Rivian Chooses Construction firm to build their planned $5B EV factory in Georgia

Rivian, a start-up focused on EV vehicles, made an announcement on December 19th, they have selected a construction company to build their planned $5 billion factory in Georgia. This factory will be located one hour east of Atlanta.
Clayco, a company based in Chicago will be responsible, for building a factory spanning 16 million feet on a vast 1,800 acre site located in the southern parts of Morgan and Walton counties. This project is considered one of the economic development ventures in Georgia and is projected to provide employment opportunities, for around 7,500 individuals once electric vehicles start being manufactured there by 2026.

California-based Rivian currently runs a factory, in Illinois. This facility is located in a former Mitsubishi factory that has been redesigned and adapted to manufacture Rivians vans, the R1T truck and the R1S SUV. As part of its expansion plans Rivian has chosen Georgia as the location for its factory. This new facility will be custom built and will serve as Rivians manufacturing plant intended to produce its next line of vehicles which includes a crossover model called the R2 at this upcoming Georgia factory.

Construction Timeline for Rivian’s Electric Vehicle Factory in Georgia

The vertical construction of the factory is set to commence next year although no specific timeline, for the construction has been disclosed. A representative from Rivian declined to provide any comments, on the matter.

The undertaking, which has experienced setbacks has been embroiled in legal disputes involving zoning, environmental issues and the $1.5 billion incentive package offered by state and local authorities to attract the company to Georgia. In November Rivian finalized a land agreement, with the state and a local development authority in order to secure access, to the project site, where grading work has been underway since year.

Construction company Clayco the company selected for Rivian’s EV Factory in Georgia has increasingly shifted its focus to electric vehicle-related projects in recent years. For example, the firm helped build an electric car manufacturing plant in North Carolina for Vietnamese startup VinFast. It also constructed a factory to make lithium batteries in Indiana for Entek.

Clayco’s executives say the major climate and healthcare law passed by Congress last year, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, has encouraged more electric vehicle companies to locate production facilities in the United States. As a result, Clayco has taken on more EV projects domestically.