EV maker Rivian is having a big year as production and deliveries gain momentum. However, the company is looking toward the future with its next generation of products. In a recent interview, CEO RJ Scaringe compared buying an ICE vehicle in this day’s age to “building a horse barn in 1910.” He said Rivian’s R2 products would help pull indecisive buyers.
Rivian is on a hot streak lately as the EV maker begins to gain better visibility and control over its supply chain.
The EV startup topped expectations in the second quarter, delivering 12,640 EVs while confirming it’s on track to hit its 50,000 annual production guidance.
Despite a slow start to the year, Rivian warned it would happen as it retooled its electric delivery van (EDV) assembly line to add capacity for its in-house Enduro drive units and LFP batteries.
The first dual-motor R1T models with the Enduro drive units rolled off the assembly line at its Normal, Illinois, plant in May. Rivian says the new addition will help streamline production while lowering costs to assist its ramp-up.
Rivian also unveiled its performance dual-motor version earlier this month, giving customers three R1 powertrain options to choose from.
Rivian R1 drive system options (Source: Rivian)
In an interview with Heatmap this week, Scaringe said the objective of its R1 models “was to serve as a handshake to the world.”
He added, “And we did that at a premium price with a flagship set of products, the R1T and R1S” electric models.
However, with a starting price over $70K, the R1 series is out of reach for many customers. A problem Scaringe said will be solved with Rivian’s next-generation R2 products.
Rivian dual motor R1T (Source: Rivian)
Rivian R2 products will help pull indecisive buyers
Rivian’s CEO and founder says that although the accelerating rate of EV adoption has taken him by surprise, the company is seeing a fundamental shift in consumers’ mindsets.
The performance and drivability of an EV, Scaringe says, makes it “so much more desirable than an alternative.” He added, “Buying a non-EV just feels very old,” not only for the environmental responsibility but also because ICE cars are just plain boring.
With legacy automakers finally leaning into their EV strategies, there’s a fundamental shift underway in the industry.
Rivian R1S electric SUV (Source: Rivian)
Scaringe said the trend is “one directional,” despite varying policies, because consumers have made the switch. “I don’t think we’re going to see consumers have any reignited interest in combustion-powered vehicles,” he claimed. Although it won’t happen overnight, “the reality is consumers have made it clear that shift is going to come.”
Over the next several years, new EV models are coming out from nearly every automaker that will fit everyone’s taste. In the meantime, charging infrastructure continues rolling out at a record pace, making it easier and more accessible than ever.
As the transition unfolds, buyers won’t want to go back to ICE vehicles. It will be old technology. Scaringe describes it perfectly when he said:
I think the reality of buying a combustion powered vehicle, in light of the policy that’s coming, is sort of like building a horse barn in 1910. Like, imagine buying a Chevy Suburban in 2030. Like, what are you going to do with that, right? In 10 years? Yeah, like gas stations will be slowly disappearing. It’s just weird.
Your vehicle is often your second largest asset, and “you’re buying this thing that absolutely has no future in our society.”
Scaringe says Rivian’s next-generation R2 products will help drive demand and “pull a lot more customers across that jump” with a $40K to $45K starting price.
Rivian R1T (Source: Rivian)
Rivian’s R2 series is due out at the beginning of 2026 and will be produced at its second plant in Atlanta.
Scaringe said R2 will simplify manufacturing with fewer parts while leveraging what it has learned with the R1 ramp. It will be “a very, very different vehicle architecture than what we did in R1.”
The leader said some of the R1 team members who are already moving to or have already moved to R2 are praising the simplicity. For example, he said the team is talking about stuff like, “Hey, that was a real big challenge when we had to attach the C pillar trim on this part because the clips do this, this and this. Let’s rethink that. Heck, let’s get rid of all the clips.”
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Renewables continued to dominate fossil fuels on price in 2024, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The big takeaway: Clean energy is the cheapest power around – by a wide margin. So it’s pretty bad business that the biggest grid upgrade project in US history just got kneecapped by Trump’s Department of Energy to stop the “green scam.”
On average, solar power was 41% cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuel in 2024, and onshore wind was 53% cheaper. Onshore wind held its spot as the most affordable new source of electricity at $0.034 per kilowatt-hour, with solar close behind at $0.043/kWh.
IRENA’s report says global renewables added 582 gigawatts (GW) of capacity last year, which avoided about $57 billion in fossil fuel costs. That’s not a small dent. Even more impressive: 91% of all new renewable power projects built in 2024 were cheaper than any new fossil fuel option.
Technological innovation, strong supply chains, and economies of scale are driving the cost advantage. Battery prices are helping too: IRENA says utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) are now 93% cheaper than they were in 2010, with prices averaging $192/kWh in 2024.
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But it’s not all smooth sailing. The report flags short-term cost pressures from trade tensions, material bottlenecks, and rising costs in some regions. North America and Europe feel more squeezed than others due to permitting delays, limited grid capacity, and higher system costs.
Meanwhile, countries in Asia, Africa, and South America could see faster cost drops thanks to stronger learning rates and abundant solar and wind resources.
One big challenge is financing. In developing countries, high interest rates and perceived investor risk inflate the levelized cost of electricity of renewables. For example, wind power generation costs were about the same in Europe and Africa last year ($0.052/kWh), but financing made up a much larger share of project costs in Africa. IRENA estimates the cost of capital was just 3.8% in Europe but 12% in Africa.
And even if projects are affordable to build, many are getting stuck in grid connection queues or stalled by slow permitting. Those “integration costs” are now a major hurdle, especially in fast-growing G20 and emerging markets.
Tech is helping with some of that – hybrid solar-wind-storage setups and AI-powered tools are improving grid performance and project efficiency. But digital infrastructure and grid modernization still lag in many places, holding renewables back.
“Renewables are rising, the fossil fuel age is crumbling,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “But leaders must unblock barriers, build confidence, and unleash finance and investment.”
IRENA’s bottom line is that the economics of renewables are stronger than ever, but to keep the momentum going, governments and markets need to reduce risks, streamline permitting, and invest in grids.
Electrek’s Take
Speaking of unblocking barriers and investment, the opposite just happened today in Trump World. The Department of Energy just canceled a $4.9 billion conditional loan commitment for the 800-mile Grain Belt Express Phase 1 transmission project, the biggest transmission line in US history.
It’s a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line connecting Kansas wind farms across four states. It will connect four grids, improving reliability. It will be able to power 50 data centers and create 5,500 jobs. Phase 1 is due to start next year.
The new grid will also connect all forms of energy, not just renewables, and it’s super pathetic that Invenergy had to stoop to put up a map on the project’s home page today showing how it will transmit fossil fuels, the “existing dispatchable generation source,” and felt it had to leave renewables off the map entirely. Sorry, Kansas wind farms, you get no mention because this administration doesn’t like you.
Chicago-based Invenergy plans to build the 5 GW Grain Belt Express in phases from Kansas to Illinois. The company says the project will save customers $52 billion in energy costs over 15 years. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) complained to Trump about the project, calling it a “green scam,” and got the government loan canceled based on a lie, claiming it would cost taxpayers “billions.” This was Invenergy’s response on X:
This is bizarre. Senator Hawley is attempting to kill the largest transmission infrastructure project in U.S. history, which is already approved by all four states and is aligned with the President’s energy dominance agenda. Senator Hawley is trying to deprive Americans of… pic.twitter.com/ZLwTNUGZxA
As usual, Trump was swayed by the last person in the room, and Hawley shot an entire region in the foot when an upgraded grid and more renewables are needed more than ever. Hopefully, this project can continue despite the ignorant shortsightedness coming from the Republicans (who ironically released an AI Action Plan today).
It beggars belief that this political party is this isolated from the rest of the world – well, besides our besties Iran, Libya, and Yemen, who aren’t part of the Paris Agreement either – and being that the US is the world’s No 2 polluter, the world will suffer for its arrogance.
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Earnings are down 23% on falling electric vehicle sales and lower margins, but Tesla’s stock is not crashing because CEO Elon Musk is promising a return to earnings growth through autonomous driving and humanoid robots.
We previously reported on how Tesla’s Robotaxi effort is a major shift in strategy for Tesla, which has been promising unsupervised self-driving in its customer vehicles for years.
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Instead, the Robotaxi service consists of an internal fleet operating within a geo-fenced area, currently only in Austin, Texas, and powered by teleoperation and in-car supervisors with a finger on a kill switch at all times.
“I believe half of the population of the US will be covered by Tesla’s Robotaxi by the end of the year.”
He added that he believes that regulatory approval will be the biggest hurdle, even though Tesla’s current service requires a Tesla employee in each car, which is a major hurdle to scaling.
Musk and Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of self-driving, both claimed that the Bay Area will be the first market where Tesla plans to expand its Robotaxi service. However, Elluswamy added that the program will initially have a driver in the driver’s seat.
This is laughable. Who believes that? How can Elon say that with a straight face when Tesla only has a joke of a system that requires supervision at all times?
For context, Tesla currently only operates in a little over half of Austin, Texas. Here’s the list of all the metro areas Tesla would need to launch Robotaxi by the end of the year to cover half of the US population:
Rank
Metro Area
Population
Cumulative Total
1
New York
19.15 M
19.15 M
2
Los Angeles
12.68 M
31.83 M
3
Chicago
9.04 M
40.87 M
4
Houston
6.89 M
47.76 M
5
Dallas–Fort Worth
6.73 M
54.49 M
6
Miami
6.37 M
60.86 M
7
Atlanta
6.27 M
67.13 M
8
Philadelphia
5.86 M
72.99 M
9
Washington, DC
5.60 M
78.59 M
10
Phoenix
4.83 M
83.42 M
11
Boston
4.40 M
87.82 M
12
Seattle
3.58 M
91.40 M
13
Detroit
3.54 M
94.94 M
14
San Diego
3.37 M
98.31 M
15
San Francisco
3.36 M
101.67 M
16
Tampa
3.04 M
104.71 M
17
Minneapolis–St. Paul
2.62 M
107.33 M
18
St. Louis
2.80 M
110.13 M
19
Denver
2.99 M
113.12 M
20
Baltimore
2.83 M
115.95 M
21
Orlando
2.76 M
118.71 M
22
Charlotte
2.75 M
121.46 M
23
San Antonio
2.60 M
124.06 M
24
Austin
2.42 M
126.48 M
25
Pittsburgh
2.43 M
128.91 M
26
Sacramento
2.42 M
131.33 M
27
Las Vegas
2.32 M
133.65 M
28
Cincinnati
2.26 M
135.91 M
29
Kansas City
2.19 M
138.10 M
30
Columbus
2.14 M
140.24 M
31
Cleveland
2.16 M
142.40 M
32
Indianapolis
2.12 M
144.52 M
33
San José
1.99 M
146.51 M
34
Virginia Beach–Norfolk
1.76 M
148.27 M
35
Providence
1.68 M
149.95 M
36
Milwaukee
1.57 M
151.52 M
37
Jacksonville
1.60 M
153.12 M
38
Raleigh–Durham
1.45 M
154.57 M
39
Nashville
1.43 M
156.00 M
40
Oklahoma City
1.42 M
157.42 M
41
Richmond
1.30 M
158.72 M
42
Louisville
1.28 M
160.00 M
43
Salt Lake City
1.26 M
161.26 M
44
New Orleans
1.23 M
162.49 M
45
Hartford
1.20 M
163.69 M
46
Buffalo
1.11 M
164.80 M
47
Birmingham
1.10 M
165.90 M
This is ridiculous. The lies are becoming increasingly larger and more brazen. We know what that means.
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Tesla claims to have produced the “first builds” of its new “more affordable” electric car models, which are expected to be stripped-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y.
Since last year, Tesla has discussed launching “more affordable models” based on its existing Model 3/Y vehicle platform in the first half of 2025.
We continue to expand our vehicle offering, including first builds of a more affordable model in June, with volume production planned for the second half of 2025.
Now, the automaker talks about launching the vehicle “in 2025” and again claims to have stuck to its “1H2025” timeline with the “initial production”:
“Plans for new vehicles that will launch in 2025 remain on track, including initial production of a more affordable model in 1H25.”
There’s confusion in the Tesla community around Tesla’s upcoming “affordable” vehicles because CEO Elon Musk falsely denied a report last year about Tesla’s “$25,000” EV model being canceled.
The facts are that Musk canceled two cheaper vehicles that Tesla was working on, commonly referred as “the $25,000 Tesla” in early 2024. Those vehicles were codenamed NV91 and NV92, and they were based on the new vehicle platform that Tesla is now reserving for the Cybercab.
Instead, Musk noticed that Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y production lines were starting to be underutilized as the Company faced demand issues. Therefore, Tesla canceled the vehicles program based on the new platform and decided to build new vehicles on Model 3/Y platform using the same production lines.
We previously reported that these electric vehicles will likely look very similar to Model 3 and Model Y.
In recent months, several other media reports reinforced this, and Tesla all but confirmed it during its latest earnings call, when it stated that it is “limited in how different vehicles can be when built on the same production lines.”
The vehicle is expected to be the “stripped-down” Model Y, which will feature lesser material, fewer features, and possibly be slightly smaller.
It is rumored to start at around $35,000.
The Model Y currently starts at $45,000 in the US before any incentive.
Electrek’s Take
I previously speculated that Tesla might wait to launch the stripped-down, cheaper models in the US until after Q3 to take full advantage of the demand that will be pulled forward due to the end of the $7,500 federal tax credit starting in Q4.
Things are currently aiming in that direction.
Ultimately, I think it will help Tesla increase volumes slightly, but there will be significant cannibalization of its existing lineup. I predict that it will not compensate for the decrease in sales.
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