The electric vehicle boss taking the fight to Elon Musk

A 41-year-old American man who wears jeans, plaid shirts and Patagonia caps and chooses to live and work in a place called Normal is likely to be pretty normal, right? Robert “RJ” Scaringe, from Normal, Illinois, is anything but, however. The tech nerd beat the good ol’ boys, Ford and GM, to America’s electric vehicle rodeo, creating the country’s first pure electric pick-up truck: the Rivian R1T.

American weekend warriors love his big biffabout cars. After driving the R1T up the Rockies with zero emissions, the US car bible, MotorTrend magazine, described it as “the most remarkable car we’ve ever driven”.

But one jolly green giant built in Rivian’s factory just south of Chicago does not make a business — especially when the sticker on