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New Mexico: Tesla 2, Rivian 0. (Service Centers)

RoadRunner

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Tesla now has 2 stores/service centers in New Mexico, both on Tribal land. The first is near Santa Fe and the latest one is near Albuquerque. Meanwhile Rivian refuses to deliver vehicles in NM and seemingly has no plans to open a service center here.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2603347/its-here-tesla-opens-second-nm-location.html

SANTA ANA PUEBLO — About eight months after it was first announced, the new Tesla store located in Santa Ana Pueblo is now open for business.

Thursday’s grand opening for the 35,000-square-foot facility at 1300 Jemez Canyon Dam was attended by tribal and local officials, and included a tour and test drives for the roughly 200 people in attendance.

The Tesla facility, which sits near the Santa Ana Star Casino Hotel, is the second in New Mexico. In 2021, the electric vehicle manufacturer led by Elon Musk opened its first store in the state at a former casino just north of Santa Fe in the Nambé Pueblo.

“Now that we have our facility up and ready to open (its) doors, it’s going to provide new opportunities for us not only here within the pueblo but in our surrounding communities,” Nathan Garcia, the governor of Santa Ana Pueblo, said. “It’s an honor to be a part of this that’s going to change people’s lives.”

But the new facility just north of Albuquerque is the first in the state built from the ground up, Tesla officials said. It features a sales and delivery center, a vehicle showroom, customer lounge, 19 service bays and a parts and storage area.


New Mexico’s two Tesla facilities sit on tribal lands because of a state law that, despite attempts to change it, prohibits vehicle manufacturers from selling directly to consumers rather than through a franchise dealership. Because they are on tribal lands, sales of vehicles from those facilities are not subject to state law.

Officials say the new facility will create up to 25 jobs at full capacity. Additionally, tribal members now have direct access to training programs with Tesla — a move that pushes the local workforce toward clean energy jobs.

Jim Wills of Tamaya Ventures, the business arm of Santa Ana Pueblo, said the Tesla partnership and new facility falls in line with the pueblo’s belief that development is a generational process and doesn’t occur “through a narrow, immediate lens.”

“I think this partnership … really maps to that,” Wills said. “We have talented young people who are getting incredible exposure and skills. We have a pathway now for talented young adults to follow their passion and train. And then, of course, we have this incredible facility.”

The new facility comes as the country has seen an increasing interest in electric vehicles.

Companies such as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. have plans to ramp up the sale of electric vehicles over the next decade. And last year, auto makers sold more than 800,000 electric vehicles — nearly 6% of all vehicles sold — in the U.S., according to figures from Motor Intelligence.

Locally, the state has made plans to expand the number of charging stations across New Mexico. Sarah Cottrell Propst, cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, said Thursday the state has already completed more than $7 million in EV charging projects — and plans to leverage millions of dollars more in federal funding toward additional projects.

Specifically, a plan released last year by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration calls for EV charging stations to be installed at 50-mile intervals — if not closer — along New Mexico’s three interstate roadways.

“As things stand today, we have 230 charging stations publicly available across New Mexico ranging from level one chargers … to level three, the fast chargers,” she said. “But with the plans on the table and expected federal funding, we can see a future in which EV charging stations are available roughly every 50 miles around our state with higher density in the more populated areas.”

Mark Hawes, the president of the Tesla Owners Club of New Mexico and an owner of two Tesla vehicles himself, estimates there are around 2,000 to 3,000 Tesla drivers in the state. But he said he expects that number to grow with the new Tesla facility.

“I think (this facility) will increase the sales of Teslas and their visibility,” Hawes said. “We are trying to help foster the adoption of electric vehicles and clean energy — that’s the ultimate goal.”
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Sounds like Rivian should follow Tesla example and set up shop on tribal lands
 

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Technically neither tesla Service centre is in NM. Just ask the Santa Ana Pueblo whose land it is.

wprth noting the person responsible for all the legal wrangling that squeezed tesla into places others haven’t been able to set up shop now works for Rivian
 

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Your gripe is with your state legislators, not Rivian. I’m sure Rivian would be more than happy to set up in all 50 states.
 
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RoadRunner

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Your gripe is with your state legislators, not Rivian. I’m sure Rivian would be more than happy to set up in all 50 states.
Actually my gripe is with Rivian AND our state legislators. These laws suck, but they actually don't need to be changed for Rivian to set up here and start selling/servicing vehicles.

As a stockholder I think they are missing out on a pretty large potential market by not doing so. NM is a huge truck/SUV state, and there are already plenty of EV's here as well. They are just giving the market to Tesla, Audi, Ford, etc.
 

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Actually my gripe is with Rivian AND our state legislators. These laws suck, but they actually don't need to be changed for Rivian to set up here and start selling/servicing vehicles.

As a stockholder I think they are missing out on a pretty large potential market by not doing so. NM is a huge truck/SUV state, and there are already plenty of EV's here as well. They are just giving the market to Tesla, Audi, Ford, etc.
So it’s somehow Rivian’s fault the state of New Mexico has such ass backwards laws that only ICE vehicles can be sold on state land? You are normalizing an extremely weird situation and acting like because Tesla was able to work out a deal on tribal land, Rivian should too? Tesla shouldn’t have to do that either.

What needs to happen is you vote more sane people into office who aren’t beholden to the ICE manufacturer dealer associations.
 

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Tesla now has 2 stores/service centers in New Mexico, both on Tribal land. The first is near Santa Fe and the latest one is near Albuquerque. Meanwhile Rivian refuses to deliver vehicles in NM and seemingly has no plans to open a service center here.
Its a little premature to compare services offered by a company selling vehicles for 10 years to one selling for 10 months. Its not like Rivian, or any manufacturer, can flip a switch and just offer services across the country. And just about every market likes trucks/SUVs, not just New Mexico. But lets be honest, the only reason why you care seemingly about only New Mexico is because thats the one that affects you. You have no care for Pennsylvania, or areas of Florida, or the Carolinas, or anywhere else in a similar situation.
 
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RoadRunner

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So it’s somehow Rivian’s fault the state of New Mexico has such ass backwards laws that only ICE vehicles can be sold on state land? You are normalizing an extremely weird situation and acting like because Tesla was able to work out a deal on tribal land, Rivian should too? Tesla shouldn’t have to do that either.

What needs to happen is you vote more sane people into office who aren’t beholden to the ICE manufacturer dealer associations.
1. No, the crappy laws are not Rivian's fault, obviously.
2. Audi is selling EV's at their dealer in ABQ. Ford is selling EV's at their dealers in ABQ and Santa Fe. etc. It's not EV vs ICE.
3. I'm not normalizing anything. Just pointing out that there is a solution that Rivian is not taking advantage of, and I think it's a poor business decision. You may disagree, that's fine.
4. Tesla has now worked out 2 deals with 2 different tribes. The most recent one took 8 months from announcement to opening.
5. Agreed, Tesla shouldn't have to do it, but they did and they are selling lots of EV's here now. Rivian is not, but they could be.
6. Great idea, wish I'd thought of that.
 
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RoadRunner

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But lets be honest, the only reason why you care seemingly about only New Mexico is because thats the one that affects you. You have no care for Pennsylvania, or areas of Florida, or the Carolinas, or anywhere else in a similar situation.
Main reason, not only reason. And I actually do care about all the other places too, just not as much as where I live. I would love for Rivian to be able to sell in every state. I would love for all the laws to be changed, and for Rivian to find all the workarounds that they can find to sell in as many places as possible.
 

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Tesla's service center count is not evidence that Rivian is falling behind.

Tesla has over 1.5 million vehicles in the USA that it needs to service and has 173 service centers. That is 1 service center for 8670 vehicles sold.

Rivian has about 0.03 million vehicles in the USA that it needs to service. Based on Tesla's ratio, they would only have 3.5 centers for the entire country. But they actually have 30.

So Rivian has nearly 10x as many service centers as Tesla on a per-car-that-could-need-service basis.
 

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RoadRunner

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So Rivian has nearly 10x as many service centers as Tesla on a per-car-that-could-need-service basis.
And yet there are multiple states with no Rivian service center, and plenty of posts on this forum indicating wait times of over a month to get an appointment at existing service centers.
 

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1. No, the crappy laws are not Rivian's fault, obviously.
2. Audi is selling EV's at their dealer in ABQ. Ford is selling EV's at their dealers in ABQ and Santa Fe. etc. It's not EV vs ICE.
3. I'm not normalizing anything. Just pointing out that there is a solution that Rivian is not taking advantage of, and I think it's a poor business decision. You may disagree, that's fine.
4. Tesla has now worked out 2 deals with 2 different tribes. The most recent one took 8 months from announcement to opening.
5. Agreed, Tesla shouldn't have to do it, but they did and they are selling lots of EV's here now. Rivian is not, but they could be.
6. Great idea, wish I'd thought of that.
You are normalizing it. You are criticizing Rivian for not jumping through a bunch of silly hoops to sell vehicles in a state with absolutely ridiculous laws set up to protect the dealer network. Your entire argument is “Tesla jumped through that silly hoop so Rivian should as well”. The problem isn’t Rivian or their decision to not set up on tribal lands- it’s your state laws.

If it’s such an easy and obvious solution please share with us the details of the deal Tesla made with the tribes.
 
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RoadRunner

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You are normalizing it. You are criticizing Rivian for not jumping through a bunch of silly hoops to sell vehicles in a state with absolutely ridiculous laws set up to protect the dealer network. Your entire argument is “Tesla jumped through that silly hoop so Rivian should as well”. The problem isn’t Rivian or their decision to not set up on tribal lands- it’s your state laws.

If it’s such an easy and obvious solution please share with us the details of the deal Tesla made with the tribes.
No, I'm not normalizing it. It's shitty, but it's the reality in multiple states, and it will take years and millions of lobbying dollars to change these laws. I'm being realistic that they will not be changed anytime soon, and if there is a workaround I think they should use it.

Opening a service center or any business anywhere involves jumping through lots of hoops. It's just a different set of hoops depending on the country, state, county, city, tribe, etc. Tesla and the local tribes they made deals with clearly decided it was worth it. I guess Rivian doesn't think so, and you don't either. That's fine I guess, until you end up in NM with your Rivian and it breaks down and you need to get it towed to Colorado. Not sure why you wouldn't want them to figure out a solution to that?

I'm not saying it's easy - nothing in business is easy, and I don't have any inside info about the details of the deals. But it is clearly possible, and necessary if they want to make money selling vehicles here.
 
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No, I'm not normalizing it. It's shitty, but it's the reality in multiple states, and it will take years and millions of lobbying dollars to change these laws. I'm being realistic that they will not be changed anytime soon, and if there is a workaround I think they should use it.

Opening a service center or any business anywhere involves jumping through lots of hoops. It's just a different set of hoops depending on the country, state, county, city, tribe, etc. Tesla and the local tribes they made deals with clearly decided it was worth it. I guess Rivian doesn't think so, and you don't either. That's fine I guess, until you end up in NM with your Rivian and it breaks down and you need to get it towed to Colorado. Not sure why you wouldn't want them to figure out a solution to that?

I'm not saying it's easy - nothing in business is easy, and I don't have any inside info about the details of the deals. But it is clearly possible, and necessary if they want to make money selling vehicles here.
I 100% do want Rivian to have service centers in NM and all the states with idiotic laws like these implemented. Not necessarily for me, but for you and for Rivian’s success. The difference is that I put 0% of the blame on them for the situation. And I do understand your frustration with it, but I also don’t blame them for refusing to play the games these states are attempting to force them to engage in.

From the language I have seen in Rivian’s communications to customers in states like yours it is clear they would rather focus on enlisting help getting those laws changed because they understand that is the real solution to the problem.
 
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RoadRunner

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I 100% do want Rivian to have service centers in NM and all the states with idiotic laws like these implemented. Not necessarily for me, but for you and for Rivian’s success. The difference is that I put 0% of the blame on them for the situation. And I do understand your frustration with it, but I also don’t blame them for refusing to play the games these states are attempting to force them to engage in.

From the language I have seen in Rivian’s communications to customers in states like yours it is clear they would rather focus on enlisting help getting those laws changed because they understand that is the real solution to the problem.
Glad to hear that! How long do you think it will take Rivian to get these laws changed? I think it will be 3-5 years minimum, and I'd rather not wait that long. NM has a part time legislature that doesn't actually get paid a salary. It's pretty backwards for sure, things take a long time to change here, and I'd rather go around the legislature than wait that long.

No one is blaming Rivian for the legal situation, but I do blame them for failing to respond to it in the obvious and legal way that Tesla has. It's not playing games, it's smart business decisions. It's not that different from opening a service center in a state that is close enough to service/sell vehicles in a neighboring state that doesn't allow it.

Why would they want to just write off an entire state the size of NM indefinitely, when they could put a service center right smack in the middle of it with no lobbying at all?
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