Rivian reduces the size of the Department of Energy loan to $4.5 billion for the Georgia plant

Rivian has reworked its loan deal with the Department of Energy and now expects to borrow $4.5 billion to build its new plant in Georgia, down from the original $6.6 billion allocated under the Biden administration.

The company also announced Thursday that it will retire the loan sooner than planned, in early 2027, and expects to increase the Georgia plant’s total capacity from 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles in the initial phase of operation. The company said on Thursday that the larger capacity — a 50% increase over its initial plans — will help reduce unit costs, while also freeing up plenty of room for future capacity expansion in later phases.

Rivian previously said that the Georgia plant will have a total capacity of 400,000 vehicles. While the initial phase, tied to the DOE loan, has been scaled up, Rivian has not shared its plans for the second phase. The original plan was for two stages with a capacity of 200,000 vehicles at the Georgia site. The company’s plant in Normal, Illinois has a capacity of 215,000 vehicles.

During the earnings call, CFO Claire McDonough did not share what capacity the second phase will be, other than to say it is earmarked for future expansion.

She said in the call: “The strategic decision we made is to increase the initial phase of production capacity to 300,000 units.” “At our Georgia site, the full initial capacity will be placed on the top panel on site. So we have the bottom panel, which will remain an untouched green field for future expansion.”

She noted the importance of this $4.5 billion financing in allowing Riven to expand its operations to 515,000 units of total capacity. This number is 100,000 fewer than Rivian’s previously announced combined capacity at the two plants.

Some of the plant’s capacity will be used to produce Uber’s R2 robo-taxi. Under a deal reached earlier this year, Uber is making an initial $300 million investment in Rivian and is expected to buy 10,000 fully automated R2 taxis ahead of planned launches in San Francisco and Miami in 2028. That initial $300 million tranche is expected to close in the second quarter, and another $250 million investment is planned for later this year, according to Rivian.

The ride-hailing company has an option to buy up to 40,000 self-driving R2 SUVs from Rivian starting in 2030. Uber said it will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031 if the automaker hits a series of milestones.

Rivian began construction on the Georgia plant late last year, and is now in the early stages of implementing so-called vertical construction at the site outside Atlanta. The company expects to begin manufacturing vehicles by the end of 2028. Until then, Rivian will build the R2 SUVs at its existing factory in Normal, Illinois.

The company recently began production of the R2 despite the plant suffering damage from a hurricane, and Rivian said Thursday it had made initial deliveries to employees. Deliveries to customers are expected to begin “in the coming weeks,” according to Rivian.

The modifications to the DOE loan come as Rivian revealed its first-quarter 2026 financial results on Thursday. The company generated revenues of $1.38 billion, including $908 million from automobile sales and $473 million from software and services. Rivian’s auto revenue was down about 2% from the same period last year, partly due to lower regulatory approvals.

The company lost $416 million in the quarter, down from a loss of $541 million in the same period last year. That net loss narrowed, in part, to a $506 million gain in other income related to the Series A capital raise and related mergers for CEO RJ Scaringe’s new startup Mind Robotics, according to the company.

Rivian saw operating expenses and R&D costs increase year over year. Rivian’s research and development budget expanded 20% to $458 million as it increased spending on R2 pre-production costs as well as software and cloud services related to developing autonomous vehicle technology.

The combination of these higher costs, plus an uptick in capital spending, has put pressure on Rivian’s free cash flow, which is in negative territory. The company reported negative free cash flow of $1 billion, nearly double what it was a year ago.

This article has been updated with comments from Rivian’s CFO and previously mentioned capacity numbers.