Welcome to Rivian's 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The company would like to remind you that some of the comments made today may contain forward-looking statements. Additional information about forward-looking statements, as well as other meeting materials, is available on the meeting page. Stockholders may also submit questions on the meeting page. We will now turn the meeting over to the company.
I want to thank everyone for joining our 2024 Annual Meeting. 2024 has been a foundational year for Rivian, and the opportunity ahead is significant. In March, we unveiled our midsize platform, which includes the R2, R3, and R3X. R2 is our versatile new midsize SUV with room for five people. R3 is our midsize crossover, and R3X is the performance variant of R3. More recently, we announced the introduction of our next-generation R1, which represents an evolution of our flagship line. It offers quality and performance without compromise. Our new R1S and R1T push the technical boundaries further, creating our most capable products to date. The 2nd generation of R1 products plays a critical role in moving toward achieving positive gross profit in Q4 of this year. Material costs have been reduced significantly, while new manufacturing efficiencies have been incorporated into the R1 line.
We also continue to demonstrate focus on driving greater capital efficiency throughout the business. Notably, we announced that the production of R2 would start at our Normal, Illinois plant during the first half of 2026 and is expected to generate savings of over $2.25 billion when compared to the original forecast of launching R2 in Georgia. We continue to focus on the actions necessary to best position Rivian as a leader in the transformation to electrification. We look forward to sharing more details around our strategy, progress, and outlook later this month when we host our Investor Day. Please see our Investor Relations website for information on how to attend virtually. I would like to thank all those who continue to support our vision, including our employees, owners, partners, suppliers, communities, and shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to our Chief Legal Officer, Mike Callahan.
Thanks, R.J. I will now call the formal portion of the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to order. On the meeting page, you will find the agenda and rules of conduct for today's meeting. We will proceed with the items of business as set forth in the proxy statement. It is now 10:05 A.M. Pacific Time, and the polls are open for voting on all matters of business before the meeting. All stockholders of record as of April 24, 2024, or holders of a valid proxy are entitled to vote at the meeting. If you previously voted, you do not need to vote again. If you have not voted, or if you previously voted and wished to change your vote, you may vote by clicking on the voting link on the meeting website and following the instructions there.
After the proposals have been presented, we will respond to any additional questions that have been submitted that relate to the proposals and then close the polls. Note that only stockholders who have logged into the meeting using their control number will be able to vote and ask questions during the meeting. At this time, I'd like to welcome the members of our Board of Directors who are attending this meeting. We also have a representative from KPMG on the line, as well as a representative of Broadridge, who has been appointed as our Inspector of Election for this meeting and has signed the customary oath of office to execute their duties with strict impartiality. We will file the oath with the records of the meeting.
This meeting has been duly called pursuant to the notice of annual meeting that was mailed on April 29, 2024, to all stockholders of record as of April 24, 2024. We will file the affidavit of mailing with the records of the meeting. Based on information provided by Broadridge, a majority of the outstanding shares held of record and entitled to vote at this meeting are present and represented by proxy, and a quorum is present. I'd like to now introduce the proposals for consideration at this meeting. We have three proposals. The first proposal is the election of Jay Flatley and John Krafcik to serve as Class III Directors of the company for a term of office expiring at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held in 2027. The board recommends a vote for each of these nominees.
The second proposal is the ratification of the Audit Committee's appointment of KPMG as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the year ending December 31, 2024. A representative from KPMG is in attendance at the meeting and available to respond to appropriate questions from stockholders. The Board recommends a vote for this proposal. The third proposal is the approval on an advisory non-binding basis of the compensation paid to our Named Executive Officers. The Board recommends a vote for this proposal. If you wish to vote and have not yet voted, please vote now by clicking on the voting button on the meeting page and following the instructions. The polls will be closing momentarily. We have not received any questions related to the proposals and can now close the polls. It is now 10:09 A.M. Pacific Time, and the polls are now closed for voting.
Any votes submitted during the meeting today will be subject to final verification by the Inspector of Election. I have received a preliminary report from the Inspector of Election on the voting results. Based on this preliminary report, Jay Flatley and John Krafcik have been elected as Class III Directors. The appointment of KPMG as our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2024, has been ratified, and the resolution to approve on an advisory basis the compensation of our named executive officers has been approved. The company will report the final tally of votes in a Form 8-K to be filed within four business days of today's meeting. There being no further business before the meeting, the annual meeting is now adjourned. I will now turn the call back over to R.J. for the final topic of questions and answers. Derek, what's the first question?
Thanks, Mike. R.J., first one's for you. When will the new refreshed R1 vehicles start rolling off the assembly line post the retooling that was done earlier in the second quarter?
We're really excited to have the updated R1 vehicles coming off the line, and a tremendous amount of work has gone into not only the design of the features and content that have improved in those vehicles, but also really looking at how those vehicles are manufactured, their overall cost structure, and looking at it through the lens of the entirety of the bill of materials. So working with our suppliers to identify opportunities for cost, working across our engineering teams to identify ways we can redesign components for cost. And we've talked about this a lot in the past, but some of the significant examples are the massive consolidation of our ECU topology down to a much smaller number of ECUs, more than 60% reduction of the ECUs in the vehicle.
We took just under two miles of wiring out of the vehicle through simplification of our vehicle harness, and we dramatically simplified our battery packs through the use of large high-pressure die castings to replace the assemblage of parts that were used to build the battery enclosures before. Those are just a couple of the big examples, but we're really excited about what this represents for us in terms of efficiency, in terms of the content in the vehicle. And then within the plant, a lot of line layout improvements. We've added or modified over 600 robots within the facility, and the plant is now capable of running at 30% higher line rate than previous to the shutdown, which will also help us drive further cost efficiencies within our production facility.
Great. Thanks, R.J. How do you intend to address the EV slowdown and the EV adoption, and where do you see the EV market going in the long term?
This is a question we've spent time with on earnings calls, and it's one that I'm glad has come up here. We are incredibly convicted around the entirety of the auto industry ultimately electrifying. It's not a question of if, it's just a question of when. And on that path to full electrification, we think it's really important that customers have a lot of choices, and choices in terms of what's going to compel a customer to move from an internal combustion vehicle into an electric vehicle. And today we have really minimal choices, particularly at price points that fit what the buying public are purchasing on average. So in that sort of $40,000-$50,000 price range, there's not a lot of compelling choices. And this is what has us so excited about R2.
R2 provides a form factor around an SUV form factor with the performance level, capability level, and functionality that we think will be very unique. And when coupled with the way we've approached software and electronics in the vehicle, we'll provide an incredibly compelling and comprehensive experience that we hope will pull a lot of folks into electric vehicles for the first time. Now, saying all that, I do also want to just call out that electric vehicle demand continues to grow. It's not growing at the rate it was before, but depending on which report you look at, it's on the order of 7%, 8% growth so far this year over last year. And so we do continue to see an expansion, but we do believe that the step change in that expansion is going to require more product choices for consumers.
Thanks, R.J. Mike, the next one's for you. Can you discuss Rivian's executive compensation philosophy?
Sure. Thanks for the question. Rivian's executive compensation program is designed to attract, retain, and motivate the executive team and align with our stockholder and broader stakeholder interests. The Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors works with the other board members and management and its independent compensation advisor to make executive compensation decisions. And when making these decisions on executive compensation, the Compensation Committee assesses each element of the executive compensation program against Rivian's compensation peer group, the details of which are in the proxy statement, and considers a number of other factors, including company performance, each executive's impact, and importance to Rivian's strategy and individual performance.
Great. R.J., another one just came in. Can you talk about the RAN network and how you think about the growth of that and how you think about opening that to other car brands outside of Rivian owners?
Yeah, we're really excited about what we're building with what we call our Rivian Adventure Network, and this is our DC fast charging network. We've designed the charging hardware entirely in-house. Those chargers are built actually in our Normal facility in Illinois. We're in the early stages of deploying this. So to date, we've built around 500 chargers that are open to Rivian vehicles and Rivian customers. But this summer, we'll be opening the network up to non-Rivian vehicles, which is really exciting. And this is a network that's been future-proofed for up to 900-volt charging, which is really important as we look at higher voltage architectures coming to market. And as we look at the important metrics for how one measures the efficacy of a network, we really believe uptime is among the most important.
The way we've developed the hardware, tested the hardware, and architected it, it's allowed us to achieve close to 99% uptime, which is really our network and the Tesla Supercharger network that are able to achieve those levels. So this is an exciting development for us. It's something that we think will really help with the overall large-scale adoption of electric vehicles is the creation and presence of great charging options.
Great. And the last one here. Can you talk through your path to profitability?
Sure. I mean, I talked about it a little bit earlier in the context of the updates we made to the R1 vehicle and what we call Gen 2 vehicle of the R1 platform really embodies a lot of the technologies that we'll be seeing in R2, R3, and beyond. First and foremost, it's just an absolute maniacal focus on every single part in the vehicle and simplifying the part or questioning whether or not that part or component or system is necessary. And we see that manifest in how we've approached our ECU topology. I talked about significant reduction and consolidation of the number of ECUs. And that mindset plays out across the entirety of the vehicle. So first and foremost, we continue to guide with confidence the path to positive gross margin in Q4 with R1.
We'll continue to see the profitability of that product line improve and approach our long-term target of well over 20% gross margins for the business. Then coming in parallel to that with the launch of the R2, this is a much higher volume program. The way we've designed the vehicle architecture, the platform, and importantly, how we're sourcing that with our key supplier partners should allow for us to achieve much lower costs in terms of our bill of materials, but also the vehicle assembles in an easier fashion so that we can not only price it much lower, but also still continue to maintain, as I talked about, the gross margin target for the business of over 20%. We remain very excited about what our technology represents in terms of vertical integration to drive structural cost advantages in the long term.
The nature of our business by being direct to consumers also provides an elimination of a margin loss, if you will, that would typically occur by selling to third parties. The combination of those two gives us a lot of confidence in the long-term profitability, and I should say healthy profitability of the business.
Great. That concludes the question portion of today's meeting. With that, I'll pass the call back to R.J.
All right. Well, I'd just like to thank everybody for joining today's official annual meeting. We're really excited, as I said at the start, for our Investor Day next week. We're looking forward to hopefully having as many people join as possible, at least virtually. As I said, the information on that is available on our Investor Relations portion of our website. Looking forward to next week, and thank you everyone for joining.