Meet R.J. Scaringe, Founder Of Rivian
Automotive—And Tesla’s Worst Nightmare
The
talk of November’s Los Angeles Auto Show wasn’t Mercedes-Benz, Porsche,
BMW or any of the usual luxury car suspects. Rather, the buzz was created
by a little-known electric-vehicle builder, Rivian Automotive, based in
Plymouth, Michigan. After nearly ten years of developing EV technology,
the company unveiled its first two battery-powered autos: the R1S, a
seven-seat sport utility vehicle, and the R1T pickup truck.
Designed for people with active lifestyles, the so-called adventure
vehicles exhibit a Range Rover aesthetic—rugged, capable and luxurious—and
are packed with the latest high-tech amenities such as internet
connectivity and a host of autonomous driver-safety features.
“Adventure is life,” gushes R.J. Scaringe, Rivian’s 36-year-old founder
and CEO. “[Your destination] could be fishing, it could be golfing, it
could be taking the family out for lunch.”
Scaringe’s love affair with “things that move,” as he puts it, began as a
child. As soon as he was old enough to handle tools, he helped a neighbor
rebuild Porsche 356s in his garage in Melbourne, Florida. “My favorite was
a late-1950s Speedster,” Scaringe says. By high school he had become
obsessed with the idea of building his own brand of automobiles, and he
gained the knowledge to do so by earning his doctorate in mechanical
engineering from MIT’s prestigious Sloan Automotive Lab.
While there, however, the budding automaker became conflicted. “It was
frustrating knowing the things I loved were simultaneously the things that
were making the air dirtier and causing all sorts of issues, everything
from geopolitical conflict to the smog to climate change,” Scaringe says.
So he changed course, deciding instead to focus on environmentally
friendly electric vehicles.
A slow-rolling startup, Rivian was founded in 2009 and began to develop an
electric sports coupe, much like Tesla’s Roadster, Scaringe admits. But
within a couple years, that plan was shelved. “[We weren’t] building
something that the world truly needed that was different than other things
in the market,” he says. Undeterred, the young entrepreneur changed
directions once again, redefining the company’s mission around the future
of mobility and focusing on luxury utility vehicles.
So why has it taken nearly a decade to produce any vehicles? “[We’ve been]
getting all of the pieces lined up,” Scaringe says. That consists of
developing the technology, putting together a strong business plan,
building the organization, and setting up a supply chain and a
manufacturing system. He’s also spent years building a dream team of
engineers and designers, including Mark Vinnels, Rivian’s executive
director of engineering, who came from McLaren (where he developed the
much lusted-after 720S and MP4-12C), and Jeff Hammoud, the vice president
of design and a veteran of Jeep, where he oversaw the Grand Cherokee and
the Wrangler.
To fund his electric dreams, Scaringe raised $450 million from three major
investors: the Saudi Arabia-based investment group Abdul Latif Jameel,
which has strong ties to MIT; Japan’s Sumitomo Corp.; and London’s
Standard Chartered Bank.
Rivian employs around 700
people, half at its engineering center in Plymouth; most of the rest are
at tech centers in San Jose and Irvine, California, with a few at an
engineering facility in the United Kingdom. More will be added over the
next two years as the company ramps up manufacturing operations at its
facility in Normal, Illinois, a former Mitsubishi plant Rivian acquired in
2017 for $16 million.
Technically speaking, the R1T and R1S are very similar. They are based on
the same skateboard-style chassis (meaning that all mechanical
components—battery, drivetrain, suspension—are contained in it). They
claim to offer outstanding performance, including up to 400 miles of
range, which is nearly 75 miles more than any other EV currently on the
road or in the pipeline for the next two years. And they promise
exceptional handling and sports car speed—both will be able to sprint from
zero to 60 mph in 3 seconds. Above all, Rivian promises genuine off-road
ability. Try driving your Tesla on the dunes of a beach or up a rocky
hill.
The pickup will have a base price around $68,000, and the SUV will be
$72,500 (and both come with a tax incentive). Though Rivian won’t share
preorder figures, the company expects to deliver an ambitious 20,000 units
(combined truck and SUV) in 2021 and 40,000 in 2022, which translates to
approximately $1.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, in sales. By
comparison, Tesla sold 22,000 units of the Model S in its first full year
and some 25,000 units of the Model X when it debuted.
Once production starts in Normal next year, the company, like Tesla, plans
to sell directly to consumers, strategically placing a few display shops
around the United States to get the Rivian name in front of the right
customers. To provide more options, a five-passenger utility vehicle is
also in the works, with more adventure models to come later, says Scaringe,
who is careful not to overpromise: “I tend to be quiet to outsiders about
what we’re doing. Let the results speak for themselves.”
A potentially more profitable revenue stream will come from selling
Rivian’s technology to automakers and tech companies. “We can leverage
our skateboard technology in its entirety or sell pieces of it, such as
the battery pack,” Scaringe says. Although no partnerships have been
announced, Rivian is in negotiations with a well-known brand that’s not a
traditional automaker—but it won’t rule out working with one in the near
future—and the company expects to get further investments of capital
within the first quarter of 2019.
A Tale of Two Techies
“R.J. has built a company
that can pivot on a dime,” explains John Shook, a member of Rivian’s board
of directors and a former production manager for Toyota in the U.S. and
Japan.
Now that his lifelong mission to become a carmaker is a reality, Scaringe
believes his priorities as a CEO include making sure the direction of the
company is clear, that the right team is in place and that the culture
allows people to work without silos or bureaucracy. But if push came to
shove, the MIT engineer would rather be in the lab: “I really enjoy
working our network architecture, thinking of our skateboard platform.” In
other words, R.J. Scaringe has just started rolling.
Reach Chuck Tannert at ctannert@forbes.com. Cover image by Ethan Pines for
Forbes.
This story appears in the February 28, 2019 issue of Forbes.
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