1
00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:14,560
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

2
00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,600
Speaker 2: We welcome our global radio and TV audiences. Now. Evmaker

3
00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 2: Rivian recently announcing it will be spinning out a new

4
00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:26,079
Speaker 2: company called Also, with the aim to develop evs for

5
00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,600
Speaker 2: short trips one hundred and five million dollar funding from

6
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,880
Speaker 2: Rivian and VC firm Eclipse for More. I'm very pleased

7
00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,760
Speaker 2: to say we're welcoming Eclipse partner Jettin Bell and Rivian

8
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,400
Speaker 2: CEO RJ Scarrange. Great to have you both here, and

9
00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:43,080
Speaker 2: RJ I start with you the spin out of Also Now,

10
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,920
Speaker 2: why is it better now to let it thrive in

11
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:46,760
Speaker 2: a solo manner?

12
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, well thanks for having us on. Yeah, you know,

13
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,760
Speaker 3: we think about overall transportation space and what needs to happen.

14
00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,400
Speaker 3: Of course, there's electrification of vehicles and the infrastructure that

15
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,520
Speaker 3: we know of today, and that's what Rivian's been focused on.

16
00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,880
Speaker 3: Of course, first the United States and you know with

17
00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 3: our R two program soon in Europe. But there's a

18
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,160
Speaker 3: lot of trips and a lot of miles that are

19
00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,840
Speaker 3: much shorter distance and actually work better with something that's

20
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,759
Speaker 3: a much smaller form factor. And so we kicked off

21
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,800
Speaker 3: a skunkworks team a few years ago to look at

22
00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,240
Speaker 3: how we could take our core technology stack can apply

23
00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:26,640
Speaker 3: it in a very low cost, much smaller form factor.

24
00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,000
Speaker 3: And as that played out, we realized that the idea

25
00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:33,080
Speaker 3: was really had a lot of had a lot of legs.

26
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,520
Speaker 4: It was a.

27
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,680
Speaker 3: Powerful idea, and we decided that this idea was big

28
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,200
Speaker 3: enough to deserve being its own business, and so we

29
00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:43,560
Speaker 3: took the decision to spin it out. Eclipse led the

30
00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:45,959
Speaker 3: financing of that with one hundred and five million dollars investment,

31
00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,640
Speaker 3: as you said, and we're really excited about what's the

32
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 3: comt We haven't shown any of the products yet, but

33
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:51,400
Speaker 3: they're absolutely incredible.

34
00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,760
Speaker 2: Let's therefore ask you, Jane, how is this relationship going

35
00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:57,880
Speaker 2: to evolve? What's the sort of closeness you're going to

36
00:01:57,880 --> 00:01:59,120
Speaker 2: be doing because r J is going to be on

37
00:01:59,120 --> 00:01:59,480
Speaker 2: the board.

38
00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 5: Yes, I think it's exciting because I spent many years

39
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,240
Speaker 5: at Rivian working closely with RJ, and now in this

40
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,680
Speaker 5: new role at Eclipse, you know, really excited to invest

41
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:17,160
Speaker 5: in this opportunity and really disrupt the micromobility space. Yeah,

42
00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,160
Speaker 5: I'm really excited to partner again with RJ and the

43
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:23,440
Speaker 5: Rivin team as well as the Also team. To, you know,

44
00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:24,840
Speaker 5: bring this vision to life.

45
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,239
Speaker 2: Jten, I ask you the consumer issues here though we're

46
00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:31,400
Speaker 2: a little bit worried, to say the least about the

47
00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 2: economy here in the US. Do you think that the

48
00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:35,160
Speaker 2: consumer is going to be there to back this more

49
00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,080
Speaker 2: than one hundred million dollars that you're putting behind this

50
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:39,680
Speaker 2: offering that starts to get into our hands in twenty

51
00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:40,320
Speaker 2: twenty six.

52
00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:41,880
Speaker 5: Yeah.

53
00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:42,440
Speaker 4: Absolutely.

54
00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,639
Speaker 5: I think if you look at the transportation ecosystem around

55
00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,800
Speaker 5: the world, it's under so much of stress when it

56
00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,840
Speaker 5: comes to infrastructure limitations, when it comes to congestion, comes

57
00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:59,520
Speaker 5: to pollution, and micromobility is a very important piece of

58
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,200
Speaker 5: that puzzle. You know, more cars, more buses, more trains

59
00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,120
Speaker 5: is not going to be the answer. You need something smaller,

60
00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 5: something more flexible to complement those other modalities, and we

61
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,000
Speaker 5: believe that micromobility is a perfect solution to that. It's

62
00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:21,160
Speaker 5: a large market already, it's growing very rapidly around the world.

63
00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,640
Speaker 5: But if you look at the solutions, you know they're

64
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:29,240
Speaker 5: very weig technically, very poor user experience. They lack reliability,

65
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 5: and this is where the opportunity is. And I think

66
00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,120
Speaker 5: the consumer is waiting for something more compelling to.

67
00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:35,760
Speaker 4: Hit the market.

68
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,440
Speaker 2: Ah, Jay, it's a global opportunity on micro mobility, and

69
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,560
Speaker 2: you just talked about how it's a global opportunity for

70
00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,480
Speaker 2: you right now with Rivian and they are two roll out.

71
00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,040
Speaker 2: This is a difficult time to be a global business.

72
00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,560
Speaker 2: How are you preparing yourself to access the European market

73
00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,920
Speaker 2: when we're worrying about tariffs and you've always set aside

74
00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,840
Speaker 2: hundreds of millions of dollars in potential policy.

75
00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,840
Speaker 3: Implod Yeah, I mean it's you know, it's a very

76
00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:05,400
Speaker 3: complex environment. You know, as Rivian, we're spending a lot

77
00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:09,600
Speaker 3: of time interpreting and understanding what the teriff implications are

78
00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:11,320
Speaker 3: for us, of course here in the United States, but

79
00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:17,400
Speaker 3: I think importantly recognizing that, you know, in particular Europe

80
00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:23,279
Speaker 3: may respond and so how the ultimately the teriff structure

81
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,320
Speaker 3: sets out and lays out is going to have a

82
00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,240
Speaker 3: big impact on some of the decisions to make over

83
00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:27,839
Speaker 3: the next year.

84
00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,400
Speaker 4: We're staying very very close to it. But it's, as

85
00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:32,480
Speaker 4: you've called out.

86
00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,880
Speaker 3: It's a very dynamic situation and I think some of

87
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,400
Speaker 3: the uncertainty is what makes it the most challenging to navigate.

88
00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:42,479
Speaker 2: Oh, Ja, are you in close discussions with the administration itself,

89
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,080
Speaker 2: have you been getting a glean and what they're thinking

90
00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:45,960
Speaker 2: of for the future.

91
00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:48,560
Speaker 3: Well, I think, you know, one of the things to

92
00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,640
Speaker 3: that's important just if we take a big step back

93
00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:53,560
Speaker 3: from all the noise of what's happening. You know it's

94
00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,159
Speaker 3: going to happen tomorrow with some of the tariffs that

95
00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,719
Speaker 3: have been talked about and will be rolled out. I

96
00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,960
Speaker 3: think big step back is there's a clear directive to

97
00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,280
Speaker 3: drive technology and manufacturing into the United States.

98
00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:08,800
Speaker 4: And for Yvian, we're a US company.

99
00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,400
Speaker 3: We have just under seventeen thousand employees here here in

100
00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,279
Speaker 3: the US. We have a plant in Chicago or just

101
00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:17,720
Speaker 3: south of Chicago and Normal, Illinois, and we're building another

102
00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,880
Speaker 3: plant in Georgia. So we're growing rapid here in the

103
00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:22,560
Speaker 3: United State. It's one hundred percent of our vehicles that

104
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:24,960
Speaker 3: they are produced here and all of our technologies here.

105
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,080
Speaker 3: So in terms of the administration's objectives, we're very aligned

106
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:35,400
Speaker 3: with what's being asked and what I think the overall policy.

107
00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:36,520
Speaker 4: Framework is trying to drive towards.

108
00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,680
Speaker 3: But you know, in terms of how that translates to

109
00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,120
Speaker 3: our expansion in Europe and elsewhere, you know, we do

110
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,080
Speaker 3: have to recognize that it's a very dynamic environment. Our

111
00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:49,160
Speaker 3: production footprint may be different than we'll be originally planning.

112
00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,880
Speaker 4: But I think all of us, you know.

113
00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:56,000
Speaker 3: Across all the different auto manufacturers are waiting to see

114
00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:58,360
Speaker 3: how things look once it does settles.

115
00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,359
Speaker 2: That uncertainty, Jaten, I'm sure is affecting you as a

116
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,679
Speaker 2: team of operators investors. How are your other founders coping

117
00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:07,239
Speaker 2: with this moment?

118
00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,479
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think uncertainty is the key word here. I

119
00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,120
Speaker 5: feel that what is in our control is to focus

120
00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:20,440
Speaker 5: on two things. Making sure that founders building in the

121
00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:25,560
Speaker 5: physical industries have the maximum control on the stack, you know,

122
00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,520
Speaker 5: on what they design, what they engineer. If you have

123
00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,200
Speaker 5: control over it, then you're able to make decisions to

124
00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,800
Speaker 5: optimize around different environments. And the second thing is to

125
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,840
Speaker 5: build that resilience and flexibility in the supply chain so

126
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:44,440
Speaker 5: that it is able to navigate again short term, medium term,

127
00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,440
Speaker 5: and long term changes in the policy environment. So I

128
00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:49,560
Speaker 5: think the key word there for our founders is control

129
00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:52,400
Speaker 5: the controllables. There are things are going to change, things

130
00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:54,840
Speaker 5: are going to change back. I think what is most

131
00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:59,320
Speaker 5: important is to build a resilient strategy and a supply

132
00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:03,360
Speaker 5: chain network within the company that can navigate all these

133
00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:04,880
Speaker 5: different environments.

134
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:07,599
Speaker 2: A Jay a quick thirty second one for you. Do

135
00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:10,400
Speaker 2: you think you've benefited from people moving away from Tesla

136
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,040
Speaker 2: for political reasons?

137
00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:15,520
Speaker 3: Well, you know, one of the things that I think

138
00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,440
Speaker 3: is often missed is we think about electrification. Is today

139
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,320
Speaker 3: only about eight percent new vehicle sales are electric here

140
00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,200
Speaker 3: in the United States, And so when we think about

141
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:30,360
Speaker 3: competition and growing our market share, the biggest opportunity is

142
00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,040
Speaker 3: bringing people into our new technology vehicles and introducing people

143
00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,720
Speaker 3: into what it feels like to be in a connected, smart,

144
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,800
Speaker 3: of course electric vehicle. And so we really believe there

145
00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:42,640
Speaker 3: needs to be a lot of choice in order for

146
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:44,520
Speaker 3: us to go from eight percent to fifty percent to

147
00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,760
Speaker 3: eventually one hundred percent, we need lots of successful companies.

148
00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,720
Speaker 3: We mean Tesla be successful, we continue to be very successful.

149
00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:52,880
Speaker 3: We need Review to be successful, We need the existing

150
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,960
Speaker 3: legacy manufacturers to be successful. And so with our our

151
00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,600
Speaker 3: two program, it's a much lower price vehicle. It's really cool,

152
00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,600
Speaker 3: it's an incredible product. But what that'll do is we'll

153
00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 3: give customers another choice. And so we think the presence

154
00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:08,880
Speaker 3: of another choice is going to be important from a

155
00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:10,720
Speaker 3: brand and product attributes point of view.

156
00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,600
Speaker 2: Thank you both so much for your clarity of thought

157
00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,400
Speaker 2: today when there is not much clarity in the economy.

158
00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,000
Speaker 2: Jtenbo of Eclipse, r J. Scarrange of Rivian. Great to

159
00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:21,600
Speaker 2: have you both on the show. Thank you.