Rivian Automotive Inc RIVN is planning to open up its own EV charging network to rivals this summer, following in the footsteps of Tesla Inc. TSLA, which opened its Supercharger network to non-Tesla customers including Rivian’s earlier this year.
What Happened: Rivian intends to open its charging network known as the Rivian Adventure Network to non-Rivian customers this summer, company CEO RJ Scaringe said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, providing a clearer timeline as compared to the company’s previous prediction of ‘later this year.’
“The key to charging networks is uptime. Very few networks have very large uptimes. Of course, Tesla’s network has an uptime of 99-ish percent. Our network too, [is] around the same. These are incredibly high-performance networks, both of them,” Scaringe said while adding that better charging infrastructure will aid EV adoption among customers.
Opening the network to other EV customers will help the company turn the charging network into a profit center over time and also help it meet one of the requirements to apply for government grants associated with expanding domestically manufactured fast chargers across the U.S., the company said earlier this week.
Rivian had 470 chargers across 77 locations as of the first quarter. The network has an uptime of over 98%, marginally lower than Tesla.
Rivian-Tesla Charging Partnership: Rivian drivers in North America gained access to Tesla's supercharger network in March on the heels of Ford EV owners. The partnership allows Rivian customers to charge at over 15,000 Tesla supercharger locations in North America with the help of an adapter.
Rivian will start incorporating Tesla's charging standard into its vehicles starting in 2025, following which an adapter will no longer be required to charge on the supercharger network.
Rivian Financials: Rivian reported first-quarter revenue of $1.20 billion, beating a Street consensus estimate of $1.16 billion and a loss of $1.48 per share, which missed a Street consensus estimate of a loss of $1.25 per share. The company ended the first quarter with $9.05 billion of total liquidity, including an asset-based revolving credit facility.
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