** Shares of electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive
up 4.02% at $15.03 premarket
** RIVN and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) finalized loan agreement for up to $6.6 bln to support future Georgia manufacturing site
** Fund to create 7,500 jobs in manufacturing and expand production of R2 SUV and R3 crossover
** Construction expected to begin in 2026; production of customer vehicles expected to take place in 2028
** RIVN stock had jumped 24.5% on Jan 3 after reporting upbeat Q4 deliveries, but has since fallen 12.6% as of last close
** Volkswagen is considering ways to deepen partnership with RIVN, CEO Oliver Blume told Spiegel magazine in comments published on Friday
** Separately, shares of hydrogen fuel cell maker Plug Power
rise 1.82% to $2.79, after co closes $1.66 bln loan guarantee from U.S. DOE's loan programs office
** In 2024, RIVN stocks fell 43.31%, while PLUG dropped 52.7%
(Reporting by Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru)
((sanchayaita.roy@thomsonreuters.com))