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Rivian’s Georgia plant site plan details: 144 chargers, Adventure Trail, and more

Credit: Rivian Automotive

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It appears that Rivian has some big plans for its upcoming Georgia plant. As hinted at in a recently shared site plan and map of the project, Rivian’s Georgia site would be an expansive facility that would comprise several massive buildings that span millions of square feet each, as well as interesting sections such as an “Adventure Trail” and a large 144-stall charging station for outbound vehicles. 

The plans were shared with Teslarati by the Rivian Owners forum. As could be seen in the plans, Rivian’s Georgia plant has a total proposed square footage of 19,620,000 square feet within a 1,978-acre parcel of land. That’s quite an impressive piece of real estate and a significant step up from the company’s existing plant in Normal, Illinois. In comparison to the Georgia complex, the Normal plant was previously a Mitsubishi factory that was simply acquired by Rivian. 

Rivian Georgia Plant Site Plan by Simon Alvarez on Scribd

A look at the plans for the Georgia facility suggests that Rivian is being quite ambitious with its next electric vehicle production site. The complex, after all, will not only have facilities dedicated to the production of electric vehicles. It would also include an onsite delivery center, as well as an impressive 144 electric vehicle charging stalls for outbound vehicle preparations. A dedicated training facility and an event center would also be built.

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Perhaps most interestingly, however, Rivian’s plans also include an “Adventure Trail” close to the complex’s test track. Few details are available about the “Adventure Trail” itself, though the site plans suggest that it would be set up in a wooded area within the 1,978-acre complex. Needless to say, Rivian employees, and perhaps some customers as well, would likely appreciate the onsite “Adventure Trail” in the Georgia site. 

Rivian has captured the market’s interest as a company that may have the potential to be the next big electric vehicle maker. So far, the company is dealing with some growing pains as it tries to ramp the production of its first consumer products, the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV, as well as its electric Amazon delivery van. 

After a successful debut in the stock market last November, Rivian currently stands as a company with a valuation of $73 billion as of writing. The electric truck maker also recently announced that it had successfully produced a total of 1,015 vehicles by the end of 2021. Among this number, 920 were delivered to customers before the end of the year. 

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to tips@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Semi enters new Pilot Program with interesting challenge

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Credit: PTI

The Tesla Semi is entering a new Pilot Program with Paper Transport, LLC (PTI), a Wisconsin-based transportation provider. The company will test the Semi’s Long Range configuration through “dedicated operations within the Chicago market.”

Chicago presents an interesting challenge for the Semi, as it will be a colder-weather climate that will test the Semi’s ability to operate in lower temperatures and in potentially large accumulations of snow. This is something Tesla has been testing with the Semi in Alaska and even in Northern California during the colder months, but Chicago will present a truly tough midwestern winter.

Tesla Semi spotted on journey home after winter performance testing

PTI says it is using the Semi to evaluate its strategy of reducing transportation emissions while maintaining performance, reliability, and cost efficiency. These are major arguments for the Semi being introduced into new fleets.

CEO of PTI Tyler Ellison said:

“PTI has been a leader in sustainable transportation solutions for over 15 years. We take a consultative approach to helping customers identify and implement the right transportation solution for their network. Our partnership with Tesla expands our portfolio alongside renewable natural gas and intermodal, giving customers more ways to reduce Scope 3 emissions without compromising service or economics.”

PTI is far from the first company to adopt the Semi within a fleet, as Tesla entered strategic agreements with PepsiCo. and its subsidiary Frito-Lay for a Pilot Program that extended throughout the California region.

Tesla has let companies like those utilize the Semi to determine whether it would be suitable for their operations. Additionally, Tesla gets valuable information regarding the Semi’s performance, knowing what to improve and what is ideal for companies that will utilize the all-electric truck for regional and nationwide logistics.

PTI plans to utilize the Long Range configuration, which is priced at $290,000 and features a range of approximately 500 miles, a three-motor powertrain, up to 800 kW of drive power, and consumption of just 1.7 kWh per mile.

Tesla Semi pricing revealed after company uncovers trim levels

VP of Maintenance at PTI, Bryan Ellen, added:

“We are excited to partner with Tesla, leveraging their ever-evolving technology. We are bullish in our estimation of the parallels available between our dedicated model and the efficiency of their fully electric Class 8 tractor. We anticipate a growing synergy between our businesses as we work to facilitate this sustainable solution for our customers.”

PTI has logged more than 87 million miles using sources like compressed and renewable gas, but now is looking to take it a step further with fully electric operations.

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Tesla is building a wheelchair-accessible Robotaxi

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A beautiful spring landscape at SoFi Stadium with lush green palm trees and plants with powerful clouds at sunset in Inglewood California USA. (Credit: Tesla)

Tesla revealed on Monday that it is building a new autonomous vehicle at Gigafactory Texas, its plant just outside of the City of Austin. This particular vehicle will be geared toward those who are in need of a wheelchair-accessible car that would require no human driver for operation.

According to a new report from Wired, Tesla’s Senior Policy Advisor, India Herdman, told members of the Washington D.C. City Council on Monday:

“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas.”

This builds upon what CEO Elon Musk said last year on X, which confirmed the company was working on accessible rides within its Robotaxi platform, which currently is confined to the Model Y.

Tesla is also developing the Cybercab, which started employee rides last week. However, this vehicle is not necessarily geared toward wheelchair accessibility.

That leaves a major gap in the autonomous ride-sharing program that Tesla is attempting to build; the company has been pretty clear that it does not want to complicate its manufacturing lines by bringing in a wide array of body styles.

However, it seems necessary to have something larger that could help transport people to appointments when they cannot drive. For wheelchair accessibility, the Robovan, which was unveiled at the “We, Robot” event in October 2024, seems to be the most ideal solution:

Tesla unveils the Robovan at ‘We, Robot’ event

Herdman did not indicate whether she was referring to the Robovan or if Tesla is building yet another body style that is geared toward full autonomy but also caters to the handicapped.

Tesla might need to develop something specifically for the handicapped in order to align with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prevents discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services. Uber was hit with a lawsuit late last year for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.”

Tesla would obviously like to avoid this.

It will be interesting to see what Tesla will do with this project, and whether it will introduce something new to the market or just continue with the Robovan.

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Tesla weirdly confirms Cybercab employee rides, a huge milestone

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla weirdly confirmed that its steering wheel-less and pedal-less Cybercab vehicle is now in the process of giving employees rides, a huge milestone for the vehicle program.

But the entire thing was super strange. On Friday, Tesla released a video stating that there was “Cool news from Giga Texas” and that employees were now taking rides in Cybercabs that have no manual controls. The units seen on public roads are engineering vehicles that have manual controls inside, a necessity as Tesla moved through the testing phase.

However, Tesla removed the video and reposted it shortly after with a more vague title. It seems like the employee rides are still going, but the video was adjusted slightly. The initial upload showed employees doing things like watching movies and adjusting the climate, but these snippets were removed in the second upload.

Both images below were uploaded with the first video, but were removed after Tesla re-uploaded the announcement. These are not available in the second upload

tesla cybercab with no manual controls showing a movie with two employees inside

Credit: Tesla

tesla cybercab with no manual controls showing a movie with two employees inside

Credit: Tesla

Nevertheless, the announcement from Tesla is that the Cybercab is operating with employees inside who can control the vehicle’s audio, video, climate, and destination settings through their smartphone app.

Tesla has already been testing Cybercab engineering units, but last month, it was able to self-certify for SAE Level 4, which would enable unsupervised self-driving in Texas. The company is moving toward that, and the plans have always been to launch Cybercab rides this year.

The Cybercab is potentially looked at as the next generation of Tesla’s mobility leg. For the past 15 years, the company has been known as somewhat of an automaker, among many other things. However, these passenger vehicles that Tesla has manufactured are now moving into a new realm, as they will eventually drive themselves with no supervision thanks to the Full Self-Driving suite.

Tesla flexes how it will help the blind with Cybercab

The Cybercab is just the next step of that: a true vehicle developed for the sole purpose of ride-hailing. It has no human controls, it has only two seats, and it will get passengers from Point A to Point B with no awkward driver, no need for manual inputs, and with no stress.

Tesla is moving forward with other developments related to the Cybercab project as well. However, the big announcement will come when Tesla finally announces that it is launching Cybercab rides to the general public, something that it plans to launch either late this year or early 2027.

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