Georgia lands Rivian EV plant as Sun Belt woos a hot electric vehicle market : NPR
NPR
With two gleaming pickup trucks and the Georgia Capitol's gold dome behind him, Gov. Brian Kemp announced a $5 billion electric vehicle plant was coming to Georgia.
At the rollout event earlier this month, Kemp called his state the economic engine of the Southeast "and now a world leader in electric vehicles and electric mobility."
A bold statement, to be sure, but the company Kemp helped lure to Georgia is indeed a big deal. Rivian is one of the hottest electric vehicle startups. And while it has produced only a few hundred pickup trucks so far, the California company is already valued more than Ford Motor Co. Amazon has committed to buying 100,000 of Rivian's electric delivery vans.
Companies like Rivian are helping drive the automotive industry's electric future. When they look to build new plants, states go all out to woo them. Sun Belt states like Georgia see an opening to chip away at the auto dominance Michigan and the Motor City have cemented for over a century.
