Rivian: Tesla's Newest Rival | Forbes

With the emergence of Rivian, the electric vehicle market is no longer a one-horseless-carriage race. Indeed, the 2020s are gearing up to be the decade of the EV. According to research at Oppenheimer, EVs and plug-in electric hybrids accounted for a mere 2.2 percent of all U.S. vehicles sold in the last quarter of 2019. And only a third of those were purely electric. But that is changing rapidly. While only 5.1 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2018, that figure is expected to surge throughout the decade—21 million units are projected to be sold in 2020, 98 million in 2025 and 253 million in 2030.

Building a new EV, however, requires investing in cutting-edge research into components like battery packs and powertrains. The only company that has been remotely successful is, of course, Tesla—and even it’s had a rough go of it. The question is: Even with $3 billion, does Rivian have enough to realize Scaringe’s electric dreams? If the mighty Tesla has faced so many detours and potholes, what makes Scaringe think that Rivian, which hasn’t made a single car, can have a smooth ride? He doesn’t. “Things will go wrong,” admits the young CEO. And Scaringe, who comes across like a mild-mannered Clark Kent type compared to Musk’s manic Tony Stark, is confident he can overcome any perils or roadblocks. After all, Rivian is built for treacherous terrain.

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