Rivian secured a $6.6 billion conditional federal loan to build a plant in Georgia

Late Monday, Rivian said it had secured a contingent commitment for a $6.6 billion loan from the Department of Energy that can help the electrical vehicle maker resume construction of a massive factory in Georgia.

Funds will come from the Department of Advanced Vehicle Technology Development’s Office of Loan Programs loan program. Rivian said it expects to begin operations on the Georgia plant in 2028, 4 years later than originally planned. By the top of 2030, the factory will employ 7,500 people, and this number is expounded to the motivation package approved several years ago by the Department of Economic Development of Georgia.

In December 2021, Rivian announced plans to build a second factory east of Atlanta, which the corporate said would double the annual production capability of its plant in Normal, Illinois, and would cost an estimated $5 billion to build. Rivian said on the time that the goal annual production capability of the Georgia plant could be 400,000 vehicles per 12 months, with production of next-generation electric vehicles starting in 2024. The company received a $1.5 billion incentive package to build the plant in Georgia, according to documents to the state Department of Economic Development.

Facing a money crunch, Rivian halted construction of the factory and altered plans to build the next-generation R2 mid-size SUV there. Instead, Rivian announced in March 2024 during R2 that the brand new electric vehicle could be produced at a factory in Normal, Illinois. This change was projected to save the corporate $2.25 billion.

A couple of months later, Rivian received $827 million in incentives from the state of Illinois to support the development of the R2 on the Normal plant.

In recent years, the federal loan program has supported many corporations for electric vehicle projects, including $465 million for Tesla in 2009, which was $9.2 billion contingent liability in June to support a Ford-SK three way partnership to finance two U.S. battery plants and a $2 billion loan to help battery materials and recycling startup Redwood Materials finance the expansion and expansion of its Nevada headquarters.