Rivian will resume prep-work on its planned Georgia factory in August and is still looking to break ground early next year, according to emails TechCrunch obtained through a public records request.
The restarted effort comes months after the Biden administration’s Department of Energy approved a $6.6 billion meant to fund construction.
Rivian has invested more than $80 million in the project as of June 20, 2025, up from $41 million in July 2024, according to a progress report submitted to the local joint development authority included in the emails. The project has created 46 full-time jobs so far. Rivian will begin installing “deep utilities” in August, with “vertical construction” set to begin in the first quarter of 2026, according to the emails.
The company is also reaching out to existing suppliers to see which ones might want to co-locate near the Georgia factory, the emails show. Rivian also asked the state’s economic development department for a list of suppliers already in the region that may be able to help build the R2 SUV and R3 hatchback at the factory when it opens in 2028.
Amid this push to restart the project, Rivian’s founder and CEO RJ Scaringe met with the state’s governor Brian Kemp at the end of May. The company’s corporate affairs director told the Governor’s office in an email that the meeting was a “top priority” for the company.
Peebles Squire, a spokesperson for Rivian, said the meeting between Scaringe and the Governor was a “regular check-in.”
“We discussed our ongoing work in Georgia and gave general project updates as well as discussed ways in which we can continue to have a strong partnership with the state,” he wrote in an email to TechCrunch. The Governor’s press secretary did not respond to requests for comment.
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Rivian first announced the Georgia factory shortly after its IPO in late 2021. The company originally planned to start construction in 2022 and have vehicle production up and running by 2024. It promised to invest $5 billion in the facility and, in May 2022, Rivian lined up $1.5 billion in state incentives to help make that happen.
The factory quickly faced local opposition. And the project took a back seat as Rivian worked around supply chain shortages during the ramp-up of its R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV at its original factory in Normal, Illinois.
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