Rivian shifts to in-house motors to boost production

Rivian Automotive launched the first electric pickup in late 2021 with a game-changing feat of engineering.

The R1T features an electric motor for each wheel, delivering 825 combined horsepower, superior traction and blazing three-second runs to 60 mph, Rivian said. The quad-motor design also helps while climbing rocks.

But that setup is holding back production, an issue that has dogged the startup since the launch. Rivian has a healthy order bank and a modern factory in Normal, Ill., but not enough computer chips for its third-party motors.

Rivian is now shifting to an internally developed electric drive unit — Enduro — that it expects to break the production bottleneck and reduce costs as it plans its next generation of vehicles.

The automaker's woes are rooted in supply-chain shortages that have persisted for certain computer chips.

A shortage of power semiconductors for the quad motors, supplied by Bosch, is throttling output of the R1T and the R1S crossover as customers wait months for their vehicles — or cancel altogether.

Rivian will use its Enduro drive unit in a two-motor design, one at the front and one at the rear, in the R1T and the R1S crossover based on the same platform. The Enduro motor is already being used in its commercial vans.

Rivian's stock price has fallen about 90 percent since the R1T was rolled out to industrywide acclaim. Wall Street analysts blame missed production targets and excessive costs for weighing down the company's finances. Rivian has reduced its work force twice in the past year, most recently in February.

Rivian CFO Claire McDonough said at an investor conference in early April that the in-house Enduro design requires fewer critical semiconductors per vehicle. Since the Enduro units use a different semiconductor supplier than the Bosch units, the automaker has greater flexibility to keep assembly lines humming.

"One of the key mitigation tools that we have at our disposal is the introduction and the ramp of the Enduro drive unit this year, which unlocks a new secondary supply base of our power semiconductors within the plant," McDonough said at the Bank of America event, according to a recording posted online.

Rivian introduced the Enduro motor earlier in the year on EDV vans it makes for Amazon, McDonough said. "Our Enduro drive unit launched on time and is ramping according to schedule," she said.

As the Enduro production line ramps up at Rivian's Normal factory, the automaker will have enough capacity to begin introducing them in its consumer vehicles later in the year, McDonough said.

The new drive unit is also key to the development of more mainstream vehicles on a new R2 platform starting in 2026 at a future factory in Georgia, Rivian executives have said. The R1T starts at $74,800 with shipping, and the R1S starts at $79,800 with shipping. Rivian has said R2 vehicles will be significantly less expensive.

Rivian is now offering the R1T and R1S for preorder in two Enduro configurations: dual-motor, all-wheel drive with 600 hp and a performance version with 700 hp that is unlocked through a software upgrade.

"Our dual-motor awd punches well above its competitive two-motor awd weight class, making it a strong addition alongside our flagship quad-motor system," Rivian says on its website. Ford says its electric F-150 Lightning pickup has up to 580 horsepower from a dual-motor system when paired with its extended-range battery.

Rivian is offering most configurations of its electric pickup and crossover with only the dual-motor setup.

For example, the Enduro motors can be combined with three battery sizes on the R1T: standard pack, with 270 miles of range; large pack, with 350 miles of range; and max pack, with 400 miles of range, according to Rivian's website. The quad-motor setup — an $8,000 option — can be paired only with the large pack for 328 miles of range.

Rivian customers who had already preordered the quad-motor setup with the max pack will have their orders converted automatically to the dual-motor configuration and receive a price reduction, Rivian said in a blog post.

"The R1 quad-motor vehicles continue to represent our highest-level offering for performance, and the dual-motor offering is complementary to it, broadening choices for customers," a Rivian spokesperson said. The automaker also plans to offer the quad-motor option with the max battery pack sometime in the future.

Rivian has set a production target for this year of 50,000 vehicles, including the R1T, R1S and EDV commercial vans. That's about double last year's output. Rivian does not break out production by vehicle.

For the first quarter, Cox Automotive estimated R1T deliveries at 6,213, R1S at 552 and EDV vans at 1,181.

Rivian no longer publicly discloses its preorder backlog but said last year that it had more than 114,000 preorders for the R1T and R1S in the U.S. and Canada as of Nov. 7, 2022. It also has a long-term order from Amazon for 100,000 EDV vans.

As part of its push toward greater vertical integration of parts, Rivian in February switched to an in-house designed audio system in place of a third-party system.

"The new Rivian Elevation audio system is lighter, more efficient and uses less rare-earth metals," the automaker said. "Our testing has shown that listeners prefer the Rivian Elevation audio experience."