Rivian VP of Public Coverage Jim Chen is departing the corporate. He’s anticipated to go away the electrical truck maker on the finish of February.
Chen has a whole lot of expertise lobbying for electrical car makers. Previous to his employment at Rivian in 2018, he labored for American electrical automotive maker Tesla, the place he led the corporate’s efforts to safe direct-to-consumer gross sales in varied states. Such offers are extraordinarily vital for firms like Tesla and Rivian, as they don’t make the most of a standard dealership mannequin.
Throughout his time at Rivian, Chen was liable for advocating for modifications to legal guidelines that require automotive firms to promote automobiles utilizing franchised dealerships. He was additionally in command of overseeing Rivian’s federal lobbying and regulatory affairs, as famous by The Wall Avenue Journal.
An announcement from a Rivian consultant famous that Chen’s departure from the corporate was a mutual settlement, and it was pushed partly by the lobbyist’s want to prioritize time together with his household. “I’m happy with the work now we have achieved, the affect now we have had, and the workforce that now we have constructed,” Chen famous.
A have a look at Chen’s work through the years makes his determination to take a step again from the frontline of the EV motion, a minimum of for now, comprehensible. Throughout his time with Tesla, he efficiently secured compromise offers that finally allowed the EV maker to function Tesla-owned shops in areas the place the dealership foyer is dominant. Amongst these areas is Georgia, which accredited laws in 2015 that allowed Tesla to promote automobiles with out going by way of native sellers.
In earlier feedback, Chen talked about that he departed from Tesla after over 5 years as a result of he burned out because of the tempo of labor on the firm. However even after coming over to Rivian, he met quite a few challenges. In Georgia alone, Chen’s efforts to safe direct-to-consumer gross sales for Rivian had been met with resistance from the state. This was regardless of the corporate’s plans to make investments $5 billion in a Georgia manufacturing facility.
Rivian has seen some modifications in its high administration, together with the alternative of its head of producing and chief working officer previously 12 months. The corporate additionally introduced final 12 months that it was slicing off 6% of its workforce as a cost-saving measure.
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