Only a couple of years ago, it seemed like global heavyweights Ford and Mercedes-Benz would end up tight with California-based EV startup Rivian. The maker of the all-electric R1T pickup and R1S SUV was just getting started, but many assumed it would've had at least two platform-sharing projects with those two old-school titans.
Ford aimed to use Rivian’s skateboard platform for a Lincoln model and a blue oval-branded EV. At the same time, the partnership with Mercedes-Benz was meant to produce at least two battery-powered vans at an existing factory in Europe. Both deals fell through, however, leaving Rivian to move forward on its own regarding manufacturing. Ford and Mercedes-Benz also went their own ways.
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Platform-sharing is harder than it seems
There's often talk of platform-sharing between car companies as a simple solution to filling certain market gaps. But while simple badge-engineering jobs like the Ram ProMaster EV (which is just a rebadged Fiat) are simple enough, making a brand-new car using bits from a different company isn't exactly a walk in the park, as Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe explained during an interview with The Verge.
Now we know why those partnerships ended because the startup’s CEO, RJ Scaringe, spilled the beans during a lengthy interview with The Verge’s Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel for the Decoder podcast.
In short, it had nothing to do with engineering constraints such as trying to fit the body of a Ford or Mercedes-Benz on top of a Rivian chassis–which is no small feat in itself. Instead, it was all about trying to make all the different computers talk to each other, which, as it turned out, was a deal-breaker.
“We looked at vehicle platform sharing with Ford, vehicle platform sharing with Mercedes, both very publicly,” Scaringe said. “What is, in every case, always the challenge is getting the network architectures of Rivian’s platform and those other manufacturers that we’ve talked to to work together,” he added.
The California company’s founder and head honcho said that it’s a challenge to get two very different architectures to run down the same manufacturing line and that the biggest technical boundary was network architecture.
“It’s a challenge in every possible way. It’s a challenge to get the top hat from a traditional company that’s using lots and lots of supplier source ECUs to work with our platform–battery, drivetrain, chassis that has very few ECUs,” Scaringe said about the constraints.
There might have been also factors at play, such as financials, but the CEO didn’t get into these details. Instead, he focused on the electrical architecture struggles. That’s why when the new deal with Volkswagen came along, the main talking point was precisely “the thing that has always been the challenge.”
As a reminder, VW is investing up to $5 billion in the American EV maker to help it overcome the software-related black spots that came after years of delays and mishaps caused by its own software subdivision known as Cariad.
The two companies will not jointly develop EVs in the traditional way. Instead, Rivian will offer its electrical architecture know-how to make it easier for Volkswagen to manufacture EVs that offer a hassle-free user experience.
"We’ll provide the topology of the ECUs, along with the base operating system. That’s both for the infotainment platform and the real-time operating system. There’s a few different operating systems we’ve built, and then everything around over-the-air updates and connectivity," Scaringe told The Verge.
On the other hand, Ford seems to be going its own way to the same end goal, developing a skunkworks program out in California staffed by veterans from Tesla, Apple and yes, Rivian. That program will hopefully yield a new, low-cost EV architecture to power a possibly $25,000 electric truck and crossover. As for Mercedes-Benz, it's actually scrapping a next-generation EV platform and seems to be refocusing on internal combustion. Perhaps it will end up wishing it had made a Rivian deal work out.
