US EV start-up Rivian has confirmed it will build its second manufacturing plant in Atlanta, Georgia, as the state overtook bids from Texas and Arizona, Kallanish reports.

The $5 billion investment took into consideration logistics, renewable power supply, environmental impact and the availability and quality of talent, the company explained on 16 December. The “carbon-conscious” campus is planned for east of Atlanta, in Morgan and Walton Counties.

At full capacity, it will produce 400,000 vehicles per year, employing around 7,500 people. Construction is set to start in the summer of 2022, with production coming online in 2024. Rivian and Georgia intend to start town hall events next year so that residents can learn more about the company and the site plan.

The new plant is crucial for Rivian’s production scaling up following its initial public offering (IPO) last month, which raised $13.7 billion gross proceeds. The manufacturer delivered its first EV, the R1T model, in September. As of mid-December, it has produced 652 R1 vehicles and delivered 386 of those, including the production and sale of its first two R1S vehicles earlier this week.

In addition to the R1T and R1S electric pickup trucks, Rivian is also progressing its commercial vehicle model EDV. The company has an order of 100,000 EDVs from its large investor Amazon, with first deliveries set for this month.    

In parallel, Rivian is also expanding its first plant in Normal, Illinois. As well as site space, the plan is to expand installed capacity from 150,000 vehicles/year to 200,000 vehicles/year with additional investment in the R1 line. The factory will produce the R1T, R1S and EDV 700 – all of which have been certified for sales in the US. Certification for the EDV 500 model is targeted in 2022.

Rivian currently uses separate body shop and general assembly lines for each vehicle platform, while battery, drive unit and stamping portions of the plant are shared across platforms. The carmaker told investors that “launching three vehicles across two platforms during its first year of production requires simultaneous ramp of its supply chain, hiring and training of production workforce, equipment bring-up and rapid iteration through production quality loops.”

Another 800-1,000 new employees should be hired by Q2 2022, it adds.