Electric vehicle adoption is going through a rough patch. Electric truck pioneer Rivian has a simple answer: give consumers more choices.
Offering consumers a wider variety of electric vehicles is “one of the core reasons Rivian exists,” said founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe at the New York Times’ Climate Forward Summit on Wednesday in a discussion with David Gelles.
The conversation comes amid intense political debate regarding electrification, as well as the slowing of electric vehicle sales in the United States. The number of adults in the U.S. who said they were likely to purchase an electric vehicle as their next vehicle fell to 18 percent from 23 percent last year, according to an American Automobile Association (AAA) consumer survey released in June.
Rivian, founded by Scaringe in 2009, has also experienced its share of issues. Earlier this year, it cut 10 percent of its workforce, lowered its production rate due to low sales, and paused plans for a $5 billion production plant in Georgia. Rivian’s stock has fallen nearly 90 percent since its initial public offering in November 2021, causing the company’s worth to fall from $150 billion to just under $12 billion. It closed Wednesday at $11.03, down nearly 53 percent over the last year.
Scaringe, however, is undeterred by these problems. He still believes the future is 100 percent electric but acknowledges it will take longer than everyone expects.
“As much as it seems like electrification is in full swing and upon us, we are still in the very, very early days of this transition,” Scaringe said.
Michael Shlisky, senior equity analyst at D.A. Davidson, agrees.
“It’s only a few years in, and gasoline has been around for almost a hundred years,” said Shlisky. “You just want to get [traditional cars’] market penetration.”
To continue providing more choices to consumers, Rivian has much work to do––like getting to gross profit neutrality, for instance. Though the company beat second-quarter expectations at almost $1.16 billion, it reported a loss of nearly $1.46 billion.
Stifel equity analyst Stephen Gengaro said this lies in improving the manufacturing efficiency of its new R2 car model in 2026.
“The progress and the updates and the timing of that vehicle starting to roll off the production lines are pretty important,” Gengaro said.
But consumer choices could also be stifled by the results of the upcoming presidential election.
The Biden administration has taken numerous steps toward reducing the United States’ carbon footprint, one of which is by investing in the electrification of cars. Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the administration offers up to $7500 tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles, new or used, effectively lowering the price. In January, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy invested $325 million into electric vehicle technology and public chargers to support the administration’s goal of 50 percent electric vehicles on the road by 2030.
These efforts have been met with pushback by Republicans. Former President Trump had repeatedly vowed to roll back the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides electric vehicle tax credits, before reversing his decision due to Tesla CEO and supporter Elon Musk.
Hours before Scaringe took to the stage, Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 author Kevin Roberts likened Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to communist China, claiming that the administration’s electric vehicle initiatives were taking away American’s right to choose and hampering the oil and gas industry.
“You’re better off allowing free people and free markets to make these decisions rather than impose this,” Roberts said of the Biden administration’s tax credits and subsidies.
Scaringe expressed disappointment at the politicization of electric vehicles and called efforts to roll back electrification “short-sighted,” as it would allow other countries to get ahead in electric vehicle production and sales.
“We’ve always, as a country, been leaders,” said Scaringe. “That needs to be the same here with electrification.”