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Five US electric vehicle makers following in the footsteps of Tesla
By Mohammad Zaro, Jordan News
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On the trail blazed by Tesla, the fabled electric vehicle (EV) maker that is now considered the world’s most valuable car maker, many American start-ups emerged in the past few years. A few did make it to the production ready stage, and we are going to take a closer look at them.اضافة اعلان
Rivian
Headed by CEO RJ Scaringe, the California-based company established in 2009 has the strong backing of both Ford and e-commerce and tech giant Amazon. Rivian has bought an old Mitsubishi assembly plant in Illinois, and is ready today for actual serial production. First on the production line list will be a huge order from Amazon to produce 100,000 electric delivery vans.
Rivian is nearing the market launch of its first EV truck, the well-equipped R1T, an all-electric pickup, and the R1S seven-seater SUV, the starting price for which is around $67,000. Both will be on sale later in 2021.
Rivian R1T and R1S. (Photo: Rivian)
Lucid Motors
Established in 2007, the company is led by ex-Tesla top engineer Peter Rawlinson. The company has the strong financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investments Fund. Lucid’s mega manufacturing facility has been completed recently in the state of Arizona, and according to Bloomberg, Lucid is also considering a Saudi offer to build a second plant in Jeddah.
Lucid has recently shown off some teaser videos for its first model. The Lucid Air, is a Luxury sedan with a price tag of $169,000, and a driving range of more than 800km on a single charge. The Air is due for market launch later this summer. The company is unique in having its own proprietary battery and motor technology, which enables the Lucid Air to have sports car-like performance, and the ability to drive further without charging. The company announced that less pricey versions are expected later, including an entry-level model anticipated to start at around $77,000.
Lucid Air. (Photo: Lucid)
Lordstown Motors
This company’s story is all about a rustbelt town that refused to die, Lordstown, Ohio. The town, which used to be home to a major General Motors (GM) plant, has revived its fortunes with the establishment of the Lordstown Motors Company, headed by Steve Burns. Burns, an ambitious truck maker, has in investment stakes from Workhorse Group Inc., Fidelity Investments, and GM.
The newly retooled plant has hired 1,000 workers, the majority of whom were laid off previously by GM when the plant ceased production. The plant is now ready to build battery-powered pickup trucks for commercial fleets and the company hopes to start production by the third quarter of 2021.
The first model will be the Endurance electric pickup truck, with starting price around $52,500. It’s penned to compete with Rivian R1T, the GMC Hummer EV, and Ford’s F-150 EV, all coming out before the end of 2022.
Lordsdown Motors Endurance. (Photo: Lordstown Motors)
Fisker
Founded by Henrik Fisker, an ex-BMW designer and founder of Karma Automotive, Fisker is his new EV venture based in California. It is backed by a group of international investors including Apollo Global Management and automotive components giant Magna. Magna, whose services are currently employed by Mercedes Benz and Porche, will handle the assembly of Fisker models, while Fisker and his team will be focused on design and software.
Fisker in the final stages of preparing to launch their first model, The Ocean, a sleek looking SUV EV, is planned to start production in early in 2022. Pricing starts at $37,500.
Fisker Ocean. (Photo: Fisker)
Bollinger
Founded by Robert Bollinger, this truck and SUV EV manufacturer was foundedin New York City in 2014, only to move later to Oak Park, Michigan, closer to the heart on the traditional auto industry in Detroit.
The company is focused on creating an easy-to-configure EV platform that can be used for both trucks and SUVs, based on their B1 and B2 models.
Bollinger is set to start serial production and sales of both B1 and B2 models in 2021, with prices starting from $70,000.
Bollinger B1. (Photo: Bollinger)
Read more Drive Stories.
Rivian
Headed by CEO RJ Scaringe, the California-based company established in 2009 has the strong backing of both Ford and e-commerce and tech giant Amazon. Rivian has bought an old Mitsubishi assembly plant in Illinois, and is ready today for actual serial production. First on the production line list will be a huge order from Amazon to produce 100,000 electric delivery vans.
Rivian is nearing the market launch of its first EV truck, the well-equipped R1T, an all-electric pickup, and the R1S seven-seater SUV, the starting price for which is around $67,000. Both will be on sale later in 2021.
Rivian R1T and R1S. (Photo: Rivian)
Lucid Motors
Established in 2007, the company is led by ex-Tesla top engineer Peter Rawlinson. The company has the strong financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investments Fund. Lucid’s mega manufacturing facility has been completed recently in the state of Arizona, and according to Bloomberg, Lucid is also considering a Saudi offer to build a second plant in Jeddah.
Lucid has recently shown off some teaser videos for its first model. The Lucid Air, is a Luxury sedan with a price tag of $169,000, and a driving range of more than 800km on a single charge. The Air is due for market launch later this summer. The company is unique in having its own proprietary battery and motor technology, which enables the Lucid Air to have sports car-like performance, and the ability to drive further without charging. The company announced that less pricey versions are expected later, including an entry-level model anticipated to start at around $77,000.
Lucid Air. (Photo: Lucid)
Lordstown Motors
This company’s story is all about a rustbelt town that refused to die, Lordstown, Ohio. The town, which used to be home to a major General Motors (GM) plant, has revived its fortunes with the establishment of the Lordstown Motors Company, headed by Steve Burns. Burns, an ambitious truck maker, has in investment stakes from Workhorse Group Inc., Fidelity Investments, and GM.
The newly retooled plant has hired 1,000 workers, the majority of whom were laid off previously by GM when the plant ceased production. The plant is now ready to build battery-powered pickup trucks for commercial fleets and the company hopes to start production by the third quarter of 2021.
The first model will be the Endurance electric pickup truck, with starting price around $52,500. It’s penned to compete with Rivian R1T, the GMC Hummer EV, and Ford’s F-150 EV, all coming out before the end of 2022.
Lordsdown Motors Endurance. (Photo: Lordstown Motors)
Fisker
Founded by Henrik Fisker, an ex-BMW designer and founder of Karma Automotive, Fisker is his new EV venture based in California. It is backed by a group of international investors including Apollo Global Management and automotive components giant Magna. Magna, whose services are currently employed by Mercedes Benz and Porche, will handle the assembly of Fisker models, while Fisker and his team will be focused on design and software.
Fisker in the final stages of preparing to launch their first model, The Ocean, a sleek looking SUV EV, is planned to start production in early in 2022. Pricing starts at $37,500.
Fisker Ocean. (Photo: Fisker)
Bollinger
Founded by Robert Bollinger, this truck and SUV EV manufacturer was foundedin New York City in 2014, only to move later to Oak Park, Michigan, closer to the heart on the traditional auto industry in Detroit.
The company is focused on creating an easy-to-configure EV platform that can be used for both trucks and SUVs, based on their B1 and B2 models.
Bollinger is set to start serial production and sales of both B1 and B2 models in 2021, with prices starting from $70,000.
Bollinger B1. (Photo: Bollinger)
Read more Drive Stories.
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