Over 50 Rivian Vehicles Awaiting Delivery Catch on Fire at Illinois Plant
Over 50 Rivian vehicles that were awaiting delivery to customers at the automaker’s Normal, Illinois electric vehicle plant caught fire this past Saturday, reports Inside EVs.
The incident occurred just before 9:45 p.m. on Saturday, in the facility’s parking lot. Though the plant itself was not impacted by the fire, a video shared after the fire showed around 57 vehicles damaged by the fire, which appear to have been mostly R1S and R1T models.
It wasn’t until Sunday at midnight that the fire was confirmed to have been extinguished, though crews stayed on site afterward to be cautious.
The cause of the fire at the plant—which assembles all of Rivian’s current models—is not known. An investigation is currently underway by the Normal Fire Department to discover what the reason for the fire was.
“We are investigating the cause of a fire that damaged a number of vehicles in a parking lot at our Normal plant late Saturday night,” a Rivian spokesperson stated. “The plant itself is unaffected. There were no injuries.”
Though EVs are less likely to catch on fire than internal combustion engines, when they do, they are much more intense and difficult to tame. With incidents such as this, as well as controversy surrounding battery fires in South Korea, more concerns may arise surrounding the current state of EV battery technology.
