Oct. 4, 2021—EV startup Rivian last month rolled its first production R1T electric pickup off the assembly line in its Illinois production plant. 

Rivian has seen rapid expansion over the last three years since it first showed off a prototype of the R1T at the LA Auto Show in 2018, according to a report from TechCrunch. Growing from around 600 employees to 8,000 in that time and securing billions of dollars in investment from corporate partners such as Amazon, Rivian has now beat several competitors such as Ford, GM and Tesla by bringing a full-sized EV pickup to market. 

After months of building pre-production vehicles, this morning our first customer vehicle drove off our production line in Normal! Our team's collective efforts have made this moment possible. Can't wait to get these into the hands of our customers! pic.twitter.com/8ZidwTaXRI

— RJ Scaringe (@RJScaringe) September 14, 2021

Reviews of the R1T have been very favorable. A critic with Electrek calls it "easily the best pickup I've ever driven, both off road and on," and Car and Driver praises its seamless blend of raw power on the road and ability to easily handle most off-roading as well. 

Image: Rivian