Electric truck startup Rivian has raised another $1.3 billion from investors, the company announced on Monday. Rivian had already announced three fundraising rounds this year worth more than $1.5 billion in total.

A number of companies have tried to follow in Tesla's footsteps in recent years, and some of them have struggled. At this point, Rivian looks like one of the most credible entrants in the electric vehicle business. We declared Rivian's truck the best of the New York Auto Show in April and named Rivian itself the star of the show.

Rivian's truck, the R1T, starts at $69,000 (before a $7,500 federal tax credit for American customers). Rivian says its trucks can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in under three seconds. The entry-level truck has a 105kWh battery that will offer 230 miles (370km) of range, while the most expensive model has a 180kWh battery with 400 miles (640km) of range.

Rivian needs to raise billions of dollars because automobile manufacturing is an extremely expensive business. Tesla, for example, has raised more than $20 billion in equity and debt financing over the last decade.

Rivian wants to start selling at least three different vehicle designs—a pickup truck, an SUV, and a delivery van for Amazon—over the next two years. For comparison, Tesla has launched three new vehicles over the last decade.

The latest fundraising round was led by T. Rowe Price. Amazon, Ford, and Blackrock also participated.

Amazon led the year's first Rivian investment round, which yielded $700 million, back in February, and Ford invested $500 million in April. Cox Automotive invested $350 million in Rivian in September.

Rivian considers Amazon, Ford, and Cox to be strategic partners. Ford has agreed to build a battery-electric pickup truck based on Rivian's technology. Amazon ordered 100,000 delivery vans from Rivian in September. Cox has experience in fleet logistics and automotive retail operations; Rivian hopes that Cox can help deliver an excellent experience to customers needing service and support.