During the last 2021 earnings presentation, RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian, assured that the company was already working on a new all-electric platform with 800-volt architecture, bidirectional charging and LFP-type batteries . At that time he did not give more details about it; However, in a recent interview with the Automotive News media , the manager has released important news about this, such as that this new platform will be formalized as R2 and will be focused on electric vehicles of smaller size and price.
This information is of notable relevance due to the fact that the names of the vehicles launched by Rivian have the first two digits referring to the electric platform they use; that is, the Rivian R1T and R1S use the R1 platform , so the next batch of products that will sit on this more affordable and smaller will come with the R2 prefix.
A few weeks ago, in fact, the North American company registered a total of 14 names for future products , among which were not the already existing R1T or R1S. Of these, six had the prefix R2: R2T, R2S, R2A, R2C, R2R and R2X. We can all guess that both R2T and R2S should be pick-up and SUV bodies, respectively, of a more reasonable size than what we currently know in the only two models marketed by the firm.
However, the rest of the nomenclatures are a mystery, although many rumors already suggest that the R2A would be a possible vehicle with a sedan body , the R2X a crossover, the R2R a high-performance model and the R2C an SUV. Although, as we say, today this is nothing more than rumors and conjectures.
This new platform will equip all kinds of improvements and new knowledge acquired during the first stage of manufacturing and development of the original models. If the main objective of this new R2 is to put the stamp on more affordable and more contained models, the aforementioned LFP batteries will be the most optimal since these, in general, tend to have a lower selling price than the rest of the variants. .
It is still unknown when we will be able to know all the details about this new platform, as well as the different models that will be based on it, although everything indicates that it will be put into operation once the company has started operations on its future factory based in Georgia and that so many integers promise.
However, there are many who object to certain doubts about the viability of a new platform for the company’s electric cars , since, as many finance experts propose, the most logical thing about future cost savings would be to develop a single architecture modular and scalable for different sizes of cars . Many brands in the sector already have this, such as Volkswagen or Toyota , among others, something that the North American manufacturer should trace.
To add fuel to the fire on the latter that we have just discussed, Rivian also registered other names that could lead to the development of three additional platforms: R3, R4 and R5 . However, it could also be a mere strategic move so that other brands do not take over these nomenclatures that, in the future, could benefit Rivian in the launch of new models or mechanical variants.