Rivian has opened a new charging station in Joshua Tree, California, that is open for other EV owners can use — a first for the company. It’s part of a plan to build out a much larger interoperable charging network across the U.S., though the company is still very early in that process.
The new station still uses the CCS charging plug that was the standard until automakers gradually Tesla’s smaller, faster version. Rivian says the company is working to integrate Tesla’s North American Charging Standard tech into future charging stations, and will retrofit existing stations over time.
Rivian has been tailoring much of its so-called “Adventure Network” to have charging stations in harder-to-reach places that are not served by charging networks from Tesla and others. Opening these stations to competitors will allow other owners to venture a bit farther with their EVs, then. But it’s not a wholly altruistic move. As Rivian notes in its press release, opening its charging network makes the company eligible for state and federal funding — which the company says it hopes to use to make the network bigger.
Eos Energy Enterprises
On December 3, the DOE closed a $303.5 million loan guarantee ($277.5 million of principal and $26 million of capitalized interest) to Eos Energy Enterprises to finance the construction of two production lines that promise to produce enough stationary batteries per year to power the electricity needs of 130,000 homes.
The project is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs.
Stellantis and Samsung (StarPlus Energy)
On December 2, the DOE approved a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $7.54 billion ($6.85 billion in principal, $688 in interest) to StarPlus Energy, the joint venture formed by automaker Stellantis and South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI. If finalized, the loan will finance the two lithium-ion battery cell and module factories that are being built in Kokomo, Indiana.
The project is expected to create about 3,200 construction jobs and 2,800 operations jobs at the plants. At peak production, the factories are expected to produce 67 GWh of battery capacity, which is enough to power 670,000 vehicles annually.
Sunwealth
Clean energy investment firm Sunwealth on November 25 scored a loan guarantee of up to $289.7 million for its Project Polo. If finalized, the loan will finance the deployment of up to 1,000 solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems to commercial and industrial facilities across up to 27 states.
Project Polo is expected to create 3,700 jobs, including 1,900 solar and storage installation jobs and 1,700 operations and maintenance jobs.
Rivian
Rivian on November 25 secured a conditional commitment for a $6.6 billion loan to help it restart construction on its massive EV factory in Georgia. Rivian expects to begin operations at the factory in 2028, and it will employ 7,500 people by 2030.
