Under the agreement, LGES, which supplies Tesla, General Motors and Hyundai Motor, will provide Rivian with its advanced 4695 cylindrical batteries for over five years, totaling 67 GWh, the company said in a statement.

The batteries will be manufactured at the company's standalone battery plant in Arizona and will be used in Rivian's R2 model for the North American market.

Automakers, such as Mercedes, are following Tesla's lead in using bigger cylindrical cells in their electric vehicles to extend the driving range and use fewer cells to achieve the same battery pack capacity.

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Ed Davies)