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Rivian’s manufacturing plant moves closer to full-scale production, documents show
Rivian’s production plant in Normal, Illinois is moving swiftly toward its first days of full-scale production. New documents acquired by Teslarati show the automaker is applying for, submitting, and completing several new additions to its manufacturing plant that will soon begin cranking out builds of its all-electric R1T pickup.
Documents from the Normal, Illinois Inspection Department’s Monthly Permit and Project Summary for February 2021 show Rivian has recently submitted, had permits approved for, and is completing several add-ons to its new factory. While the plant sits at 100 Rivian Motorway, several other addresses on the documents apply to Rivian’s plans, including 100 Rivian Parkway, 301 Kerrick Road, 2430 Electric Avenue, and 2601 W. College Avenue.
With the production of the R1T planned for later this year and deliveries slated for June 2021, Rivian, headed by CEO RJ Scaringe, undoubtedly has major potential to make this year its biggest yet. Of course, delivering its first car to a customer would already be monumental for the company, but production and construction efforts were delayed in 2020 to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Rivian is working to put the finishing touches on its facility as production nears.
Rivian R1T spotted on public roads once again prior to launch
The portion of the documents that outlines the “Significant Projects” in the town of Normal is predominantly comprised of Rivian’s construction efforts at the facility. A breakdown of Rivian’s construction progress is as follows:
301 Kerrick Road
Rivian Lease Buildout – Framing & Roughs
100 Rivian Parkway
Main Entry Renovation – In Progress
Cable Tray Structural – In Progress
Start Me Up Offices – In Progress
North EOL Addition – In Progress
Skateboard Addition – In Progress
North Body Addition – Foundation Work
Cafeteria Remodel – In Progress
S17 Equipment Mezzanine – In Progress
Teams Room #3 – In Progress
Equipment Mezzanines – Foundations & Framing
Battery Mezzanine – Foundations & Framing
100 Rivian Motorway
Paint Shop Lab – Temporary Occupancy
Stamping/Final Assembly – Temporary Occupancy
Final Assembly Floor R1 – In Progress
Phase II Team Rooms, Paint Shop – In Progress
South End Plant Additions – Temporary Occupancy
West Plant Addition – Interior Buildout
2460 Electric Avenue
Service Station Building – In Progress
Vibration Test Lab Addition – Temporary Occupancy
2601 W. College Avenue
Warehouse Remodel – In Progress
Additionally, Rivian also recently submitted two new projects for 100 Rivian Parkway for Outbound Logistics and Phase 3-5 Team Rooms. Rivian was also granted three “Significant Construction Permits for the Month,” two at 100 Rivian Parkway ((Equipment Mezzanines – $11 million, Battery Mezzanine – $463k) and one at 301 Kerrick Road (Rivian Lease Buildout – $1.5 million).
It is worth noting that Rivian’s production facility has been under construction for several years, and was still being completed internally in April 2020, when the company broke the news regarding production delays. Luckily, the company has plenty of financial backing and recently rounded out a $2.65 billion investment round. Rivian recently announced it has partnered with Meridian Audio, and the R1T has been spotted several times in public ahead of initial production.
Documents regarding Rivian’s production facility are available below.
Rivian Normal Il Report February 2021 by Joey Klender on Scribd
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
SpaceX’s Starship flew successfully Friday, landing both stages and deploying its first Starlink V3 satellites.
Starship’s thirteenth test flight delivered exactly what SpaceX needed with a clean liftoff, two successful stage recoveries, and the first real payload the vehicle has ever carried to space. Booster 20 and Ship 40 lifted off at 5:51 p.m. CT from Starbase, and by the time the mission wrapped roughly an hour later, both halves of the rocket had done exactly what they were supposed to do.
Booster 20 separated from Ship 40 a few minutes into the flight and stuck a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about six minutes after liftoff. That is a meaningful turnaround from Flight 12 in May, when the booster lost several engines during its boostback burn before a hard water landing attempt.
Starship as seen from Starlink satellites pic.twitter.com/e2hvfmnewh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 25, 2026
Starship 40’s performance was arguably the bigger win. The vehicle deployed the first 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever carried, then flew a suborbital arc to a landing in the Indian Ocean that SpaceX commentator Dan Huot called the company’s softest splashdown yet. “This is a dream scenario for this team that’s trying to get this heat shield data,” Huot said on the live broadcast, according to Space.com’s live coverage. “I’m a little over the moon right now. Wow. Lucky number 13.”
Unlike the mass simulators SpaceX flew on Flight 12, these were production Starlink V3 satellites, meant to extend solar arrays and antennas and attempt to link with the broader constellation before reentering minutes later. Getting real hardware through a full deploy sequence on only the second flight of the V3 generation keeps Starship on schedule for the payload work NASA is counting on for future Artemis lunar landings.
What an awesome launch, really seems like everything went super well and it was all incredibly smooth.
SpaceX is awesome. Very interested to see how the market will respond on Monday pic.twitter.com/KSHmyBfV55
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 25, 2026
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 25, 2026
The flight also arrives at a moment when SpaceX needed a win. SPCX has traded below its $135 IPO price since mid-July, as Teslarati reported when the mission slipped to Friday, and short interest has climbed to roughly a third of the tradable float. A clean flight will not fix a balance sheet, but it does answer the one question SpaceX absolutely needed answered this week: whether the fixes made after the July 16 abort would hold up under real flight conditions. They did, on both stages, on the first try after the redesign.
SpaceX has not set a target date for Flight 14, though the company has said it wants to push toward an orbital attempt on the next mission. After Friday, that goal looks a lot more within reach.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
