Earlier than RJ Scaringe based Rivian in 2009, he had micromobility on his thoughts.

Greater than a decade later, his musings took root in a small skunkworks program inside Rivian that got down to reply one query: May the corporate’s expertise be condensed down into one thing smaller and extra inexpensive than its electrical vans, vehicles, and SUVs?

The reply was sure. However what in addition they found, Scaringe informed TechCrunch, was that the skunkworks program was a much bigger concept than may naturally exist inside Rivian. That skunkworks — now a crew of about 70 individuals hailing from Apple, Google, Specialised, Tesla, REI Co-Op, and Uber — has spun out of Rivian with a brand new identify and $105 million in funding from Eclipse Ventures. 

The startup, known as Additionally, will exist as a standalone firm from Rivian. However the two will probably be carefully associated. Rivian holds a minority stake, Scaringe will serve on its board, and Additionally will leverage the automaker’s tech, retail presence, and economies of scale. Chris Yu, Rivian’s VP of future applications, will probably be its president.

Additionally plans to place its flagship product into manufacturing subsequent 12 months for shoppers in america and Europe. The startup will ultimately launch automobiles tailor-made for client and industrial use in Asia and South America. 

Scaringe mentioned Additionally will showcase its first car designs at an occasion later this 12 months. However he and the brand new firm are being coy about what that first product will probably be — although the Rivian CEO did cop to it having a bike-like kind issue.  

“There’s a seat, and there’s two wheels, there’s a display, and there’s a couple of computer systems and a battery,” Scaringe mentioned.

He was clear that the aim is to make Rivian-quality micromobility obtainable at inexpensive costs.

It’s “exceptional {that a} good e-bike prices as a lot because it does,” Scaringe commented. “Like a pleasant ebike, you possibly can spend $6,000 to $8,000 on, and very nice ones, over $10,000; That’s a mirrored image of a poorly developed provide chain that’s very, very, very tiered.”

Additionally’s electrical roots

Scaringe initially set his concepts about e-bikes and micromobility apart as he constructed up an organization round electrical passenger automobiles just like the R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV.

However round 2019, former Rivian chief development officer Jiten Behl — who spearheaded the funding spherical from Eclipse Ventures — mentioned he and Scaringe began speaking significantly about beginning up an effort inside Rivian to grab that chance. 

“There’s a hole right here,” Behl informed TechCrunch he remembered telling Scaringe. “In case you take a look at our cities, the infrastructure is such you can’t have giant vehicles driving round. however they nonetheless have mobility wants. We’d like one thing completely different, one thing smaller, one thing extra versatile.”

Just a few years later in 2022, they introduced on Chris Yu, the previous chief product and expertise officer at bike-maker Specialised to spin up the skunkworks crew.

One of many few publicly obtainable hints that Rivian was engaged on the challenge got here in 2022 when the corporate filed a new trademark for bicycles and electrical bikes, in addition to their corresponding structural elements.

Scaringe talked about e-bikes at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2022, and Bloomberg reported in 2023 that Rivian was engaged on one, however the challenge remained below wraps.

Leveraging Rivian tech

Many firms have tried to design and promote e-bikes that stand out from the group. However Scaringe mentioned these firms have been restricted of their capability to drive down prices, largely as a result of they’re counting on a scattered provide chain and working at low volumes.

Scaringe mentioned the “a-ha second” for Rivian was when he realized his firm may change these variables. It additionally helps that Rivian is engaged on loads of expertise that is transferable to smaller kind components. 

“Most firms within the micro house don’t have, like, a full energy electronics crew, and don’t have a crew that develops the software program OS, and are designing and constructing computer systems,” he mentioned. 

“Oh, wow, we now have all this functionality,” he remembered considering.

Scaringe, Yu, and Behl assume Additionally has potential not solely as a client play, but additionally on the industrial aspect. 

“You could possibly nearly say that the necessity for small kind issue EVs is a bit of bit extra acute on the industrial aspect than the patron aspect, particularly inside dense metro areas, significantly in Europe [where city centers are] shut all the way down to vehicles and vans,” Yu mentioned in an interview. “We’ve seen an intense quantity of pleasure round a scalable platform method for meals, parcel, supply, et cetera, sort automobiles.”

Yu mentioned Is also in “fairly superior discussions with some actually thrilling companions in the meanwhile,” however declined to call any of them. 

The Additionally crew has their work lower out for them. They wish to construct small EVs for shoppers and industrial firms throughout a world market. And they’re keen to construct just about any kind issue to serve these wants. 

Requested whether or not meaning we may someday see an Additionally rickshaw, or skateboard, Scaringe mentioned there are some sensible limitations to what the corporate can obtain. However, he mentioned, “by no means say by no means on something” in micromobility.