Rivian Stocked Up On Batteries Before Republican Tariffs Jacked Up The Prices, Just Like Me And All That Toilet Paper

The ports are now basically empty thanks to those Republican tariffs we’re now stuck with, and that means it’s only a matter of weeks before the U.S. officially enters the “find out” phase of electing Trump again. Which is how I found myself at Costco with my girlfriend last night, stocking up on toilet paper, paper towels, and a bunch of other stuff we don’t want to go without. Am I overreacting? Maybe, but Bloomberg now reports Rivian did the same thing with a bunch of batteries, so maybe I’m onto something. And that’s a company that has far more to lose than me, a lowly car blogger. 

In fact, Rivian reportedly began amassing a stockpile of lithium-iron phosphate batteries that are made in China even before the U.S. election. Was Rivian simply hedging its bets, or did CEO RJ Scaringe know something the rest of us didn’t? The world will probably never find out. Following the election, but before Trump announced the tariffs he campaigned on, Rivian also reportedly imported “a large amount of battery inventory” from Korea. According to the unnamed sources Bloomberg spoke to, Rivian made those decisions specifically to avoid interruptions, complications, and higher prices. 

The battery cells Rivian reportedly brought in from China are mostly for its delivery van, and the electric automaker paid for the entire cost upfront. Gotion, the battery supplier, also reportedly imported its own stash of batteries before the tariffs kicked in. Meanwhile, the battery cells from Korea are for its consumer vehicles and “were part of a large order to bolster a strategic reserve,” Bloomberg adds, that it plans to use to keep production going even as the cost of importing new batteries rises. 

Rivian already builds its vehicles in the U.S. at its Bloomington, Illinois factory and is currently building a second factory in Georgia. Following the passage of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, Rivian also signed an agreement to buy future batteries from LG, using a planned factory in Arizona.