Rivian

While Uptown Normal was filled with Rivian buzz during Sunday’s community event, the real action is taking place 5 miles west at the automaker’s manufacturing plant.

Two years after arriving to a community filled with the hopeful and the doubtful, the electric automaker Rivian received an enthusiastic reception Sunday in Uptown Normal as it showed off three vehicles and invited jobseekers to apply at its manufacturing plant.

As Rivian ramps up hiring to begin producing electric vehicles at its plant in Normal, it's unclear if the plant will be using union workers.

The Bloomington-Normal community was charged up Thursday after Amazon announced its 100,000-van purchase from Rivian—the largest order ever for electric delivery vehicles.

The retail giant Amazon announced Thursday it plans to buy 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian as part of a larger effort to reduce its carbon footprint.

The shift from gas-powered to electric vehicles will accelerate in the next five years as the number of available EV models grows rapidly—including more SUVs and crossovers—and a fast-charging infrastructure is built out, according to an EV expert.

The future of driving will be a system of systems: Cars talking to other cars talking to road sensors talking to traffic signals talking to nearby businesses.

The Normal Town Council voted Monday to rename Mitsubishi Motorway for Rivian, which now owns the plant along that west-side road. It was a 4-2 vote.

A new report makes the case that manufacturing is still a vital cog in Illinois’ economic engine—especially downstate.

If all goes as planned, in a few years Rivian will be one of McLean County’s largest employers. Around 1,000 employees at its Normal manufacturing plant will be cranking out Rivian electric vehicles and skateboard platforms for other automakers.

But for now, local unions say Rivian isn’t being a good neighbor.

Every year leaders across McLean County gather to discuss the State of the County. This year, the county celebrated Rivian and Brandt Industries for providing continued economic development.

Local schools and other taxing bodies will be getting some unexpected tax revenue from Rivian after the electric vehicle startup failed to meet its minimum capital investment amount for 2018.

An auto industry expert says Rivian’s partnership with Ford is good news for both companies—and possibly for the Bloomington-Normal economy too.

Ford plans to invest $500 million in Rivian and use the electric vehicle startup’s skateboard platform to build a new battery-powered vehicle, the companies announced Wednesday.

This week’s Reuters report that GM and Amazon are considering investments in the electric startup Rivian raises all sorts of questions.

Why? How much? And what does this mean for Bloomington-Normal?

Three years ago, Wade Jensen punched the clock for the last time at Mitsubishi’s manufacturing plant in Normal.

When you watch Rivian’s promotional videos, their electric vehicles are always speeding across the beach, winding through a forest, or heading to some sort of adventure.

That’s not Steve Smieszek.

There's no guarantee of success in the auto industry, especially for an electric vehicle startup like Rivian. But there was a moment when John Shook from Rivian's board of directors knew it was in good hands.

This week in a packed LA Auto Show presentation room, the crowd hooped and hollered when Rivian’s electric pickup and SUV pulled on stage for their big debut.