Rivian is gearing up to introduce a new battery pack for its R1 series vehicles in 2024. Claire McDonough, Rivian’s Chief Financial Officer, announced the new pack during an interview at the Barclays’ 2023 Global Automotive & Mobility Tech Conference earlier this week.
McDonough revealed that the new battery pack, distinct from the Standard pack scheduled for a 2024 debut, will feature a simplified structure, resulting in a lighter, cost-effective, and easier-to-produce design.
“And then we’re introducing a new battery pack as well for the R1 vehicles. And that very heavily simplifies the battery pack and module structure that we’ll be building and takes thousands of dollars of costs out, additional mass out, much easier to manufacture and build as well, within the vehicles,” McDonough said. (via Electrek)
The upcoming Standard pack is expected to lower the starting price of R1 vehicles to the low US$70,000 range, and will likely be implemented during a temporary halt in assembly lines in the second quarter of 2024.
McDonaugh also explained that the company plans to introduce three distinct battery packs, two drive units, and a new network architecture, suggesting that this new cheaper battery pack might replace one of the existing three packs – Standard, Large, and Max.
You can watch the full interview at this link, although you will have to register in order to view it.
