Electric-car maker Rivian said Thursday its losses nearly tripled to $1.7 billion in the second quarter but were on track to meet production targets.
The California-based maker of electric trucks, SUVs and vans said it delivered 4,467 vehicles and generated revenue of $364 million in the quarter, compared to zero revenue for the same period last year.
Rivian said it produced 6,954 vehicles in the first half of this year and aims to produce a total of 25,000 vehicles by the end of the year.
The company ended June with a backlog of about 98,000 pre-orders from customers in Canada and the United States, according to a earnings letter to shareholders.
“The supply chain is still the limiting factor of our production, but through the close partnership with our suppliers we are making progress,” Rivian said in a results report.
“We expect to be able to add a second shift for vehicle assembly towards the end of the third quarter.”
Rivian attributed its losses to investments in people and technology, as well as car production lines capable of producing many low-capacity cars.
The cost per vehicle should fall as production line volume increases, Rivian said.
The company expected an overall loss of $5.45 billion this year due to factors including rising material and freight costs and supply line challenges, the earnings letter said.
Rivian shares fell about 2 percent after the earnings figures were released in aftermarket trading.
Tech-titan Amazon made an early investment in Rivian, pledged to purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from the automaker by the end of this decade to reduce climate-damaging emissions from its e-commerce fleet.
Rivian said Amazon has rolled out custom electric delivery trucks in more than a dozen cities across the United States.
#maker #Rivians #losses #triple #billion #production #ramps
