Skateboard chassis. Source: Rivian

Ford said it will invest $500 million in Rivian and work with the company to develop a battery electric vehicle using Rivian’s "skateboard" platform.

Rivian's launch products — a five-passenger pickup and a seven-passenger SUV due out in 2020 — are designed to provide up to 400 miles of range. The vehicles will be built at a former Mitsubishi manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois.

The skateboard chassis concept dates back at least to 2002 and the Autonomy concept car from General Motors. That car housed all of its working parts in the vehicle's wheelbase. The design allowed the same platform to be used for more than one model.

The GM concept included drive-by-wire technology rather than mechanical controls for functions like throttle adjustment and steering. GM proposed using a compact hydrogen fuel cell for power and electric drive motors mounted in the wheels. Some observers said the basic design was a throw-back to the kind of chassis that was commonly used in early 20th-century auto production.

In February, Rivian closed an equity investment round of $700 million led by Amazon. Other investors include Sumitomo, Standard Chartered Bank and Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi conglomerate.

As part of its previously announced $11 billion EV investment, Ford said it plans to produce a crossover in 2020 and a zero-emissions version of its F-150 pickup.

Rivian will remain an independent company. Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s president of Automotive, will join Rivian’s seven-member board. Rivian has development centers in Plymouth, Michigan; San Jose, California; Irvine, California; and Surrey, England. It employs around 750 people.