Rivian works on stamping-press foundations at $5 billion Georgia plant

Drone footage shows stamping pits

Drone footage recorded on 21 September showed two large excavations covered in metallic material at the Stanton Springs North site. The Development Authority of Walton County filmed the site.

Shane Short, the authority's chief executive, identified the holes as the start of the plant's stamping pits, according to The Walton Tribune. Cranes stood beside them. Short said this indicated Rivian was preparing to bring in heavy equipment. The September footage followed a pickup in activity over the summer. In July an authority member said there were more people at the site than he had seen in a year. Crews were grading roads and installing water and sewer lines. The footage showed no building frames. The project team expects the primary factory buildings to be enclosed in 2027, Engineering News-Record reported.

Stamping pits are deep reinforced concrete foundations set below the factory floor that house the presses shaping sheet metal into body panels. Rivian calls the stamping press area one of the most capital-intensive and technically demanding projects within the plant from a construction perspective. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the plant's architect, told Engineering News-Record that as of August work was under way on foundations for two stamping presses within one of the buildings. The two excavations match the two presses the architect described. The footage also showed two graded building pads, road grading and an electrical substation.

A pause, then a bigger first phase

Rivian paused the Georgia project in March 2024 to save cash. It held a groundbreaking ceremony in September 2025.

Vertical construction began in May. Dodge Construction Network listed it as the largest nonresidential project to break ground nationally that month. Rivian has adjusted the plant's planned capacity several times, Engineering News-Record reported. It raised first-phase capacity 50% from 200,000 to 300,000 vehicles a year, compressing a two-phase build-out into a single larger first phase. That is still below the 400,000 vehicles a year Rivian once estimated for the site. Its Illinois plant has a current total capacity of 215,000 vehicles a year. Rivian says the 300,000 figure improves cost efficiency while leaving room for future expansion.

Rivian and the Department of Energy renegotiated the loan this year to up to $4.5 billion, made of $4.006 billion principal and $494 million capitalised interest. That is down from a conditional commitment finalised in January 2025, which Automotive Manufacturing Solutions put at $6.6 billion and Electric Vehicles put at $6.57 billion. Rivian now expects a first draw on the loan by early 2027, a year ahead of the prior schedule.

What the plant is meant to build

The Georgia plant is meant to anchor production of vehicles on Rivian's new midsize platform. It will build the R2 and R3, plus up to 50,000 R2-based robotaxis for Uber. Uber or its fleet partners would purchase 10,000 of the robotaxis, with an option for up to 40,000 more in 2030, Rivian said in its first-quarter results. Production is due to start in late 2028.

R2 launch models start at $57,990. A single-motor version starting at $44,990 is due in mid-2027. Rivian began delivering R2s in June, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The site covers just under 2,000 acres beside Interstate 20, about 45 miles east of Atlanta. The manufacturing facility is planned at 16 million square feet. Rivian plans to preserve about half the site as woodland and for recreation.

What happens next

The Joint Development Authority commissioned a public safety study for the wider Stanton Springs development. A report is expected in October, The Walton Tribune reported.

The Walton County authority has begun flying a drone over the site each month. It will share the video with the four-county authority on request. Rivian has not published the number of presses the plant will have.