Chicago Tribune cited AEE’s Electrifying Illinois report in their profile of Rivian’s latest EV facility. This story was covered in 33 other outlets including Yahoo News. Read snippets below and the full story here. 

Nestled among the cornfields of Normal, Illinois, a long-fallow stretch of land is preparing for a bumper crop this summer.

Rivian, the startup electric vehicle maker whose inaugural truck, SUV and Amazon delivery van have captured the auto world’s attention — and billions of dollars in investor seed money — is launching production in June from a converted Mitsubishi factory, and gearing up fast.

Powering through a pandemic, the first production vehicle — a $75,000 launch version of Rivian’s electric truck — will roll off the line more than a half-year behind schedule. It will be the first vehicle to be built on the site since the Mitsubishi plant closed six years ago…

A report commissioned and published this month by Advanced Energy Economy, a national trade association of energy suppliers, projected electric transportation employment in Illinois to grow 83% to about 9,500 workers across the state by 2024, driven in large part by Rivian and support manufacturers.

To fully capitalize on employment opportunities, the state needs to spur EV adoption through regulatory and legislative action, the report concluded.

At the federal level, President Joe Biden is looking to boost electric vehicle adoption as part of his $2 trillion infrastructure plan. The proposal includes rebates, tax incentives and building a national network of 500,000 chargers by 2030.

In Illinois, the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which would push for electric vehicle adoption with state incentives and rebates, was introduced in 2019, but has stalled in Springfield.

Read the full story here.