The lame-duck Biden administration lends $6.6 billion to Tesla rival Rivian

Shares of a struggling electric car maker competing against Tesla are rising this week after the lame-duck Biden administration lent the company billions of dollars.

The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it was providing a $6.6 billion loan to Rivian to build a $5 billion electric car factory in Georgia, which the company initially started but then put on hold due to financial constraints.

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Shares of Rivian, a California-based EV startup that has sought to challenge Tesla — whose CEO Elon Musk has been front and center in lobbying President-elect Donald Trump — jumped 15% after news of the loan was announced early on Tuesday.

The stock is up 22% this week. Shares last traded at $12.20 on Wednesday, up 5.6%.

The Rivian loan, which is said to be contingent on the company not actively opposing union organizing efforts at the facility, would allow the company to complete construction of the Atlanta-area plant, which has the support of Georgia’s Republican governor , Brian Kemp.

The facility is expected to employ 7,500 people and will begin production of electric SUVs and trucks starting in 2028.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the former Republican presidential candidate who has been appointed by Trump to co-head with Musk an advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency, criticized the Biden administration for the move on Tuesday.

“Biden is giving electric vehicle maker Rivian over $6.6 billion to build a factory in Georgia that they’ve already stopped,” Ramaswamy wrote in X.

“One ‘excuse’ is the 7,500 jobs it creates, but that comes at a cost of $880,000/job, which is insane,” according to Ramaswamy, who added that the move “smells more like a political coup beyond bow to @elonmusk & @Tesla.”

Rivian, backed by left-leaning billionaire financier George Soros until last year, was worth $150 billion just three years ago but is now worth just over $10 billion.

“This loan will help create thousands of new American jobs and further strengthen U.S. leadership in electric vehicle manufacturing and technology,” wrote RJ Scaringe, Rivian’s founder and CEO, in a press release. the moon.

“A robust ecosystem of US companies developing and manufacturing EVs is essential for the US to maintain its long-term leadership in transportation.”

Musk this week criticized California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, for his “crazy” plan to offer state residents who buy electric vehicles a rebate — though the benefit won’t extend to those who buy Teslas.

While Rivian’s corporate headquarters are located in California, the company’s vehicles are manufactured at a plant formerly owned by Mitsubishi in Normal, Ill.

Rivian’s R1 vehicles cost $70,000 or more. The company plans to manufacture R2 vehicles, a smaller SUV, in Georgia at lower prices aimed at a mass market.

The first phase of Rivian’s Georgia plant is expected to produce 200,000 vehicles a year, with a second phase capable of another 200,000 a year.

The loan to Rivia comes against the backdrop of Musk’s active campaigning on behalf of Trump.

Musk has been a fierce critic of President Joe Biden and Democrats — particularly on issues such as government regulation of business, taxes, coronavirus lockdowns and culture war controversies, including transgender care and free speech.

The Post has sought comment from the White House.