The Ford Motor Company has announced a $500 million investment in EV startup Rivian, and it will build an electric vehicle using Rivian’s tech, the companies announced on Wednesday. The new vehicle won’t affect the electric F-150 that Ford has been developing, Ford CEO Jim Hackett said on a call with reporters.
Specifically, Ford will build its vehicle around Rivian’s “flexible skateboard platform,” which includes the battery pack and the electric drivetrain that power the startup’s own EVs, the R1T electric pickup truck and the R1S SUV, due in late 2020.
Just two months ago, Rivian announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon. Rivian was also in talks with GM, but the startup reportedly backed out of the potential deal. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe has said Rivian is making “several models” for other companies, too.
Rivian came out of stealth mode in 2018, but it has been in existence for about a decade. Unlike some flashier EV startups, Rivian didn’t announce its first vehicles until it had locked down a manufacturing facility to build them. It also showed off those vehicles much later in their development cycle.