Plymouth, Mich.-based Rivian, an electric truck maker with a growing operations base in Irvine, has received a $500 million investment from Ford Motor Co.
Along with the funding, the two companies will be working together to develop an “all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford’s growing EV portfolio,” the companies said in a statement last week.
It’s the second big investment for Rivian this year. Amazon.com said it would be leading a $700 million funding deal for the company, which was founded in 2009.
Rivian has a roughly 20,000-square-foot location in the Spectrum area, which it uses to test and make batteries, electrical hardware, and vehicle control software. It opened the R&D facility two years ago. Ford’s regional offices are also in Irvine.
Car manufacturing is done in Rivian’s 2.6-million-square-foot factory in Normal, Ill. The company is estimated to employ about 600 people in total, with about 20% of its workforce in Irvine.
