Why Rivian Is Burning Billions Building the Ultimate EV Pickup | WSJ Tech News Briefing
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Rivian’s goal to sell the ultimate electric pickup truck attracted a lot of investors when the company went public. But it’s losing money on every EV it builds, raising questions about its future.
WSJ reporter Sean McLain joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss Rivian’s plans to bring costs down.
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#Rivian #EV #WSJ
Rivian is an American company and it is trying to keep its ware houses and factories here made in America, so it is not going to be cheap
Correct. Everyone wants 'made in America' stamp but want to pay foreign car prices. Make it make sense.
I own a Rivian R1S and it’s a fantastic car. Rivian has distinctive features that other cars really can’t compete. I am pretty sure that Rivian will overcome obstacles soon and some old car manufacturers will go out of the business. I think Nissan will be the first one.
How gay do you feel when you drive it?
They are expensive coz they come with removable flashlight and a removable bluetooth speaker.
That make sense.
I can't believe he use those things as examples
Imagine a Rivian salesperson explaining the same answer to a customer. “I know our trucks are expensive, but we have a unique feature no other truck maker has, a small removable speaker and a flashlight “in” the door.” Those two features alone justify a 80-90k price. 😂😂😂😂
A very embarrassing and pathetic answer I may say.
@@wydryfly I wonder if them Rivian pickup trucks come with USB-C or if they charge another 5K for them...
Dual and Quad motor variants, Adjustable height suspension (Tesla doesn't have that), Useable frunk that doubles as a cooler, 11 drive modes, Hydraulic Roll Control, Onboard Air Compressor, Wade through 3-feet of water, Pet Comfort Mode, Gear Guard, 835 Hp- 908 Ft lbs of torque. A little bit of reading beyond a reporter's 'party tricks' would help with this.
It’s because the WSJ is trying it’s hardest to lower interest in demand for equity and inventory in Rivian just like the media attacked Tesla in 2014 on. Look how that turned out.
Rivian only produced 24,000 cars and could only sell 20,000 in 2022. Producing more cars won't solve the problem if they can't sell them. Full-sized EV trucks and SUV's are just not a good idea. People buy larger vehicles because they want to tow or carry a lot of passengers or cargo. They are already too heavy when empty, which requires too big of a battery with the current technology. Add in the additional weight and the range and charging time become a big issue. Look at the Hummer EV charging time. It's 55 hrs at 110V and 10 hrs at 220V and an optimal range of just 380 miles. F150 EV takes 19 hrs with a 110V and 8 hrs with 220V for 320 miles. Hauling cargo or towing can reduce range by 50% or more. It's just not usable other than for daily commuting.
Like Tesla, which lost money for its first decade or so, Rivian needs a lower cost, volume vehicle to get their economies of scale costs down, and get revenue up. The Tesla Model 3 and Y are what turned Tesla's financials around.
Rivian seems very similar to Nissan pre Ghosn, trying to do a lot of unnecessary things, lots of costs with parts and losing lots of money per vehicle
3:20 Reducing the number of computers; It is better to have localized processing of functions with small computers rather than fewer computers with larger wire harnesses going to them as this saves weight in wiring. The small computers can all communicate with each other via canbus or other wire-efficient communication. As Aptera Motors is doing
Wiring is a fraction of the weight compared to the battery.
is that bluetooth speaker an actual speaker in the truck also cuz if it blows then that would suck makes it useless
It is isn't. Great point.
When a vehicle manufacturer starts up production on a new vehicle model--whether it's an existing or new car company--it will lose money on that vehicle until its production rate is about 80 percent (give or take) of plant capacity. All BEV manufacturers (except for a couple) are losing money on their new vehicles, because they haven't hit that 80 percent number, yet. Rivian is no different from Mercedes or Ford or Hyundai in this regard. Rivian's manufacturing rate has doubled from 2022 to 2023, and its COGS has dropped like a stone over the same period. As far as I can tell, Rivian is making rapid progress toward profitability.
In its first full year of production--2022--Rivian introduced several new vehicle models simultaneously. I'm not aware of any other startup car company that has done that successfully in either the 20th century or the 21st century.
It’s interest rates. High rates means that the majority of people who would finance their auto loan purchase is facing car payments of $1,000 or more a month before insurance and charging, maintenance costs. Rivian and Lucid don’t have the sales volume to justify their costs so they either need to sell more volume, cut costs, and raise the price. But by raising the price will lower demand especially when Tesla is cutting prices and putting pressure on other EV companies especially the startups to follow suit but they can’t. Even Ford is losing money on their EV’s and the demand for Ford ICE trucks is down due to the same reason high interest rates and high prices so demand is falling. I don’t see rates going down given strong economy and high employment numbers also continued high housing prices, rent, oil prices. Rates need to remain high much longer than people think and if that happens Rivian and Lucid will need to issue more shares to raise cash. This will tank their share prices.
I love my Rivian !!! It’s fantastic.
Way too expensive per unit and volume it way too low! Same thing at Lucid...
Thank you for another great show, Zoe.
zoe
Only see this thing in the rich areas of my city. It’s like early days of tesla
Great show Zoe, I wonder with demands being already high and them not able to meet the demands, you think $9B would be enough untill the new pipeline/portfolio of vehicles come out on road from the georgia factory
Thank you🙏
The world really needs a very expensive truck that can stowaway a camping stove.
"Redesigning the frame of the vehicle, which the body sits"
This is a confusing remark.
The frame and body design is not traditional and has higher production cost. This is not my opinion, but opinions of people who know how trucks are built.
Losing money on every car sold. I know - let's build another factory!! Nobody has commented on repair time or parts shortages. Hot foot it to Normal and beg for factory direct parts.
I lost my entire life in Rivian stocks.
America is in a recession.....
The company among other EV dealers, will also need to consider the charging stations that they don't have.
most vehicle manufacturers (including Rivian) have announced that they will transition and use NACS which also opens up use on the Tesla Supercharger Network.
They have lost the whole purpose of a truck when they decided to cross with a car. The beds are way too short . My little S10 has a longer bed than a full size pick-up and gets great gas mileage. Too bad they stop making them.
Real reason = you can sell overpriced trucks to guys who think it makes them look cool to drive a big truck.
No mention of the imminent launch of the most revolutionary truck ever attempted which happens to have 2m pre orders? Nah, that wouldn't be hanging over Rivian sales like the Sword of Damocles.
The overlord promised this 'imminent' launch 3 years ago and still waiting. Revolutionary in design, but function wise, the exact same as a Rivian with a slightly larger bed but no gear tunnel. Revolutionary indeed!
Do you know what imminent means? It must be January 2024, right?
I am wondering why they haven’t been charging more to be honest I think they would’ve gotten it it’s getting too late now but over the last couple years they could’ve gotten a lot more for their trucks and SUVs
You have to have enough customers who can afford your truck to be able to ramp production to break even and then profitability. A lot more people can buy a truck for $80,000 than can pay $100,000. And you need people buying your truck and loving it and telling their friends how great it is too. Rivian has done this well, and their losses per truck are down dramatically, but as they are selling a lot more the total losses are similar. It is still the only path, and Lucid gives an example of failing to find that affordability spot and not being able to ramp production because you are failing to find enough buyers.
The ultimate pickup that doesn't have a bumper you can stand on and a tiny bed? Pass.
Three noted items by Sean McLain. None that bring any value to this vehicle.
I wanted one till I found out how much the mf weighs
It's so incredible, but EV rides slowly
Depending on wheel/trim level, Ford Lightening weighs about the same.
Rivian is an interesting company and so is lucid however … there is still something’s missing that can either make them or break them
Tesla has bin the staple of tech , engineering , and movement for ev’s but took a long time to fix its many flaws and still has a way to go ( however they still dominate )
Rivian is cool but only offers 2 vehicles which is killing the company ( however they are backed by Amazon…)
Lucid - has a way to go but is making headlines
It will be interesting to see these companies grow
However I still prefer my petrol vehicle
Their cars are over-engineered, so they cost too much to build. They will keep losing money until they go bankrupt. Tesla survived due to no competition, so they had time to streamline their engineering and reduce costs while commercial interest rates were at 3%. Now with rates at 8-10%, these new EV companies will all go bankrupt.
Flashlights, Bluetooth speakers, and a software update for camping mode is not why Rivian looses $30k+ per vehicle lol
It’s not an “ultimate” anything it’s just a regular ev pickup however the cyber truck is absolutely the ultimate pickup truck
Strange....Cybretruck was promised 3 years ago... and still waiting. But its the ultimate truck? OK.
Do you have one?
Hi Zoe👋, good morning beautiful and smart lady host🙏
I don't think the overpaid CEO's get it. They should start with a cheap around town electric cars with solar charging capabilities. This would be the best sellers.
Tesla's success says otherwise
As Joseph said, Tesla started out with their roadster and Model S, both premium models before creating a more mass market model. They are literally copying the Tesla footprint.
They would need super cheap batteries and very high gasoline cost (to create the demand). Or make them in China and somehow have them ship for free across the ocean. 100% of robots (no people needed) would also be good.
No EV of Tesla is in Indonesia, it seems luxury EV obviously it's expensive, just China and South Korea EV in Indonesia. Welcome Tesla🙏
EV pick up is great news but EV rides slowly, it's different with conventional cars
What does this even mean?
Tesla and others have much better chance of surviving than Rivian. Rivian has a vehicle lineup which is way too expensive and has Rivian heading for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Rivian is locked in a money-losing contract with Amazon. It's even worse b/c Rivian loses money on every pickup & SUV it sells to the public. It's even worse b/c Rivian is now moving key parts in-house; instead of buying more cheaply from suppliers. Rivian already loses a staggering $1.2 bill/quarter. Between the new plant and R&D costs to move production in-house, look for staggering losses to move even higher. With 942 million shares already outstanding, Rivian's Ponzi scheme will eventually run out of new money
What would you recommend in order to turn things around for Rivian?
@@testing6753 in my opinion they could a Ghosn-Nissan Trick. Simplify the vehicles, reduce the useless tricks, reduce costs on parts, which may lead to lower quality but they need to pump way more cars
@@AyrtonGomesz simplify the vehicles? Don't they already only offer two types of vehicles to the market? Their "gimmicks" are what I think they are using as their selling point. I'm not sure how they can turn things around. They just gotta figure out how to mass produce I guess. Honestly I don't see much special in Rivian now that other big boy companies are catching up and producing EV trucks and SUVs themselves, often at lower price point and on par specs.
First Model S Tesla when adjusted for today's inflation is in line with the price of a Rivian today. The Amazon contract is why they still have money to invest... would have done for without that $10B. This video explains the losing on each car problem is related to ramp up of mass market vehicle which the R2 platform is already addressing. When Tesla started, they did not have a high interest rate environment, supply chain stoppage or competition for that matter. Tesla just became profitable in 2020! Maybe a bit more reading...
@@richardcuvilly9831, yes, Tesla was supposed to go out of business a long time ago...
Tesla are the King 👑 of EV