After months of speculations, Rivian finally made its debut on the stock market. Electric vehicle startup’s stock began trading at $106, almost %40 higher than its expected price of $78. Rivian was founded in 2009 by RJ Scaringe, an MIT engineering grad who previously failed on some other EV startups. This time was different. Today Rivian reached an $86 billion valuation after only delivering a few dozens of electric pickups.

Rivian was backed by e-commerce giant Amazon last year. Jeff Bezos is the largest investor of the American EV-maker. Rivian’s stock market success is not a big surprise to the EV community since wealth investors valued the company $27.6 billion in its early 2021 funding round. 

The young automaker has two vehicles on its portfolio; electric pickup Rivian R1T and the large electric SUV Rivian R1S. R1T has four electric motors that produce 800 HP, 1,220 Nm of torque. Top speed is 200 km per hour. It has a 135-kWh battery pack which is enough for 300 miles of range. R1T has also similar specs, consumption figures slightly higher than its pickup version.

Rivian’s stock had a $109 price pre-market. Its valuation reached $99 billion right now. The CEO and founder of the company RJ Scaringe’s stake is worth more than $1.7 billion, as he welcomed into the billionaire’s club yesterday. But not everything is that promising for the auto industry’s one of the first electric pickup manufacturers.

Rivian still struggles with mass production and deliveries

According to forum posts published by the future Rivian owners and some Reddit entries, Rivian’s delivery process is not as smooth as its public offering. Some R1T pre-orders’ delivery time pushed back from October 2021 to February 2022, in some cases to even April 2022. The reason for the delay is supply chain problems, according to the manufacturer. But some argue that Rivian is still struggling with mass production, as delivery-ready vehicles may show severe production-related issues.

Even though the company is now worth almost $100 billion which is more than legacy automakers Ford and General Motors, deliveries of Rivian’s first vehicle will most likely extend into the first quarter of 2022.