The Truck Fire at Rivian’s Factory Is Anything But Normal

No injuries and no damage to Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois, and a source says the vehicles had no value.

A fire broke out in the parking lot of Rivian’s plant in Normal, Illinois, over the weekend, damaging several dozen Rivian vehicles.
Aerial photos of a large parking lot outside the factory shows a cordoned-off area containing nearly 60 Rivian R1T electric pickup trucks and R1S electric SUVs, most showing fire damage. A source close to Rivian told MotorTrend the affected vehicles had been set aside for scrapping, though other sources have said that the vehicles were awaiting repair.
Local news reports say the fire department responded to the fire just before 9:45 pm on Saturday and that the fire was out by midnight. Standard operating procedure for electric car fires is to let them burn themselves out instead of trying to extinguish them, which accounts for the size and scope of the fire. Crews remained on the scene to monitor the trucks, as is common with EV fires, which have been known to re-ignite.
While EV fires tend to make headlines, statistics show that electric vehicles are far less likely to catch fire than internal-combustion vehicles, though EV fires are often more difficult to extinguish.
MotorTrend reached out to Rivian for a comment and was told, “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. The plant itself is unaffected. There were no injuries.”

After a two-decade career as a freelance writer, Aaron Gold joined MotorTrend’s sister publication Automobile in 2018 before moving to the MT staff in 2021. Aaron is a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles with his spouse, too many pets, and a cantankerous 1983 GMC Suburban.

Read More

MotorTrend Recommended Stories