022 it ordered 399 Tesla Model 3 sedans for more than $18 million, or about $45,100 each, saying the model offered the best value for taxpayers.
Four Questions, Partial Answers
Caltrans’ own filings answer part of what ABC10 asked.
On how many it bought, Caltrans’ 2025 report to the Legislature on zero-emission vehicles, required each year by October 1 under Section 14108 of the Government Code, lists 138 Rivian R1S and 315 R1T bought in fiscal year 2024-25.
Those 453 were among 477 fully electric vehicles Caltrans bought that year.
The second order of 524, placed in April and May 2026, falls in the fiscal year to June 2026, and Caltrans had not posted a 2026 edition of the report on its reports page as of Sunday.
On how many are on the road, the report’s count of 1,284 zero-emission vehicles in service on July 1, 2025 included no Rivians.
Parks said all 453 from the first order had been delivered by December 31, 2025, while a Caltrans staff newsletter published in February listed the R1T and R1S among 485 electric units then on order or in delivery.
Caltrans has not given a count of Rivians in service.
On how they will be used, Caltrans has not said, and its report analyzes duty cycles for other vehicle classes but not for Class 2b, where it lists the Rivians.
On why Rivian, Caltrans has given no explanation.
None of the cheaper brands ABC10 named, Hyundai, Kia, Dodge and Jeep, has an electric pickup on the alternative fuel vehicle contract, which lists Hyundai and Kia cars and SUVs and Jeep plug-in hybrids.
Caltrans’ earlier Class 2b electric vehicles, 576 Silverado EVs and one F-150 Lightning in service in July 2025, cost an average of $102,340 each, according to its report.
That is above the per-vehicle averages of both Rivian orders.
The report also lists a crew-cab 4×4 electric pickup with an open purchase order at $108,750, against $40,890 for a combustion-engine equivalent, without naming the model.
Across its fleet, Caltrans says its electric vehicles cost on average 132.82% more to buy than combustion equivalents.
Kristi Armstrong of Caltrans’ Division of Equipment said at an unrelated event on Wednesday that the agency aims to have “the greenest fleet in the nation.”
Caltrans runs more than 12,000 vehicles and pieces of equipment, and had 731 charging stations with 1,416 ports at more than 228 locations as of its 2025 report.
Other state agencies holding Rivian contracts include the departments of Pesticide Regulation, Parks and Recreation, Public Health, Conservation and Veterans Affairs, DGS told ABC10.
Governor Gavin Newsom adopted a Rivian R1S as his official vehicle in 2025, replacing a Chevrolet Suburban, after the California Highway Patrol’s Dignitary Protection Section bought two Rivians.
A Customer Outside Amazon
The Caltrans orders dwarf the rest of Rivian’s public-sector business.
Rivian said in contract documents that it sold about 700 vehicles to government entities in the three years to August 2025, and that public fleet volume was “ramping” after its California award.
The 977 Caltrans vehicles exceed that total by about 40%, by EV’s calculation.
Rivian has since won a Sourcewell cooperative contract that opens its lineup to more than 50,000 public organizations, and hired Dan Pisegna as Director of Fleet Sales in August.
The company is also building a 60,000-square-foot site in Sacramento, the state capital where Caltrans is based.
Amazon remains its dominant fleet customer, buying the electric delivery vans that Rivian is now trying to sell more widely.
Rivian delivered a record 19,248 vehicles in the third quarter, without breaking out fleet sales.
