Channel: TIME

Category: Education

Description: There is a decent chance Rivian delivers on the enormous expectations it faces. Or it might not. The California automotive startup, which aspires to be the Patagonia of electric vehicles (EVs)—rugged, hip, simpatico to consumers willing to pay a premium to buy from a company that emits a halo of eco-friendliness—is at a critical juncture. The person trying to make it all work is lifelong car geek Robert “RJ” Scaringe, who spent much of his childhood tinkering on cars in a neighbor’s garage. “I had hoods under my bed, windshields in my closet, and engine parts on my desk,” he says. His vision of stylish electric pickup trucks, SUVs, and commercial delivery vans has attracted over 180,000 orders and heavyweight backers including Amazon and Ford. Scaringe, a 39-year-old with a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is now leading Rivian’s “ramp up,” the make-it-or-break-it phase where the company has to prove it can produce a steady stream of vehicles from its assembly lines in Normal, Ill., and eventually a newly announced factory near Atlanta. Read more about Rivian: ti.me/3703S08 Subscribe to TIME’s YouTube channel ►► ti.me/subscribe-time Subscribe to TIME: ti.me/3KN2LiS Get the day’s top headlines to your inbox, curated by TIME editors: ti.me/the-brief Follow us: Twitter: ti.me/3KN2M6q Facebook: ti.me/3KPrjbk Instagram: ti.me/3MTdiv2