[J-P (as in plug)]

Teslarati had this interesting piece yesterday explaining that Rivian is apparently the only pure electric vehicle manufacturer to use outsourced electric motors.

Rivian is one of few pure EV makers that outsourced its electric motors

Pure electric vehicle companies have adopted numerous strategies to stand apart from the competition. Tesla makes a lot of its components in-house, including its vehicles’ electric motors. Even Lucid Motors, which is still ramping the Air’s production ramp, has been proudly highlighting that its...

www.teslarati.com

The key here is that we're talking about "pure" electric vehicle manufactures - so Ford, GM, Nissan, etc. are excluded and the article points out that GM is using Bosch motors, so it's not like there aren't great electric motor suppliers out there, but this was news to me. Lucid and Tesla have both gotten a lot of headlines out of the efficiency of their motor tech, but I realize now that I've never even thought about Rivian's motors.

Apparently, the company is working on their own motors, so this may soon be a moot point, but I'm wondering what people think about this. I'm sure some of you knew this a long time ago, but it strikes me as a sort of unsettled point in the EV world -- do we care about who makes the motor? ICE car folks sure care about who makes their engine!

 

[Sultanum]

Personally I don't care. Let's look at specific reviews of the car and performance. If it is bad, I find it's irrelevant if the reason is because they didn't design their own motor or something else. If it's good, great!

 

[Spare Time Toys]

It doesn't matter to me. I would rather them outsource it to a company that has been manufacturing them for ever and knows how to build them to last. This way for now they can focus on other proprietary things and work out all the bugs.

 

[Sultanum]

By the way, Rivian from the beginning stated that they want to partner with the legacy industry to produce components and maybe even a car. It's was never their goal to be an outsider like Tesla. That's one reason it's initially headquartered in Michigan, though it's moved to CA in 2020.

 

[Animalhouse]

As long as they last and Rivian backs them up I honestly don’t care.
Rivian wouldn’t sell them if they didn’t think they would be quality. Also gives them (Rivian) a chance to evaluate the motors before or as they develop their own motor in house.

 

[Junkanoo]

Much to do about nothing. Every airplane manufacturer outsources their jet engine manufacturing.

 

[Spare Time Toys]

One other thing hit me. Do all these other "pure" companies really manufacture their own product? What about tires, wheels, carpet, material for seats, wire for the electrical portion, do they have their own refineries the make produce the metal or make their own carbon fiber weave? What do you really consider "pure"? No one makes all their own components and parts even the mighty Tesla. Heck the Write Brothers even outsourced the engine for the first airplane.

 

[TurboTwin]

so they are 1 of what, 3 companies, that don’t make there own drive units? This is journalism just for the sake of journalism.

 

[foofoofodio]

Sandy Munro did some interesting videos on the Mach-E, and while he hated the rear motor, he was blown away by the front motor, which is made by LG-Magna. I might be wrong, but I think he favors the design over Tesla's and VW's. You can view a couple of the videos here:

I take that as confirmation that outsourcing the motor can be the right way to go. Of course, the whole debate over vertical integration can get complex, since there are tons of trade-offs in each direction.

 

[TurboTwin]

Magna has a hand in everything. They will be building the entire Fisker Ocean

 

[camaroz1985]

No concern. Kyle from Out of Spec Motoring keeps gushing about how nice they are compared to the many other EVs he has driven.

 

[lefkonj]

Outsourcing doesn't mean it was designed by Rivian just not produced. Plenty of companies outsource all sorts of things to others for production.

 

[PDFRIV]

I believe that the motors are made by Bosch. Right now Rivian has a lot to figure out and I think that they have bitten off more than they can chew already. Bosch has the R&D to make a great drive system and can justify the costs over a potentially larger market than Rivian at this point. I think we all just want our vehicles and can become idealistic in time.