Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian recently expanded its service center operations in West Sacramento.
Rivian (Nasdaq: RIVN) designs, develops and manufacturers electric vehicles and accessories. The company currently manufacturers an all-wheel drive electric truck called the R1T and an electric SUV called R1S, in addition to electric delivery vans for Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN).
The company opened a 15,000-square-foot service center in January at 1050 Triangle Court in West Sacramento, one of six service center sites in California. Up to this point, the site has largely been used to service the company's electric delivery vans for Amazon. But Noe Mejia, vice president of service operations for the company, said the site recently expanded its operations to include scheduled test drives and order fulfillment for preorder customers — prior to the expansion, vehicle orders were delivered directly to customers.
With the added operations at the local facility, Mejia said the company will be able to bring in a higher volume of customers to become more familiar with the company and to increase efficiency in delivering vehicles to customers.
Mejia said the West Sacramento location was selected for a service center site because it was centrally located and surrounded by several highways, and provided sufficient access for large trucks to enter and exit safely when delivering vehicles. The company has service center sites in South San Francisco and San Jose, and plans to add a location in Reno next year, he said.
"At this time, that's the extent of what we have planned for Northern California, but we are doubling our footprint across the country in terms of our mobile service, technicians and support staff, which will double that service center capacity," Mejia said. "A large portion of our facilities are in California because of the demand for vehicles."
Rivian expects to add 1,000 employees across the country over the next year, with 2023 being the first full calendar year of production for the company. The West Sacramento site currently employs about 25 people and Mejia said they are looking to nearly double that number next year.
The company also plans to continue updating its charging infrastructure around the region to better service its customers' needs, he said. It recently opened a fast-charging site in the REI parking lot on Expo Parkway.
The greater Sacramento area is evolving into a hub for electric vehicle manufacturers. Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) currently has two showrooms and galleries in the area, and recently submitted plans for a service center site on Tinker Road in Placer County. Lucid Group Inc. (Nasdaq: LCID) has also expressed interested in establishing a service center and showroom in Rocklin. Other manufacturers with a presence in the region include Canadian EV manufacturer Lion Electric Co. (NYSE: LEV) and Columbus, Indiana-based Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI).
Sacramento is also home to the California Mobility Center, a private-public entity seeking to foster zero-carbon future mobility technologies. The center has more than 30 partnerships with everything from grid technology companies and electric vehicle startups to international utility companies.
