Rivian’s chief lobbyist is leaving the EV startup

Rivian Automotive Inc.’s chief lobbyist, Jim Chen, is departing the corporate, the most recent high-level exit because the electric-vehicle startup works to scale up operations.

Mr. Chen, a former Tesla Inc. govt who joined Rivian in 2018, spearheaded the corporate’s state-by-state combat to permit direct-to-consumer gross sales, a core enterprise technique for EV-only makers similar to Rivian and Tesla that don’t use conventional dealerships to promote vehicles. He’s anticipated to depart Rivian on the finish of February, the corporate mentioned.

His departure comes within the wake of plenty of different senior leaders leaving the corporate in current months, together with its normal counsel and head of provide chain, and as Rivian seeks to trim prices to protect money.

A Rivian spokeswoman mentioned Mr. Chen is leaving the corporate by mutual settlement and that he expressed a want to spend extra time together with his household and to journey.

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“I’m pleased with the work we have now executed, the affect we have now had, and the workforce that we have now constructed,” Mr. Chen mentioned in an emailed assertion.

At Rivian, Mr. Chen was tasked with lobbying states to amend legal guidelines that power automobile corporations to promote automobiles via franchise sellers. Mr. Chen fought comparable legislative battles throughout his tenure at Tesla, and has mentioned that the combat had grown harder at Rivian.

Mr. Chen was additionally in command of Rivian’s federal lobbying efforts and regulatory affairs, working a small workforce that will incessantly journey to state homes across the nation, in addition to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

FILE – Gov. Brian Kemp walks previous a Rivian electrical truck after asserting that electrical truck maker Rivian Automotive will construct a $5 billion battery and meeting plant east of Atlanta projected to make use of 7,500 staff, Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, in A (AP / AP Photographs)

The transfer comes at a essential time for the startup’s relations with Washington, which has thrown its help behind EVs but additionally put new restrictions in place that make it tougher for some fashions to qualify for presidency tax credit.

Beneath new guidelines adopted as a part of final yr’s Inflation Discount Act, solely electrical vans and SUVs that value lower than $80,000 qualify for federal tax credit, a change that the Irvine, Calif.-based startup has mentioned places it at a drawback.

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Whereas each Rivian’s R1T pickup and R1S SUV have a beginning worth under $80,000, the corporate has mentioned most of its automobiles promote for greater than that quantity when options and different choices are added on.

Rivian, which went public in November 2021 with a valuation of roughly $86 billion in its first day of buying and selling, has struggled with plenty of rising pains these days, together with narrowly lacking its manufacturing targets final yr at its sole plant in Regular, In poor health.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 10: Rivian electrical vans are seen parked close to the Nasdaq MarketSite constructing in Occasions Sq. on November 10, 2021 in New York Metropolis. Rivian, an electrical truck maker backed by Amazon and Ford, made its debut at Nasdaq go ((Photograph by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photographs) / Getty Photographs)

The corporate’s share worth has fallen 76% since its splashy debut, and its money pile has steadily decreased to $13.8 billion on the finish of September, the most recent interval for which info is accessible.

Rivian just lately postponed the launch of a less expensive mannequin, dubbed the R2, by a yr to 2026. Rivian’s Chief Govt RJ Scaringe mentioned that the delay was to present a deliberate plant in Georgia sufficient time to arrange for the beginning of manufacturing.

The EV maker has additionally had some notable turnover in its higher ranks, together with changing its head of producing and chief working officer throughout the final yr. In July, Rivian revealed plans to put off 6% of its 14,000-employee workforce, a cash-saving transfer geared toward responding to inflationary pressures and tightening capital markets.

Mr. Chen grew to become one of many foremost advocates for authorized modifications to permit direct-to-consumer gross sales by automobile makers.

The cowboy-boot-wearing baby of Taiwanese immigrants was an everyday customer to statehouses across the nation and fought a few of the earliest legislative battles over direct car gross sales whereas at Tesla. Mr. Chen mentioned in an interview final summer season that he left Tesla after practically six years after turning into burned out by the tempo of labor.

In the meantime, the combat between automobile makers and automobile supplier associations over who can promote a car has grown fiercer. At Tesla, Mr. Chen was in a position to forge compromise offers that allowed that automobile maker to function company-owned shops; he discovered the sellers much less amenable to negotiations whereas at Rivian.

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In Georgia, the place Mr. Chen helped Tesla win the flexibility to promote automobiles on to shoppers, he confronted stiff opposition from the state legislature regardless of Rivian’s plan to construct a $5 billion manufacturing unit within the state.

EV startups have been in a position to promote their automobiles via company-owned shops in Mississippi, however proposed laws would prohibit them from doing so besides in slender circumstances.

Rivian executives have mentioned opening extra company-owned shops is a key a part of its retail technique and is required to decrease prices and enhance deliveries to prospects.