- Rivian won't make an extended-range electric vehicle, CEO RJ Scaringe said on Tuesday.
- "That's not in our product roadmap," Scaringe said.
- Manufacturers including Scout Motors, Ram, Jeep and Hyundai are developing EVs with gas generators that boost range.
Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe put a damper on the notion that the carmaker will make an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV).
During the company's third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, an analyst referenced an interview from Scout Motors CEO Scott Keogh, in which he said that 80% of the startup's reservation-holders want the EREV option of its vehicles.
"We're not planning to offer an EREV or, effectively, a series hybrid, which would involve putting an engine into the vehicle," he said on the company's third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. "So that's not in our product roadmap, or something that we're at all contemplating."
EREVs are taking off in China, and they've been hailed as one solution to America's EV slowdown. Ram went so far as to cancel its long-awaited electric truck project in favor of an EREV version.
These are essentially battery-electric vehicles with a gas engine that acts as a range anxiety-eliminating generator. The engine doesn't drive the wheels, but instead feeds energy to the battery and boosts range. The idea is that drivers can use their EREV as a regular, plug-in electric car—but also have the flexibility to go longer distances or do serious towing without needing to stop and recharge.
EREVs are emerging as a solution particularly for bigger SUVs and trucks, which need enormous, expensive batteries to provide the kind of range Americans want. Rivian's R1T and R1S are just that—big electric vehicles targeted at an adventurous buyer.
But you can count Rivian out of the EREV game. Instead, look to the handful of other options poised to crop up over the next few years, as successors to the Chevrolet Volt and BMW i3, two discontinued hybrids of this sort that were arguably ahead of their time.
Next year, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer SUV and Ram 1500 REV pickup will arrive as America's first modern EREVs. Later on, EREVs will hit the U.S. from Hyundai and Scout Motors, the spinoff EV brand from the Volkswagen Group. Scout plans to roll out both EREV and full-electric versions of the Terra pickup and Traveler SUV starting in 2027.
Scaringe acknowledged that while Rivian won't make an extended-range hybrid, he gets their role in the electrification transition.
"I do think it's important to note that part of the journey of electrification is providing customers with choice, and so different manufacturers are going to make different decisions on this. Some will decide to take more of a hybrid approach, or an EREV approach. Others are going to take a pure EV approach," he said. But over the long run, Scaringe thinks the future is all-electric.
"We believe everything will be electric, everything will be software defined, and everything will have very high levels of autonomous capabilities," Rivian's CEO said. "And so we're very focused on continuing to lead with electrification."
Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
Updated 6:36 pm ET with additional comments from Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe.
