Rivian's battery design and cell supply

　　The most recent Rivian is the hottest rising star in the US market. With the acceleration of electric vehicles in the US market in 2022, it is necessary to conduct a systematic study of Rivian, including batteries, drive systems, entertainment systems, and so on.

　　A: Rivian's models and battery system

　　According to Rivian’s model plan, there are three main types of mass production: in the US private customer market, it mainly includes a five-seater pickup truck type R1T ($67,500-73,000), which will be gradually delivered in September; another seven-seat SUV model R1S (70,000-75,500 US dollars) will be delivered at the end of the year. Both R1T and R1S models are based on the Skateboard Platform. Rivian once purchased prototype design and development services from Ford (paid $74 million).

　　In terms of specifications, this battery system is divided into several specifications, including: 180 kWh and 135 kWh should be developed; 105 kWh low-cost power generation plan will be released in half a year, the battery's fast charging power is actually limited, 160kW.

　　Rivian's design idea is also to start with 21700 batteries. The main plan is to make full use of the way that pickup trucks and commercial vehicles are highly insensitive to the Z-direction, and use the upper and lower two-layer modules to configure the sandwich of the cooling plate.

　　This can be regarded as taking a different path from the iterative design of the cylindrical cell, through the upper and lower single-sided cooling of the two modules, and a large cold plate is used between the modules. The battery core here is placed upside down. The battery core is first made into a single module. The height of the actual module is relatively high, which is equivalent to combining two 21700 modules together. The front of the module is the output line of the module, which is bridged by quick-plug connectors, and on the other side of the battery module, the upper and lower bus bars are connected through the bus bar.

　　With this large module, Rivian can form a large battery system. At present, most of the US market uses two solutions: soft case and cylinder. According to the current situation, it is predicted that with Rivian's design, it will accelerate the use of cylinders by American car companies. According to reliable sources, major US auto companies will also make different attempts in addition to soft packs to enrich their battery choices.

　　B: Rivian's battery supply

　　Rivian is also a very important incremental customer of SDI, and Rivian's battery requirements are not low. According to the official statement, as early as April, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe stated that Samsung SDI would provide batteries for its electric vehicles. In addition to the previous SDI and Stellatis JV, SDI may build an electric car battery factory near Rivian's factory.

　　According to reports, from the investment level, Rivian needs to establish a second electric vehicle manufacturing plant in the United States, and then prepare to build a plant in Europe (commercial vehicles will be produced at the end of 2023, possibly because electric pickup trucks cannot be sold).

　　What is more interesting about Rivian is that the technical route chosen is cylindrical batteries. It began to consider building battery manufacturing bases in Arizona, Michigan and Texas.

　　Lithium-ion battery (LIB) has become the main energy storage solution in modern social life. Among them, lithium iron phosphate battery is a perfect replacement for lead-acid batteries, and it is the first choice for grid-connected peak shaving, off-grid energy storage, photovoltaic energy storage, UPS, data center and other industries.