Rivian reports fire at its Normal, Illinois assembly plant. Fire damaged multiple EVs in a storage lot but it’s not known how many were destroyed by the blaze and whether it will affect deliveries of vehicles to consumers.
Rivian revealed that a large fire broke out in a large holding lot at the company’s Normal, Illinois assembly plant.
Rivian has been embarking on a campaign to expand its presence in the EV market as the company prepares to unleash several new models including the R2 and the R3 with the R2 in particular being seen as a crucial model that will bring a smaller less expensive SUV to the hotly contested SUV market with the hope of luring more customers as well.
However, the company appears to have suffered a setback with a fire breaking out at the company’s Normal, Illinois assembly plant. It’s not known how much damage the fire caused, but many completed Rivian EVs were destroyed in what could be a costly loss for the company especially if the destroyed EVs were on their way to potential customers.
Fire shines spotlight on Rivian facility
The fire appeared to also show a vulnerability in Rivian’s one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to building all of its vehicles in one plant.
Rivian’s facility in Normal, Illinois is where the company builds all of its EV models with the four-million-square-foot facility currently being responsible for production of the R1T pickup and the R1S large SUV. The fire itself didn’t affect the assembly plant but started in a parking lot north of the facility. The lot appears to have been used as a holding area for assembled EVs, and the fire damaged or destroyed many of these vehicles but the company was not ready to reveal what models were affected and how many of them were affected by the blaze. The firm did confirm that no injuries or fatalities were connected to the fire.
The fire also revealed a vulnerability in Rivan’s production plans with the company putting all of its figurative eggs into one basket when it comes to vehicle production with all of its models being produced at the Normal, Illinois facility. The company has not completed a second facility to help take some of the load off of the Illinois facility yet with a planned facility in Georgia being axed to streamline costs. As a result, if a more substantial incident took place in Illinois, it might cause significant long-term damage to Rivian due to lost production as well as a reduced inventory of products which comes at a time when the company is attempting to aggressively expand.
More Rivian Stories
- Rivian Gets $5B Investment from Volkswagen
- Rivian Beats Q2 Earnings Estimates, Predicts Q4 Profit
- Rivian Surprises with Three New Electric Vehicles: R2, R3, R3X
Rivian continues preparations for the future
The company is still moving to aggressively expand its presence in the market including production deals with companies like Amazon.
Rivian might have experienced a short-term bump in the road as a result of the blaze, but the company is still moving full speed ahead with its future plans. These include changes at the Normal, Illinois assembly plant with the company recently closing the plant for three weeks for a major retooling project that will help Rivian reduce costs while also simplifying production to help improve how many vehicles the plant can produce during full-scale production.
In addition to producing two new models, Rivian is also focusing on its deal with Amazon with the company being responsible for producing Amazon’s new fleet of all-electric delivery vans and its newly inked investment from Volkswagen with the German car giant working together with Rivan on electric vehicle architectures and the software that helps it all mesh together.
We need an EV Parking Law:
Parked EVs need a five (5) foot buffer zone in all directions relative to the edges of the EV. Note, if two EVs are parked adjacent to each other, there must be a minimum of ten (10) feet between vehicles.
How about talk about the environmental disaster this is.