E-truck milestone rolls off the line

Rivian has become the first electric truck maker to actually build a truck. Well, one that will end up in the hands of a customer, at least.

Rivian’s chief executive, RJ Scaringe, tweeted a photo of the first R1T to roll off the production line, surrounded by a group of staff members cheering it on.

The truck will join others like it being shipped out to customers this month, handily beating Ford’s allelectric F-150 Lightning that is expected to go on sale in the first half of next year.

The R1T will be followed by the R1S SUV later this year, and both start with the special ‘‘launch editions’’. Two more trim levels will follow early next year.

An official Rivian email earlier this year confirmed that the R1T and R1S will launch in Europe next year as well. The company has also indicated an Australasian launch is on the cards.

Rivian’s chief engineer, Brian Gase, said in 2019: ‘‘The truck makes sense in the Australian market. We see significant value, particularly with the SUV in righthand-drive markets.’’

Meanwhile, Rivian’s wins don’t stop with the production roll-out.

Amazon and Ford have invested in Rivian and Amazon has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans for the end of next year.

According to the maker, the truck and SUV will produce a healthy 588kW from four electric motors, enough to hit 100kmh in about three seconds and tow as much as 5000 kilograms, in case you ever wanted to do that and have the proper licence. Battery sizes range from 105kWh to 180kWh, with ranges of 400km to 650km.

Rivian’s milestone is a big one, considering there have been a lot of EV startups over the past few years offering the latest and greatest machinery, but few actually get to the production phase.

Rival Lordstown has been under increasing scrutiny in recent months after the company acknowledged that it had no firm orders for its vehicles, just after saying it had enough demand to maintain production through next year.

The company’s chief executive and chief financial officer resigned. Last month, Lordstown acknowledged receiving two subpoenas from federal regulators and said prosecutors in New York have opened an investigation.

Tesla is obviously well versed in producing vehicles, but its Rivian rival, the Cybertruck, is still at least a few months away from a launch.

While the original plan was to have the truck well into production by the end of this year, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said during Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings call that there would be a ‘‘few deliveries of the Cybertruck toward the end of this year, but I expect volume production to be in 2022’’.

It might have lasers to make up for the wait, though.