Engineering students on front line to produce electric vehicles

President Joe Biden has set a national target for the adoption of electric vehicles, calling for them to represent half of all automobile sales by 2030. Cars powered solely by batteries may become an important tool in cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a major contributor to climate change.

Three University of Cincinnati engineering students got a chance to see and participate in what could be the wave of the future as part of a four-month co-op experience this fall with Rivian Automotive, an Irvine, California-based electric vehicle automaker. Fourth-year students William O’Callaghan and Carson Hock along with third-year student Max Herrmann were part of Rivian’s manufacturing operation in Normal, Illinois.

Founded in 2009, Rivian has developed and vertically integrated a connected electric platform that can be flexibly applied to a range of applications, including the company’s “adventure products” (a line of add-on outdoor gear including a camp kitchen, a rooftop tent and mounts for everything from skis to surfboards) as well as business-to-business products such as the Amazon last-mile delivery vans.

The company’s launch products, the R1T, an electric pickup truck, and R1S, an electric SUV, provide a combination of performance, off-road capability and utility. These vehicles were produced at the company’s Normal, Illinois, plant in 2021 and O’Callaghan, Hock and Herrmann were on hand to see the creations.

“I think we all started the first week of September and the first salable vehicle came off the assembly line two weeks later,” explains O’Callaghan. “Rivian went public two to three months after we started and then the first salable Amazon van came off the line right before our co-op ended in December.”

O’Callaghan worked on the program management side of manufacturing engineering, focusing on development and readiness. 

“Essentially, I worked to coordinate teams and suppliers with one another as cleanly as possible so that the engineers with the technical expertise could spend their time applying that knowledge to drive the company forward,” explains O’Callaghan. “These last few months we spent at Rivian were during the heat of production ramp, so a lot of my time was trying to help improve the day-to-day throughput while still working on big picture and longer term improvements or projects.”

Hock and Herrmann were also manufacturing engineers. Hock worked on the production of electric delivery vans and oversaw a section of a line that handled cladding and interior pieces for the vehicle. Herrmann worked on the electric truck and electric SUV programs (R1T and R1S) helping to improve the speed and quality of an instrument panel line and the installment of sunroofs and windshields.

O’Callaghan says the electric pickup truck under production by Rivian is the cornerstone of the company’s operations. It’s a midsize truck that is powered by four individual motors on each wheel and that gives it tremendous off-roading capabilities by always having power delivery through at least one ground contact. 

“You still have the classic enthusiasts who brag that this gives you a three-second zero-to-60 time that rivals sports cars,” says O’Callaghan.

“It was built as an all-purpose fun and sustainable way to explore the world. It can go anywhere, and you can get there fast. And with future battery programs targeting 400+ mile ranges paired with the planned Rivian Adventure Network, range anxiety quickly becomes a nonconcern,” says O’Callaghan.

Rivian is building a last-mile delivery van for Amazon.

“When you think about delivery vans puttering around the same neighborhoods over and over, idling during every delivery, it’s sad to imagine how much fuel is wasted,” says O’Callaghan. “With electric vehicles you don't have this problem because when you’re not moving, the motors simply aren’t using power. Starting with dense urban areas around the country, where this fuel waste is the worst, these vans are going to change how delivery services operate.”