Rivian Pauses Plans to Build $5 Billion Electric Vehicle Factory in Georgia, Expands in Illinois Instead

Atlanta, GA – Today Rivian announced that it will pause plans to build a $5 billion electric vehicle factory—proof that Governor Kemp’s supposedly pro-business strategies are hurting everyday Georgians, not helping them. Rivian will instead focus production at its Illinois factory for now—despite $1.5 billion in state-level incentives offered to lure Rivian to Georgia. 

“Kemp has claimed that Biden’s clean energy plan—the most significant climate legislation in our nation’s history—has hurt Georgia more than it’s helped,” said Climate Power States Managing Director Saumya Narenchania. “Now, the people of Georgia will lose out on what would have been thousands of good-paying, clean energy jobs for Georgia because Kemp’s deal with Rivian fell through. If Trump is elected, we will have to say goodbye to federal investments in Georgia’s clean energy economy—and we will have to get used to more and more companies delaying or terminating clean energy projects headed to Georgia.”

In March of last year, Rivian’s CEO told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, “we’re committed to this state [of Georgia] and this project. The future of our company in terms of scaling and growing really relies on the future of this project. There’s not another option. We’re not planning an alternative. This must work.” Yet despite Rivian’s commitment to the state, Governor Kemp has repeatedly publicly denigrated the federal incentives fueling Georgia’s clean energy economy. 

In an interview on Bloomberg Television given at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in January, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp falsely claimed that the Inflation Reduction Act has “hurt” Georgia more than it’s helped the state. This interview follows the governor’s “State of the State” address on January 11, in which he took credit for Georgia’s economic growth and claimed that “Georgia is succeeding because we’ve…rejected the failed policies of Washington D.C.” 

Savannah Mayor Van R. Johnson published an op-ed in Savannah Morning News highlighting the jobs and investment President Biden’s clean energy plan has brought to Georgia: since the summer of 2022, the legislation has spurred the creation of over 29,000 good-paying clean energy jobs and $23 billion in investment in Georgia. 

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