Rivian had said it expects to start delivering its truck, the R1T, in September and its S.U.V., the R1S, later this year. The cheapest model of the truck costs $67,500 and the S.U.V. $70,000. In the filing, the company said that, as of Sept. 30, it had roughly 48,390 orders for its truck and S.U.V. in the United States and Canada from customers who each paid a cancelable and refundable deposit of $1,000.
The Rivian models are part of a wave of electric vehicles coming into the market to challenge Tesla. Earlier this year, Ford Motor began selling an electric sport utility vehicle, the Mustang Mach-E, while Volkswagen rolled out an electric S.U.V. of its own, the ID.4. Ford is poised to add an electric version of its popular F-150 pickup truck next year. The F-150 is a work truck and would not compete directly with Rivian’s truck, which is marketed more as a leisure vehicle.
Another company, Lucid Motors, headed by a former Tesla executive, Peter Rawlinson, is close to starting deliveries of a luxury sedan, the Lucid Air, that is capable of traveling up to 520 miles on a single charge of its battery pack, about 100 miles farther than the longest-range model from Tesla. Like Tesla’s Model S and Model X, the Air is aimed at wealthy buyers, costing $169,000 before federal and state incentives.
Lucid is valued at nearly $40 billion on the stock market.
More E.V.s are set to follow. General Motors is preparing to start selling the battery-powered GMC Hummer and Cadillac Lyriq S.U.V.s, and it is also working on an electric pickup truck of its own. Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Hyundai and other automakers are also adding new E.V.s to the fray.
Success for Rivian could be a lasting boost to the economy around the company’s main production facility in Normal, Ill. The company employs 2,500 workers there, and expects to eventually double the head count.
By doing a traditional I.P.O., Rivian has chosen a different route onto the stock market than Lucid, Nikola and Lordstown, which all became public companies by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that was already on the stock market. Many SPACs have been set up since the start of last year, but critics say the deals offer small investors fewer protections than a traditional I.P.O.