Thousands of Rivian R1 and EDV waiting to be delivered from Normal Plant (6/1/23 photo)

[blturner]

I also drove by Normal last Saturday traveling from Kansas City to mid Ohio. I did note that there were a lot of EDVs on the lot. Maybe a thousand, maybe less. Fewer R1Ts. I don't recall if there were any R1S. I also saw 8 EDVs being hauled west on Missouri 36, and 4 more going east on I-80. I figure that I only saw a fraction of the total getting delivered, so I feel like there is a lot going on.

Living in KC, I drive past the Claycomo Ford plant a lot and see parking lots full of trucks. My cousin works there as the guy that manages sending all those trucks to park. He also has to manage bringing them back through the plant to put in the missing electronics like trailer brake controllers etc. When Claycomo has a parts shortage they will keep the plant producing what they can and bring them back through to add the missing items. Keeps the workers busy. Ford will rent lot space from everywhere around the plant.

It all seems pretty normal in Normal compared to what I see around Claycomo. The only difference is that the Claycomo guys park in neat rows.

This is a shot from maps.google.com on one of dozens of lots where Ford was parking F150s and delivery vans. https://goo.gl/maps/i9a82RBogUEnYPSKA
Most everything in that area where they are parked nose to tail is Ford.

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[gingerjet]

It doesn’t prove a robust production rate unless someone has a webcam counting the number of cars coming in and going out. Hopefully production is increasing. Regardless, though, vehicles are piling up faster than they can be disposed of. A ramp faster than the cars can be sold is, itself, a problem. Inventory is cash! And Rivian recently filed to build two more parking lots at the factory (https://www.25newsnow.com/2023/04/0...est-solar-array-massive-employee-parking-lot/) so I wouldn’t say their planning is perfect.

So you say we can't know unless someone is there counting cars and then go on to state that vehicles are piling up faster than they can be disposed of?

Perhaps reading what you write will help you avoid these silly comments in the future.