ATLANTA — Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian was approved for a $6.57 billion federal loan to help it restart construction on a Georgia manufacturing facility to be built in Social Circle.
Channel 2 Action News reported in November 2024 when the U.S. Department of Energy announced a conditional loan agreement with the company. While Rivian had already been set up to build the facility since announcing its development in November 2023, the construction efforts stalled in March.
“Our Georgia plant remains an extremely important part of our strategy to scale production of R2 and R3, but the timing for its launch is expected to be later to focus our teams on the capital efficient launch of R2 in Normal, Ill.,” a spokesperson for Rivian said at the time.
Georgia officials had offered Rivian a $1.5 billion tax incentives package to build the mega-site that would cover parts of Morgan and Walton counties. The development was in the works since 2021.
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In late April, Rivian executives said they remained committed to building the plant.
Now, it appears those plans are again moving forward, thanks to the approval of the conditional loan.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the loan’s approval.
“The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced today the closing of a $6.57 billion loan ($5.975 billion of principal and $592 million of capitalized interest) to Rivian New Horizon, LLC to finance the development and construction of Project Horizon, an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing facility located in Stanton Springs North, near the City of Social Circle, Ga.,” the department said in a statement.
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As previously reported, the loan is expected to allow Rivian to finance the development and construction of the 2,000-acre plant near Social Circle, Ga. that would manufacture up to 400,000 vehicles.
The Energy Department said previously the Rivian plant would support up to 2,000 full-time jobs during construction and 7,500 operations jobs by 2030, while also partnering Rivian with Georgia’s technical college system to build training programs for attracting, training and retaining the workforce they need to operate the facility.
“Rivian’s Georgia facility will allow the company to reach production volumes that make its products more cost competitive and accelerate access to international markets. At full capacity, the EVs manufactured at the facility are expected to yield an annual fuel savings of approximately 146 million gallons of petroleum,” a Department of Energy statement said.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff also announced enthusiasm for the program, sending out a statement when the approval became public.
“Our Federal manufacturing incentives are driving economic development across the State of Georgia. I join all Federal, State, and local leaders in congratulating Rivian on this Federal loan and in celebrating yet another historic Federal investment in Georgia electric vehicle manufacturing,” Ossoff said.
The Dept. of Energy said the agreement includes working with the State of Georgia’s QuickStart technical training incentive program.
“This loan will help us accelerate the launch of our Georgia plant for R2 and R3, providing thousands of jobs in the state,” Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement. “People are incredibly excited to get behind the wheel of our new models, and this additional capacity for our mass market products is key to U.S. leadership in the electric vehicle industry.”
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