RJ Scaringe

RJ Scaringe has been obsessed with cars for as long as he can remember, and, after earning a doctorate in automotive engineering at MIT, he went on to found EV startup Rivian in 2009. Since then, he’s signed on marquee customer Amazon; raised $12 billion in the largest IPO since Facebook’s; and won the prestigious MotorTrend Truck of the Year award with Rivian’s first model, the R1T electric pickup. The past year has been bumpy: Scaringe had to slash Rivian’s annual production targets in half, owing to a lack of microchips, and an effort to foist a hefty price hike on customers who had already placed an order resulted in a PR black eye. The company’s stock has been battered, but Scaringe’s EV company is pushing forward, adding a new electric SUV to the lineup and appearing on track to meet its full-year (albeit lowered) production goals.       Follow: Twitter Instagram