RUTLEDGE, Georgia — The horizon was flat aside from a towering mound of red Georgia clay.

SUVs and pickup trucks trudged up the steep incline, harnessing the power of electricity to defy gravity’s pull. Traction and a steady pace helped drivers crest the hill, and that’s the same approach the vehicles’ maker is taking to transform the barren site into one of Georgia’s largest factories.

“There’s been some moguls along the way,” said RJ Scaringe, CEO of electric vehicle startup Rivian. “But we’re excited to be here and to see this day come.”

Scaringe and state and local leaders celebrated Tuesday the forthcoming construction of Rivian’s $5 billion plant an hour east of Atlanta. Once complete, Rivian would join Hyundai as the centerpieces of Georgia’s automotive renaissance in the emerging EV sector.

The road to Tuesday’s celebration was not a smooth one, and many bumps remain in the road ahead for the EV startup. Announced in 2021, the factory’s construction has faced years of delays. Plug-in vehicles, meanwhile, have become politically divisive, and federal incentives for EVs are being rolled back.

Rivian isn’t yet profitable.

Gov. Brian Kemp, who frequently touts his role in recruiting Rivian to Georgia, said he remains confident the EV company has the grit and tenacity to eventually deliver its promises.

“It has been a long, tough fight, but their commitment never wavered,” Kemp said. “And ours did not, either.”

While President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers have gutted federal EV subsidies and other clean tech investments, Kemp has said the automaker represents the kind of “jobs of the future” that states should envy.

Scaringe is in a similar position, betting his company’s future on the Georgia factory’s success. He has repeatedly said Rivian’s path to profitability will be powered by ramping up vehicle production, especially models offered at midrange prices.

“This is really a key part of our growth as a company,” he said. “This is an inflection point for us.”

Delays and setbacks

Rivian was the largest corporate recruitment when it was first announced nearly four years ago. The company said it would open the factory and create 7,500 jobs, with the first phase expected to open in 2024 on a nearly 2,000-acre site in southern Morgan and Walton counties.

State and local officials offered an incentive package worth up to $1.5 billion.

The Georgia factory was delayed as a temporary cost-cutting measure in early 2023. Instead of launching a new midsize model known as the R2 in Georgia, Rivian shifted initial production of the SUV to its existing factory in Illinois.

“They had to go through their own process as a startup,” said Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. “A lot of smaller companies get the opportunity to be an incubator for five to 10 years. These guys didn’t.”

In the interim, Rivian’s promises became overshadowed by established Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Group. The automaker announced and built its Metaplant near Savannah while Rivian’s site remained a dusty field.

Amid the delay, Scaringe insisted Rivian would deliver its promises to Georgia. To reap most of the benefits of the taxpayer-backed incentive package, Rivian has to meet most of its investment and job creation goals by 2030.

Rivian was the largest corporate recruitment when it was first announced nearly four years ago. The company said it would open the factory and create 7,500 jobs, with the first phase expected to open in 2024 on a nearly 2,000-acre site in southern Morgan and Walton counties.

State and local officials offered an incentive package worth up to $1.5 billion.

The Georgia factory was delayed as a temporary cost-cutting measure in early 2023. Instead of launching a new midsize model known as the R2 in Georgia, Rivian shifted initial production of the SUV to its existing factory in Illinois.

“They had to go through their own process as a startup,” said Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. “A lot of smaller companies get the opportunity to be an incubator for five to 10 years. These guys didn’t.”

In the interim, Rivian’s promises became overshadowed by established Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Group. The automaker announced and built its Metaplant near Savannah while Rivian’s site remained a dusty field.

Amid the delay, Scaringe insisted Rivian would deliver its promises to Georgia. To reap most of the benefits of the taxpayer-backed incentive package, Rivian has to meet most of its investment and job creation goals by 2030.

The project also became a local political flash point among neighboring residents. Several lawsuits unsuccessfully tried to stop the factory’s construction, and the grassroots opposition network called No2Rivian has served as inspiration for other communities fighting development projects, such as data centers.

Kemp said the auto factory is a generational investment for this exurban Atlanta community.

“While some who lack vision and knowledge saw this site as only a hay field, others knew this day with come,” he said. “ … The vast majority of people support this project. Those who don’t, I think at the end of the day, they’ll see the benefits.”

Reversing momentum

The factory’s prospects seemed to be fading until two massive announcements last year.

Rivian inked a software partnership worth an estimated $5.8 billion with Volkswagen, providing a new funding stream for the startup. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office also finalized a $6.6 billion construction loan to help finance Rivian’s Georgia plant in the waning days of the Biden administration.

The loan has faced criticism from Trump allies, who have suggested trying to claw it back. Scaringe said his company has kept in constant communication with the Department of Energy “to make sure there’s alignment around this project and to ensure there’s a lot of support.”

The factory’s prospects seemed to be fading until two massive announcements last year.

Rivian inked a software partnership worth an estimated $5.8 billion with Volkswagen, providing a new funding stream for the startup. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office also finalized a $6.6 billion construction loan to help finance Rivian’s Georgia plant in the waning days of the Biden administration.

The loan has faced criticism from Trump allies, who have suggested trying to claw it back. Scaringe said his company has kept in constant communication with the Department of Energy “to make sure there’s alignment around this project and to ensure there’s a lot of support.”

“This is an important project for the U.S., for U.S. technology and for U.S. manufacturing,” Scaringe said. As long as Rivian meets its terms of the loan agreement, he says it’s a settled matter.

Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also owns about a 3% stake in Rivian.

Scaringe also said there are benefits to the delayed timeline, mainly that new technologies can be incorporated into the Georgia plant’s design. Rivian’s sole factory in Illinois is a retrofitted Mitsubishi plant.

“In Illinois, we had a plant layout that was set … the core guts of the plant was set up,” he said. “Whereas here, we’ve designed from the get-go for flexibility and scalability.”

The Georgia factory is expected to be built in two phases, each with a total manufacturing capacity of 200,000 vehicles. Scaringe declined to provide specifics, but vertical construction on phase one is projected for next year. Vehicles are expected to start rolling off assembly lines by 2028.

The Georgia factory will ramp up production of R2, which is expected to start at $45,000. Production of a more compact model called R3, which will also be offered at a cheaper price, will follow. Scaringe said he’s confident those models — and those to come — will make a splash with consumers, justifying the Georgia factory and investment to come.

“I see it clearly. It’s the R2 and R3,” he said on the consumer demands of the future. “That’s the next couple of years, and beyond that, there’s an R4 and an R5 that we haven’t shown you yet.”

©2025 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.