Scaringe: Suppliers laughed at Rivian's electric SUV pitch in 2013–2014
RJ Scaringe · How to build a $16B car company with RJ Scaringe, founder of Rivian · Oct 14, 2025 · at 19:24
Rivian founder RJ Scaringe recounts the early industry skepticism regarding electric utility vehicles when pitching suppliers in 2013 and 2014.
0:00 / 0:38exact quote · 38.1s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“In, like, 2013, 20 14, I would go meet with suppliers, you know, and CEOs of very large suppliers and say, we're working on an electric SUV and electric truck as a flagship product. Following that, we want to launch more affordable electric SUVs. And the lack of understanding of what an electric vehicle can do in those conditions was so extreme that it's hard to even appreciate this. I mean, I would get to say laughed out of the room is probably accurate. I mean, it would be like, why would you make an electric SUV? And the questions would be, well, what if it has to go over a bumpy road? Or what if it needs to go through water?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from RJ Scaringe
Scaringe: Apple CarPlay creates a jarring experience lacking vehicle-level controls
“We just felt and continue to feel very strongly around creating a consistent, fully integrated digital experience where you're not jumping between apps, let's say from like a CarPlay app back to the vehicle app, and it's quite jarring when you don't have, let'…”
Scaringe: Tesla Cybertruck cannot pass European pedestrian protection safety standards
“Like, for example, a Cybertruck would not, could not work in Europe.”
Scaringe: Rivian is the best-selling SUV overall in California and Washington
“Interestingly, in California and the state of Washington, we have the best-selling SUV, electric or not electric, in California and the state of Washington.”
Scaringe: Vertical integration becomes a huge structural cost advantage at scale
“When you're producing less than 50,000 units a year, the engineering fixed cost and the operational fixed cost to run that is very high, so it's a structural cost challenge. But you reach an inflection. Well, just to run an engineering team to engineer all tha…”
Scaringe: Hands-Free and Eyes-Off Driving Will Be Expected Within Five Years
“Or in this, the next five years, we're going to see autonomy features where the idea of like hands-free or hands-free eyes off go from being something that a very small percentage of customers are looking for or using to something that's essentially expected.”