Forbes - USA (2020-03)

BORN

AGE

NET WORTH

CARS PRODUCED TO DATE

EDUCATION

MARITAL STATUS

SUPERHERO ALTER EGO

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After graduating with his doctorate in 2009,

Scaringe returned home to Melbourne, Florida,

where he founded the company that became Riv-

ian. He and his team spent four years developing

a speedster-like EV before Scaringe found what

he thought was an obvious gap in electric vehi-

cles and one that spoke to his outdoorsy inter-

ests—a truck and a luxury SUV.

Scaringe also spent nearly a decade develop-

ing its innovative skateboard platform—a chas-

sis that contains the battery pack, suspension,

electric motors for propulsion and a computer

to control it all. Finally, in November 2018, Rivi-

an unveiled its two prototypes at the Los Angeles

Auto Show: The R1S, an electric SUV that seats

seven, and the R1T, an electric pickup truck. The

so-called “adventure vehicles” look like the love

children of a Range Rover—rugged, capable and

luxurious—and are packed with the latest ame-

nities such as internet connectivity and a host of

driver-assist safety features.

The company expects to deliver an ambitious

20,000 units (combined truck and SUV) in 2021

and 40,000 in 2022, which could translate to ap-

proximately $1.4 billion and $2.8 billion, respec-

tively, if all goes according to plan. By comparison,

Tesla sold 25,000 units of the Model X in 2016, its

first full year of release.

Beyond its first two releases, Scaringe says

there will be three more vehicles in the Rivian

portfolio by 2024. Though he is cautious about

providing details, Scaringe admits that one will

be smaller in size and all will be considerably

lower in price. It’s a strategy akin to what Land

Rover does with its Defender and top-of-the-

line Range Rovers—i.e., the same base model

with fewer amenities. And if Scaringe can truly

keep the price below $50,000, it will cause far

worse headaches for Musk than a broken shat-

terproof window on his Franken-vehicle, the

Cybertruck.

Tesla, of course, now dominates the EV mar-

ket—by one estimate it represents nearly 80% of

sales in the United States—and Rivian will face

stiff competition in the luxury battery-powered

SUV segment from other automakers. The R1S

SUV will enter a market in the fall that includes

the Mercedes-Benz EQC (starting at $67,900);

the Audi e-tron SUV ($74,800); the Jaguar i-

Pace ($69,500); and, of course, the Tesla Model

X ($84,990). Other automakers such as Hyun-

dai and Kia will offer more affordable options,

such as the Kona EV, starting at $37,190, and

Niro EV, starting at $38,500, respectively.

Rivian should be without real competition in

the truck category, however. Despite Tesla’s high-

ly public debut of the Cybertruck, it’s not expect-

ed to be produced until 2022. And both Ford and

pared to Musk’s manic Tony Stark, is confident he

can overcome any perils or roadblocks. After all,

Rivian is built for treacherous terrain.

R

.J. Scaringe first dreamed of

starting his own car company

when he was in high school. But

unlike most teenage gearheads

with the same ambition, Scaringe

backed it up by studying engineering. His vision

changed in 2007 while attending MIT’s presti-

gious Sloan Automotive Lab, where he attained

a doctorate in mechanical engineering and the

skills he would need to build the vehicle he imag-

ined in his head. “As I became increasingly aware

of how many problems were born out of the au-

tomobile—geopolitical, climate, air quality and

more—it became a huge source of internal con-

flict for me,” he recalls. So he scrapped his plan

for a gas-powered sports car for one that was bat-

tery-powered, much like Tesla’s original Roadster. JO

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R.J. Scaringe

Founder/CEO, Rivian

Melbourne, Florida

37

$1 billion

0

B.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic

Institute; M.S. and Ph.D., MIT,

Sloan Automotive Lab

Married,

three sons

Clark Kent

10,600

“Great work team.”

Elon Musk

CEO, Tesla

Pretoria, South Africa

48

$39.3 billion

900,000-plus

B.S., University of

Pennsylvania; B.S.,

the Wharton School

Twice divorced, five sons;

now dating pop star Grimes

Tony Stark

31 million

“And, no, I’m not an alien...

but I used to be one.”

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