Fans of the Apple TV+ series “Long Way Up” will surely recognize the name of the latest electric vehicle manufacturer interested in coming to Texas: California-based Rivian.
While electric-powered Harley-Davidson mdotorcycles were the centerpiece of the series’ latest season – which followed actor Ewan McGregor and friend Charley Boorman riding 13,000 miles from South America to Los Angeles – Rivian’s all electric trucks, working as support vehicles for the pair, caught a lot of viewers’ eyes.
Now Rivian is testing out what kind of welcome the EV truck manufacturer would receive if it were to build a plant in Fort Worth, according to Reuters reporter Tina Bellon who broke the story this week.
“So what we’ve heard is that the main two sites they seem to consider is Fort Worth and Arizona,” Bellon told the Texas Standard.
Last year, we took two early #R1T’s on a 13,000-mile, all-electric journey from Patagonia to LA. Now we get to share it. Long Way Up premieres 9/18 on @AppleTV. Special thanks to #LongWayUp creators David Alexanian, @charleyboorman, Russ Malkin, @mcgregor_ewan & @harleydavidson!
— Rivian (@Rivian) August 4, 2020
Sources tell Bellon that Fort Worth officials are considering offering $440 million in tax breaks. In exchange, Rivian would promise 7,500 jobs paying an average salary of $56,000 by 2027. It’s not clear how far along these talks are, but that tax break package is far higher than the reported $60 million in tax abatements secured by Elon Musk to build a Tesla plant east of Austin – a plant that is eventually expected to help build that company’s planned Cybertruck.
Rivian was supposed to release their first model this summer, but have postponed it. But the company is heavily backed by Amazon which has invested nearly $5 billion, and hopes to have electric Rivian vans replacing its delivery fleet.
“It’s definitely fascinating. I mean, you have Tesla here now, you know, Rivian, potentially coming,” said Bellon. “I would generally say the U.S. South is becoming much more attractive to the auto industry.”
