Rivian CEO shrugs off Trump's rollback of EV incentives
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
- President Donald Trump moved to axe Biden-era tax incentives around electric vehicle purchases.
- Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told BI EV companies like his face uncertainty but aren't doomed.
- Scaringe said a lack of an EV tax incentive has pushed Rivian to explore lower-priced vehicles.
The CEO of electric vehicle startup Rivian said President Donald Trump's move to revoke EV subsidies isn't keeping him up at night.
In an interview with Business Insider at Rivian's new San Francisco flagship store on Thursday, CEO RJ Scaringe said the EV industry faces a "high degree of uncertainty" in the next few years, but that Trump's step to axe the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act, which included a $7,500 tax incentive for EV purchases, is "less impactful than people believe."
"I don't think removing a $7,500 credit is going to change the end state," he said. "The end state's still clear. It's still going to be electric."
Scaringe said the removal of the credit creates an opportunity for Rivian to explore lower-priced vehicles.
In March, Rivian announced its R2 SUV, which will have a $45,000 starting price point. The company plans to begin production in 2026.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that signaled his intention to eliminate what he calls the "electric vehicle (EV) mandate and promote true consumer choice." The order said it would remove "state emissions waivers" and other "ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase."
Stocks for smaller EV companies fell shortly after, with Rivian falling more than 6%. The CEO shrugged it off.
"It wasn't like market values dropped by 50%. They dropped by 5, 10%," he said.
Scaringe called the Biden-era subsidies a "tailwind," but he said Rivian's business wasn't designed to rely on incentives and his company didn't expect them to last forever.
"It's not like the business has some deep fundamental design around IRA," he said, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act. "It was there — that was nice. It's not going to be there now, but it's okay."
EVs have become a hot-button political issue in recent years. Former President Joe Biden pushed electric vehicles as part of his administration's broader goal to combat climate change. Trump has repeatedly bashed the technology, once calling them "too expensive," and criticized their range at a rally in Detroit in 2023.
Scaringe said his vehicles have attracted customers across the political spectrum. He also said the best way to combat the controversy around EVs is to create a product people want.
"I think we have to be really careful that it doesn't feel like people are being forced to make a decision," he said. "And so the best way to do that is to make products that are so cool and so desirable that it's not something that you're buying purely because it's sustainable, you're buying it because it's exciting."