Gov. JB Pritzker says the incoming Trump administration seems to be playing favorites in the electric vehicle industry.
At an unrelated event in Normal to celebrate state funding to help open a facility to support McLean County youth, the governor said Trump ally Elon Musk seems to be at least partly behind threats to pull back on federal investments pledged to Rivian and other EV makers.
“Rivian is very much on its feet and doing well and I don’t want the federal government to interfere with the success of any business in Illinois,” Pritzker said.
Musk owns EV maker Tesla, a rival to Rivian and Stellantis, which is due to receive $1.1 billion from the Biden administration to convert Chrysler plants into facilities to make electric vehicles.
Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been tasked by President-elect Trump to cut federal spending through creation of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE].
Pritzker said his office has been talking with Rivian to help ensure it gets the more than $6 billion federal loan pledged for its planned car plant in Georgia.
“We’ve talked to Rivian to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure that that’s secured for the future,” Pritzker said. “I would find it hard to believe they really want to put people out of work.”
Rivian’s plans for the new plant in Georgia had been stalled before the U.S. Department of Energy announced the loan in November in the final months of the Biden administration. The conditional loan is included in the Inflation Reduction Act.
