Rivian’s “carbon-conscious campus” will include an event space, delivery center, restaurant, hotel and 144 charging stations.
The factory will build a new full-size electric pickup to compete against Ford’s F-150 Lightning, according to AutoForecast Solutions.
The $5 billion investment — billed as the largest in Georgia’s history — will employ 7,500 and deliver 400,000 vehicles annually. Construction will begin this summer.
The sprawling project is an economic-development coup for the Peach State, which, unlike neighbors Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina has had limited success in landing major auto plants. Georgia’s major success to date was in attracting a Kia factory to West Point.
But government officials in Georgia feel good about their prospects as the auto industry turns to electric vehicle and battery production. In 2018, Georgia landed a $2.5 billion EV battery project by Korean conglomerate SK Innovation.
Rivian’s factory is also critical to the Irvine, Calif.-based automaker’s ambitions to build at least 1 million vehicles a year by the end of the decade.
Last year, Rivian began production in Normal, Ill. The company intends to eventually open plants in Europe and China.
Rivian currently makes two electric models — the R1T pickup and the R1S SUV. It also has an order to produce 100,000 battery-powered delivery vans for Amazon.com Inc., the truckmaker’s largest investor with a 20 percent stake.