Clayco to Build $5B EV Plant Near Atlanta

Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has selected Clayco to construct its $5 billion plant on an 1,800-acre site in Stanton Springs, Ga. Image courtesy of Rivian and Clayco

Electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian has selected Clayco to construct its $5 billion, 16 million-square-foot plant on an 1,800-acre site in Stanton Springs, Ga., about 40 minutes outside Atlanta in Morgan and Walton counties.

Jacobs Inc. is the engineer of record and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is the design architect for the mega-manufacturing complex.

The California-based company expects to hold a formal groundbreaking in early 2024 and start vertical construction shortly after the event. The upper pad is 95 percent graded and nearly ready for construction to begin, according to Rivian. The company has opened an office in Covington, Ga., a short drive from the future factory, and recently set up space at Ponce City Market in Atlanta to educate the public about the vehicles and provide information about ordering them.

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Production is expected to start in 2026, with an estimated output of 200,000 vehicles a year. At full buildout by 2030, the company plans to manufacture 400,000 EVs a year. The Stanton Springs facility, which is expected to employ 7,500 workers, will be making the company’s next line of vehicles, a crossover that will be known as the R2.

Rivian currently manufactures the R1T truck and R1S SUV, at its plant in Normal, Ill., a former Mitsubishi factory. Rivian expects to unveil the design of the R2 next year. Prices for the new model, which is aimed at a mass market, should start between $40,000 and $45,000. The current models start at more than $70,000.

In November, the Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton, and Walton Counties approved several resolutions to finalize the 50-year lease agreement for the site and construction bonds. The state of Georgia and local governments have offered incentives to Rivian valued at about $1.5 billion.

North Carolina plant

Clayco, based in Chicago, is a full-service real estate development, master-planning, architecture, engineering and construction firm. It is the general contractor and construction manager for another major EV manufacturing plant in the Southeast. In August, the company broke ground on a $4 billion facility for VinFast on an 1,800-acre site in Chatham County, N.C. The development marks the first EV manufacturing plant in the state and VinFast’s first facility in the U.S. The Vietnam-based company plans to build at least eight structures totaling 2.9 million square feet on the campus.

Phase 1 will cost nearly $2 billion and will build VinFast’s VF 7, VF 8 and VF 9 electric vehicles at a rate of about 150,000 vehicles annually. The second phase will focus on battery production.