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Rivian’s Additionally Moves Out Into The Scooter, E-Mobility Area

Rivian’s Additionally Moves Out Into The Scooter, E-Mobility Area
March 26, 2025


At the present time, it isn’t in any respect unusual to listen to automakers discuss evolving into “mobility corporations.” A lot of them percentage a grand, however imprecise, imaginative and prescient to serve folks’s transportation wishes in ways in which transcend non-public automobile possession. The one drawback is that those bold desires of constructing small electrical cars, scooters, e-bikes and extra hardly transfer previous the idea that degree into issues you’ll be able to if truth be told purchase.
Now, alternatively, EV upstart Rivian says it is if truth be told doing it. Nowadays, executives introduced the release of Additionally, a brand new “electrical micromobility corporate” that spun out of Rivian and targets to liberate a flagship product via 2026 that is not a automobile, however will assist city-dwellers get round in alternative ways. 

Proper out of the gate, Additionally echoes a not unusual Rivian-ism: “The intent isn’t to turn ideas,” Additionally president Chris Yu instructed InsideEVs. “It is to turn a product that you’ll be able to purchase, and ship a product that you’ll be able to purchase very in a while.”
What that product is, precisely, is not transparent at this time, and Yu is not elaborating. However he did point out that Additionally will take the Rivian means—vertically built-in, electrified and device pushed—to microcars (aka group electrical cars) along side two- and three-wheel cars. 
Yu stated that Additionally began as a “skunkworks” program inside of Rivian itself about three-and-a-half years in the past. Not too long ago, corporate officers determined to make it a standalone corporate, albeit ones with shut ties to Rivian—a “sibling” of types, Yu stated, that Rivian maintains a “vital” funding in. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe sits on Additionally’s board, and the startup moreover introduced $105 million in Sequence B investment from Palo Alto undertaking capital company Eclipse.
What Additionally isn’t, Yu stated, is a brand new automobile corporate that makes small EVs slotting in under Rivian’s choices. “It is the whole thing south of a homologated automobile,” Yu stated, regarding the native and federal rules that may outline one thing as a conventional car. Those lower-speed cars aren’t handiest smaller, however more straightforward to make throughout many alternative areas, and Yu belives they are situated to catch on as folks search new techniques to get round that don’t seem to be focused round automobile possession. 
“Proper position, proper timing,” stated Yu, who has maximum lately served as VP of Long run Techniques at Rivian. “Micromobility and small EVs are roughly following automobiles and generation adoption. However you’ll be able to believe a in reality various set of alternatives and use instances down the street, and there may be one of these massive alternative and one of these giant drawback to unravel.” 
That drawback, he stated, begins with navigating dense city spaces with out emissions. A excellent instance is Paris, which is proscribing get entry to to automobiles in its metropolis middle.
“I believe there may be this pent-up call for, despite the fact that it might not be explicitly recognized, to do higher than sitting in site visitors and combating for automobile areas for brief travel missions, like going to Dealer Joe’s, doing a child drop-off, and many others.,” Yu stated. 
In line with a 2024 McKinsey document, the micro-mobility area is rising hastily within the U.S. and past. In The usa by myself, the usage of shared bicycles, shared e-scooters and different non-car answers have grown between 8% and 17% once a year since 2018. An expanding vary of towns are encouraging their use to satisfy local weather targets whilst a rising cohort of use them to do what automobiles can’t. 
To this point, no longer many automobile corporations have made critical inroads into turning into “mobility suppliers.” Honda launched its suitcase-sized Motocompacto in 2023 and it retails for an affordable $995, however it is tiny and range-limited. Toyota comes out with new mobility ideas now and again, however they hardly see the sunshine of day, particularly outdoor of Japan. And few different automakers have introduced plans to leverage their rising battery and device investments outdoor of automobiles. 
The use of a Rivian-like means manner all of those cars will probably be constructed on a not unusual, adaptable platform with a shared device ecosystem backing them up.
“There may be this idea of the skateboard” platform, Yu stated, regarding the generation that underpins many fashionable electrical automobiles and vans. Strip away an EV’s frame and you are normally left with what seems like an overgrown electrical skateboard—a framework of batteries and motors that an automaker may just use to construct cars of quite a lot of manufacturers and frame kinds. 
“We have now a identical concept, however ‘skateboard’ is perhaps just a little bit unfastened for the reason that shape components may also be so other,” Yu stated. “Some are two wheelers, some are 3 wheelers, some are 4 wheelers.” 
Yu added that Additionally’s merchandise will take the “walk-up” playbook from Rivian, which means the car is aware of who you’re whilst you means and customizes itself for your actual settings. And prefer Rivian, the whole thing Additionally makes will probably be achieved in-house: electrical pressure motors, device, infotainment techniques and extra. (The device aspect of items is completely break away Rivian’s three way partnership with Volkswagen, he stated.)
Like Rivian, Additionally’s merchandise will probably be offered immediately to customers, no longer via unbiased franchises. The objective is to construct them at a number of massive contract factories in numerous areas. 
For now, the corporate is enjoying the whole thing else just about the vest. Yu would not point out what car can be up first, what number of wheels it could have and what it might value. However they’re coming quickly, he stated. Additionally’s objective is to unveil its “flagship” product within the U.S. q4 with deliveries later on. Eu deliveries will start in 2026.
“Then it will be a beautiful rapid-fire collection of each shopper and business car launches and partnerships that can roll out all through 2026 and into 2027,” Yu stated. And for probably the most phase, they are going to be privately owned, no longer made for some Additionally-specific ride-share or e-bike sharing carrier. 
It is a giant swing for any automobile corporate to undertaking outdoor its core lane. However Yu stated that Is also assured that the upward thrust of electrification and world site visitors issues can create a possibility for this type of product to resonate in lots of puts. 
“The dominant modes of transportation in puts like South The usa, Southeast Asia, India and different portions of Europe glance much more like mopeds, scooters, 3 wheelers, and many others.,” Yu stated. “And the velocity of electrification of these types of modes is awfully low. However from a generation and price construction viewpoint, there is not any reason why that is going to stick that manner.” 
Touch the creator: patrick.george@insideevs.com

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Author: OpenAI

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