Electric cars are the thing right now. New startups like Telsa, Lucid or Rivian, the company I founded over 13 years ago, have disrupted the once-settled and old-established auto industry, sparking a huge rush to prove who can engineer the most capable electric powertrain. The race is fueled by billions. But this money must not blind our industry: Because even the most powerful, reliable electric car with the longest range will never be enough to create sustainable mobility for truly everyone.


As a child, I fell in love with cars forever. I drove karts, collected model cars and was fascinated by their engineering. But the older I got, the more I realized how terrible my passion was for our planet. As an overly ambitious 26-year-old with a Ph.D. from MIT, I ended up founding Rivian with the sole purpose of somehow helping to create sustainable mobility. I knew the road ahead would be steep and difficult.

Back then, I was (and still am) an optimist, someone who believes in the ingenuity and innovative capacity of mankind. My approach was never to get SUV and truck enthusiasts to switch to small electric cars, I find that highly unrealistic. Instead, to this day, I firmly believe that we will not achieve true technological progress in and with true sustainability until we enable uncompromising alternatives in all areas of life. People with high expectations should not have to experience any sacrifices, and people with limited resources should not be left out in the cold.

It's worth remembering: the customers of the first electric cars were classic early adopters. Excited about technology, making decent money and preferring novelty to genuine everyday practicality. In recent years, however, we have finally reached the point where electric cars are simply superior to fuel-powered vehicles while becoming increasingly affordable. Just a decade ago, that seemed like a distant future. Range anxiety, in particular, was a major topic; today, however, no one is talking about it since the capacity of today's batteries is beginning to surpass that of traditional vehicles.

Universality is key. For us, the Rivian R1S and R1T were our first milestones which rather follow the uncompromising approach of drive what you want, but oh, by the way, this car is a path to carbon zero. Yet both models are clearly aimed at the affluent middle class and are somewhat a drop in the ocean when it comes to sustainable mobility: After all, only when we have applied this approach of real choice to every means of transport, every preference and every income level can we really pat ourselves on the back. Spoiler: the car will not be enough; instead, companies and governments should embrace mass transit and micromobility, as people's worldwide demands already foreshadow which mobility solutions will be most practical and sensibly priced.

We've seen an extreme shift in the last decade towards individual ridesharing like e-bikes and e-scooters, but equally, high-capacity modes of transport such as more sustainable buses and, in the long-term, planes will follow due to immense advances in general e-mobility. Simultaneously, young people are buying cars less often. As the owner of an automotive company, I should be concerned, but frankly, the complete opposite is true: I'm overjoyed by the development because it's exactly the step towards true sustainability. And it is also an opportunity.

Currently, for instance, Rivian employs 15,000 people – about half of whom work on future products. That's extremely unusual. With our current cars, we're relying extremely heavily on smart modular design that is scalable, and I hope our competitors will increasingly do the same. This is the secret ingredient that allows us to sell upper-class SUVs today and put the money into the diverse development of electric compact cars, delivery vans, trucks, scooters and bikes tomorrow. It's the only way we could recently enable Amazon's desire to competitively build an electric fleet of 100,000 vans by 2030.


To end with a little metaphor: The Internet was the death knell for most parts of the print industry. Since then, smart and successful newspapers have become media houses. The electric drivetrain will be the death knell for the internal combustion engine. The smart and successful car manufacturers will have to become mobility companies.

We will increasingly see companies being part of a huge mosaic of mobility solutions to keep up with changing consumer behavior. Electric cars are an essential and the only right first big step towards a green future, but I am excited to see sustainable mass and micromobility get more attention in the coming years.

Electric cars are the thing right now. And rightly so. But they are not the whole solution.