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DucRider

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Glad to see they are doing the pilot production line and, presumably, real world testing of those vehicles. GM did this with the Bolt; they ran the line for a few hundred vehicles which were then put in the field for extensive testing for ~6 months. Tesla has, for various reasons, chosen to ignore this industry practice and ship/sell the first vehicles off the line without further testing.
These pilot production vehicles will likely also be the test drive vehicles (as stated above).
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fastwheels

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This week at our plant in Normal, IL, the work of thousands of Rivian team members comes together as our pilot production line begins running.

This important milestone brings us another step closer to our full production launch. It also allows us to more precisely estimate delivery timing.

R1T deliveries will begin June 2021. R1S deliveries will begin August 2021.

Keeping our team safe while making progress has been our top priority over these past few months. We look forward to sharing more updates soon, including details on key vehicle features, the date you’ll be able to configure your R1T or R1S, as well as our plans for our charging network.

Thank you for your excitement and support for what we are building.

– Team Rivian
 

whyasky

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This week at our plant in Normal, IL, the work of thousands of Rivian team members comes together as our pilot production line begins running.

This important milestone brings us another step closer to our full production launch. It also allows us to more precisely estimate delivery timing.

R1T deliveries will begin June 2021. R1S deliveries will begin August 2021.

Keeping our team safe while making progress has been our top priority over these past few months. We look forward to sharing more updates soon, including details on key vehicle features, the date you’ll be able to configure your R1T or R1S, as well as our plans for our charging network.

Thank you for your excitement and support for what we are building.

– Team Rivian
On the plus side, their sticking with their guidance on the configurator:

 

azbill

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Maybe these are for NON Pre-Orders or at a certain cutoff? I am hoping :)
No chance, otherwise why would we pre-order folks get the email. This is also pushing them close to the delivery dates for the Hummer EV, which I would really like to see the official specs on.
 

JeremyK

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Ouch thats pretty late to the game.
Late compared to who? June 2021 is still first to market of any of the major players...or am I missing something?
 

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Hmp10

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I have early deposits on both a Rivian R1S and a Lucid Air. A year ago, both Rivian and Lucid were suggesting late 2020 as their production launch dates. Some months ago I decided to go with the Lucid Air to replace my Tesla, but I've kept my Rivian reservation as I may still want to replace my Honda Odyssey with the R1S.

But each company was sequencing their pre-production work differently, and now it appears that Lucid may get to market some months ahead of Rivian.

I'm a little surprised that Rivian had not begun a full-out road testing program by now. With the Tierra del Fuego outing, I assumed they were putting a larger test fleet on the road back then. This was reinforced by reports that Rivian was testing its platform on a fleet of trucks wearing F-150 bodies.

Unlike Rivian, Lucid had to build its production factory in Arizona from scratch, but construction of Phase I (which can produce 20,000 car a years) is complete, and the factory is already being fitted with production equipment. Lucid has also leased a warehouse in Arizona where components from suppliers have been stockpiled.

Without waiting for their new factory to be complete, Lucid set up an interim factory in Newark, CA in which they installed and could test out the production tooling that was later to be sent to Arizona. With this equipment, they began building a fleet of 80 beta test vehicles. Although Covid-19 shutdowns in California delayed the program, they had over 40 test vehicles completed before the shutdown and had secured permits to put them on public roads. By the time the shutdown began, Lucid had already done multiple highway range tests, cold weather testing in Minnesota, and suspension calibration testing on racetracks and public highways. They put a near-final version of the car through aerodynamic testing a couple of weeks ago at the Windshear tunnel in North Carolina (where it produced a record 0.21 Cd for a luxury sedan).

With the reopening of operations in Newark, Lucid started finishing the remainder of its test fleet and got the existing fleet back on the roads and tracks. The last news I heard from the local press in Arizona is that Lucid plans to start building the production version of the car near the end of August 2020. These initial cars are for quality control of production processes and will not be sold. The first cars destined for customers are scheduled to start building in late December / early January.

Of course, the resurgence of Covid-19 in California and huge recent outbreaks in Arizona may have delayed things again. But in any case, they seem to be much further along with road testing than Rivian.
 

jjwolf120

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I'm a little surprised that Rivian had not begun a full-out road testing program by now. With the Tierra del Fuego outing, I assumed they were putting a larger test fleet on the road back then. This was reinforced by reports that Rivian was testing its platform on a fleet of trucks wearing F-150 bodies.
What makes you think they haven't started a full out road testing program. I recall reading that they were building several 10s of prototypes for testing in 2019 (I did a brief search but didn't find the article). There has also been some sightings of Rivian's in the wild, although it's been a while since one has been posted. Plus of course the footage they release from the desert test track.
 

Hmp10

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What makes you think they haven't started a full out road testing program.
Good question. I went back to try to find what caused me to think this. The closest I could come was a reference to bringing up the production line as a way to produce vehicles for test drives. I took that to mean road testing, but perhaps it meant customers being able to sample the vehicles before delivery starts?
 

electruck

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Good question. I went back to try to find what caused me to think this. The closest I could come was a reference to bringing up the production line as a way to produce vehicles for test drives. I took that to mean road testing, but perhaps it meant customers being able to sample the vehicles before delivery starts?
Here is a good read about pilot production lines. It's essentially a test of the manufacturing process to ensure quality, reduce waste, etc.

Some of the pilot line vehicles are also likely to see duty as customer test drive vehicles as they should be built to production spec. This is an assumption based on Rivian indicating they would provide opportunities for customer test drives after the configurator launches but before deliveries begin and in time to help people decide between R1T and R1S as well as various options.
 

Lil'O Annie

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Bummer. But, I guess that gives us more time to consider other options. I'm not getting any younger and life if too short to wait much longer. We needed this pickup 2 years ago. Thought we'd get it last December, then early 2020, then Covid hit, then it moved to early 2021, now it's moved way out to June 2021. Wouldn't be surprised if Tesla beats them to it and launches the Cybertruck before Rivian gets out the RT1. Bitch, bitch, bitch...I'm not happy.
 

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scottkillmer

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Well, looks like we have our answers! Next June for the R1T, August for the R1S

60175465-967C-45AF-847A-C30A91B12708.jpeg



This week at our plant in Normal, IL, the work of thousands of Rivian team members comes together as our pilot production line begins running.

This important milestone brings us another step closer to our full production launch. It also allows us to more precisely estimate delivery timing.

R1T deliveries will begin June 2021. R1S deliveries will begin August 2021.

Keeping our team safe while making progress has been our top priority over these past few months. We look forward to sharing more updates soon, including details on key vehicle features, the date you’ll be able to configure your R1T or R1S, as well as our plans for our charging network.

Thank you for your excitement and support for what we are building.

– Team Rivian
 

scottkillmer

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this is suspicious to me. i was counting the days till november 2020, then i added 2 months for covid, now we have to add 6 more months?! sounds to me like Rivian is purposefully letting the competition catch them. we shall see.
 

Rob P

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I didn't get that email from Rivian and I didn't put down a deposit until March of this year. I wonder if I am going to be on a later production cycle than folks that are getting emails today?
 

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I put my deposit down almost two years ago and haven't yet gotten an email.
 

kanundrum

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Late compared to who? June 2021 is still first to market of any of the major players...or am I missing something?

To when they started deposits, 3 years later seems like a while, I do understand COVID has delated 3 to 4 months which means they were on track for March 2021, which I guess is late Q1 2021. Eh I guess its par for the course.
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