Rivian Adds First EV Charging Outpost In Joshua Tree, Targets 'Special Locations' For Network

Rivian Automotive, Inc. RIVN is building a charging network with stations strategically located to encourage adventurers to drive electric, with its first next-generation Charging Outpost located in a California desert.

What To Know: Rivian's Joshua Tree Charging Outpost opened to the public in early December and supports charging for all EVs, including Tesla, with adapters. 

The Outpost offers amenities to re-charge drivers while they are charging their EVs, including a children’s play area with climbing wall, hammocks and cabanas. Complimentary coffee, snacks available for purchase and handmade, locally sourced furnishings round out the interior. 

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Rivian offsets the power used at its charging Outpost by purchasing energy from renewable sources and focuses on rejuvenation, repurposing and conservation in its site development. 

"We don’t want to build something completely ground up," Denise Cherry, vice president of marketing at Rivian told Newsweek. 

"The most sustainable building you can have is something that already exists. Creating something that we can adaptively reuse is really important to us,” she said. 

Cherry told Newsweek she toured more than 20 potential locations over two years before selecting the Joshua Tree Outpost location for its character and potential to draw adventuresome current and potential Rivian owners. 

"You want them to feel like really beautiful, special locations, and finding buildings that have history and character and a story behind them,” she said.

Rivian deliberately chose the remote location 0.9 miles from the Joshua Tree National Park's visitor center and has plans for another unique offering for drivers at the Outpost.  

Prospective and current Rivian customers will be able sign up for an off-roading experience using Rivian-owned vehicles at the Joshua Tree location beginning in the first quarter of 2025. There will be a cost associated with the experiences that has not yet been publicly announced.

“One of the reasons we’re super excited about this one is because all of the test drives that you do in the city, they’re incredible, but they’re not showing the full capability of the vehicle, just by the nature of being on a paved road,” Cherry said. 

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Photo courtesy of Rivian.