Hey Rivian "go f-ck yourself"!

Taxpayers should pay people to drive EV cars? Provide tax credits to the rich? Have the cost of normal cars jacked up so you can build POS trucks that nobody wants?

By the way, the average Rivian with options leaves the showroom North of $100,000, the deluxe models pushing $120,000+. What sort of (sorry I won't use the R word) ___ wants to buy that?

Rivian Says It Faces $100 Million Hole After Relaxation of Fuel Economy Rules

NHTSA stopped issuing paperwork needed for credits as it reassesses fuel-economy standards

By Ryan Felton and Sharon Terlep, WSJ

Aug. 14, 2025 9:00 pm ET

Rivian says the rollback of U.S. fuel economy rules is holding up $100 million in revenue related to regulatory credit contracts.

Electric truck maker Rivian says the rollback of fuel economy rules in the U.S. is holding up $100 million of revenue, a sign of how changes to automotive policy under the Trump administration are starting to hurt the electric-vehicle industry.

Rivian and its rivals have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue selling credits tied to the nation’s fuel economy rules. But after the Trump administration removed penalties for violating those standards, the nation’s top automotive regulator stopped issuing paperwork necessary to finalize those credits, leaving EV makers in the lurch.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the change was part of moves to overturn Biden-era EV rules and address Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, known as CAFE. “NHTSA is focusing on fixing CAFE standards to make cars more affordable again,” a NHTSA spokesperson said. “When that process is complete, we will return to issuing compliance letters to manufacturers.”

Last week, the Zero Emission Transportation Association, an EV trade group, filed a petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., asking the court to intercede. The group wants to force NHTSA to resume issuing the so-called compliance letters—certifications that show how much each automaker complies with or violates the nation’s fuel economy rules. ZETA declined to comment.

The dispute highlights a lesser-known part of the U.S. auto industry: The buying and selling of so-called regulatory credits. Revenue from these credits has been a reliable stream for EV makers and a hefty expense for legacy carmakers whose fleets contain gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs.

Credit trading is a common practice used by governments to get industries to comply with environmental regulations, according to financial analysts and environmental organizations. Carmakers whose vehicles exceed gas-mileage rules can generate credits and sell those to competitors who are in violation of the rules, helping offset any fines they may face.

“The underlying rationale of credit trading is to try to reduce overall compliance costs for an industry,” said Joshua Linn, a University of Maryland professor who researches the impact of transportation environmental policies.

The current dispute goes back to July, after President Trump signed his megabill that eliminated penalties for violating the fuel economy standards. A week later, NHTSA sent letters to automakers that it would delay issuing annual notifications to companies about their compliance status with CAFE, as it reconsiders standards for model years 2022 and later.

Both Rivian and smaller EV maker Lucid say that they are being harmed by this situation.

Christopher Nevers, Rivian’s director of public policy, said in a statement attached to the petition that the company already had negotiated regulatory credit deals that it can’t finalize.

In a separate statement, an executive from Lucid said the credits “represent a significant share” of the company’s revenues. A Lucid spokesman said that in the most recent quarter, credits weren’t a significant source of income.

For Rivian, regulatory credits made up 6.5% of its total revenue in the first half of the year. The company said it doesn’t anticipate any additional credit revenue for the rest of 2025. Over the years, Rivian has received more than $400 million in revenue from credits, according to earnings reports.

The EV maker, which went public in 2021, has been under pressure to lower costs while it prepares the launch of its next model, the R2 SUV, which is expected to have a starting price of $45,000.

The country’s biggest EV maker, Tesla, earns the most revenue from selling credits of any EV maker. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Tesla said that regulatory actions have led to a $1.1 billion decrease in expected revenue from credit-selling. Since 2008, it has made more than $12 billion selling regulatory credits globally, according to earnings reports.

Tesla is a member of the EV trade group ZETA, but wasn’t mentioned in the lawsuit.

For Detroit’s car companies, the regulatory changes that have happened this year spell revenue gains and reduced costs. General Motors has spent at least $3.5 billion since 2022 to buy credits that kept it in compliance with regulations around the world, according to a financial filing. Last year, Ford entered into agreements to purchase about $4.3 billion of such credits, a company report said.

NHTSA has said it is reconsidering CAFE targets, which govern how far a car should go on a gallon of gas, for model years 2022 and later.

The stringent standards imposed during the Biden administration would have required carmakers to achieve a 50.4-miles-a-gallon average by model year 2031 and increased fines for violating the provisions.

In its letter to automakers, NHTSA said it anticipates issuing compliance notifications once it has finished with reconsidering the CAFE rules. The agency declined to comment on a timeline for completing the CAFE reconsideration.