How Rivian Cut Carbon While Adding Range and Horsepower

One of the things I’ve always loved about Rivian is that they don’t just focus on speed or range, they also put real effort into making the vehicles more sustainable. The new R1 Tri-Motor and Quad-Motor are the perfect example of that.

Rivian shared that today’s R1 lineup has nearly a 25% lower carbon footprint compared to the original 2022 R1T and R1S Launch Editions. Even the top-performance models still manage a 10%+ footprint reduction while adding up to 190 more horsepower and more than 50 miles of extra range. That’s wild.

The goal is even bigger: by 2030, Rivian wants to launch a vehicle with half the life cycle carbon footprint of the first-gen R1s. To get there, they’re doing things like:

• Using more recycled content and redesigning sheet metal for better efficiency
• Building new in-house motors that are more efficient
• Improving HVAC and electronics to lower energy draw
• Generating nearly 10 million kWh of renewable energy at the Normal, IL plant
• Streamlining production and logistics so each vehicle takes less energy to build

I think it’s cool to see Rivian prove that performance and sustainability don’t have to be a tradeoff. As someone who’s driven both early R1s and these new ones, the difference is real, you feel the performance gains, and now we know the sustainability gains are just as big.