Rivian R1T First Drive reviews

[dcmdon]

You're completely ignoring advancements in battery chemistry. This is a white hot space right now, with lots of active research ongoing and coming.

This will be huge. And its happening fast.

But again, the problem is really charging infrastructure. To get a reasonably quick charge is going to require enormous investment in electrical infrastructure. Imagine if every gas station has a multi mega-watt electrical service. That's what it will take. Though there will be less demand than for gas stations because people who have garages can charge at night.

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[JTWAVE]

This will be huge. And its happening fast.

But again, the problem is really charging infrastructure. To get a reasonably quick charge is going to require enormous investment in electrical infrastructure. Imagine if every gas station has a multi mega-watt electrical service. That's what it will take. Though there will be less demand than for gas stations because people who have garages can charge at night.

......or maybe the energy station model needs to change. Gas stations started out having auto repair. Then the model changed to gas stations and convenience stores. Maybe the new model will be electric charging stations combined with restaurants. Charge while you eat.

 

[CapnStereo]

I don't know how fast this is happening...I remember an article in Scientific American 20 years ago where they were experimenting with electric 4 wheel drive trucks, with a motor on each wheel. Now it's starting to materialize, but it's been in the works for awhile. Might be pretty cool.

 

[dcmdon]

......or maybe the energy station model needs to change. Gas stations started out having auto repair. Then the model changed to gas stations and convenience stores. Maybe the new model will be electric charging stations combined with restaurants. Charge while you eat.

That's a great idea for a business. But there are still going to be people who just want to "fill up" and go. BEVs can't do that. . . . YET. But its only a matter of time.

One other issue with BEVs is towing. The energy in a 1800 lb 100kwh Tesla battery is in the order of 2 gallons of gasoline.

The system works because that is all it takes. Regenerative braking helps, the 90% efficiency of the electric motors help. (vs 25% for an automotive gasoline engine).

Then you hang a trailer off the back and it all goes to hell. Going up a hill the system has to put out more power, but going down the hill or coasting to a stop the trailer pushes the tow vehicle and the vehicle can't capture all that energy.

Its not unusual for a Tesla with a 300 mile range to be reduced to 100 miles with a trailer. Now figure in 45 min for a recharge and with current tech you can see that this is impractical at best.

I was spitballing with a friend and we came up with the idea of putting electric motors on the trailer along with a battery. The system in the trailer is controlled by the car. It pushes itself and regenerates itself.

A simpler system would be a trailer that only regenerates but feeds it back to the tow vehicle's battery. Obviously standards would need to be developed around this. But would bet you anything that there will be some version of this in the future.

 

[dcmdon]

I don't know how fast this is happening...I remember an article in Scientific American 20 years ago where they were experimenting with electric 4 wheel drive trucks, with a motor on each wheel. Now it's starting to materialize, but it's been in the works for awhile. Might be pretty cool.

I saw a YouTube video of a guy who developed an electric rock crawling truck. Each wheel had an engine and each wheel had its own multilink articulating suspension that was actively controlled. Strain gauges in each suspension measured weight on each wheel and adjusted the suspension accordingly.

I can't remember if it had a battery or ran a gas generator for power. Either will work since rock crawling requires very very little power.

 

[Casique]

Just drove my kid to college from North Virginia to Florida. While at a rest stop, I spoke to a Tesla guy that had spent almost 8 hours in line to charge and charge his car! That's a total of 8 hours to get a full tank! Definitely a huge negative right now for e-vehicles, good around town but a huge failure/mess to travel long distance on the highway...

 

[GladiatorNate]

I've been following Rivian for years (I did some work for them before they announced the R1T) and I've been impressed all the way around. The CEO, RJ, is a genuinely great guy and really cares about the product and the company.

I love my JT and the whole Jeep culture, but as many of the recently released reviews point out, this is the future. A R1T will (hopefully) be my next vehicle. It even has a removable Bluetooth speaker like my Gladiator

Yes there are cons to electric vehicles, and much is still in development, but for a brand new company, Rivian has knocked it out of the park with the R1T, in my opinion. Check it out here on Hell's Gate (and posing for photos halfway up):

 

[Fcmalie]

That's a great idea for a business. But there are still going to be people who just want to "fill up" and go. BEVs can't do that. . . . YET. But its only a matter of time.

One other issue with BEVs is towing. The energy in a 1800 lb 100kwh Tesla battery is in the order of 2 gallons of gasoline.

The system works because that is all it takes. Regenerative braking helps, the 90% efficiency of the electric motors help. (vs 25% for an automotive gasoline engine).

Then you hang a trailer off the back and it all goes to hell. Going up a hill the system has to put out more power, but going down the hill or coasting to a stop the trailer pushes the tow vehicle and the vehicle can't capture all that energy.

Its not unusual for a Tesla with a 300 mile range to be reduced to 100 miles with a trailer. Now figure in 45 min for a recharge and with current tech you can see that this is impractical at best.

I was spitballing with a friend and we came up with the idea of putting electric motors on the trailer along with a battery. The system in the trailer is controlled by the car. It pushes itself and regenerates itself.

A simpler system would be a trailer that only regenerates but feeds it back to the tow vehicle's battery. Obviously standards would need to be developed around this. But would bet you anything that there will be some version of this in the future.

Shorter charge times are definitely in the near future.

https://www.reuters.com/business/au...rlds-fastest-electric-car-charger-2021-09-30/

 

[roth_nj]

I have a preorder deposit down on one and can’t wait but realistically I’m at least a year out…

I love the idea of the 4xe in the gladiator but functionally the system isn’t that great (20 mile range). There’s like a 10k premium on the wrangler… so that puts a 60k rubi gladiator to 70k? When the rivian starts at 69k?


800 hp 900 ft lb, quad motor, 0-60 in 3.0s, 314 mile range, luxury interior. All the reviews say the suspension/ride is absolutely amazing

They have a test track at the factory where they are doing test drive events. It’s has this huge dirt table top dirt pile with 45 degree inclines up and down. Saw a video where they were driving down it and stopped on the incline. Then proceeded to put it in reverse and back up the 45 degree dirt incline without an issue at all



Oh, and are going to be adding a removable top next year

 

[j.o.y.ride]

I just hope this pushes Jeep to finally release (or at least announce) the JT 4Xe.

If anything it would work against Jeep releasing their 20 mile version for basically the same starting point as the Rivian.

 

[Challenger85]

I wouldn’t drive that truck if you gave it to me for free and paid me for every mile driven. By far and away the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life. Fire anyone that came up with that design.

 

[869 KPH]

I wouldn’t drive that truck if you gave it to me for free and paid me for every mile driven. By far and away the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life. Fire anyone that came up with that design.

You're going to have to be a lot more specific. Your complaint is almost universally applicable to EVs. The R1T is pretty nice, the Wolf Alpha may be the best. F150 seems like cheating, lol.

And @roth_nj totally gets it. Rivian is the ?, it's just not for me yet. I think my wife will switch to a full EV before I do, and we'll keep a 22 JT around as long as we can.

 

[Sportsbiz]

I saw one of these in Joshua Tree last week. I can’t get past that front end, not right now at least. Maybe it’ll grow on me, as the tech is intriguing. For me, the biggest hindrance to considering a Rivian (or any EV) is the charging infrastructure. Until these expand, AND the charging times decrease substantially, it won’t be part of my consideration set.

 

[Challenger85]

You're going to have to be a lot more specific. Your complaint is almost universally applicable to EVs. The R1T is pretty nice, the Wolf Alpha may be the best. F150 seems like cheating, lol.

And @roth_nj totally gets it. Rivian is the ?, it's just not for me yet. I think my wife will switch to a full EV before I do, and we'll keep a 22 JT around as long as we can.

Lol, well I suppose there are a lot of ugly EVs. The cyber truck, rivian and Prius all make me want to throw a rock at them. Bolt, Leaf and that horrible BMW is also ugly. Doesn’t change the fact the Rivian is a god awful, butt ugly vehicle.

Although I can’t decide if I hate the Rivian or the cyber truck more. The Rivian is just really really really ugly, the cyber truck is just absurd, It’s designed for douche bags. I’m convinced Elon Musk designed that truck so ridiculously just so he can sit back and laugh at how all the sheep will buy anything he slaps a name plate on.

“Make it as stupid and absurdly ugly as possible boys, they’ll buy a polished turd.”

Its like fashion. If a designer tells people it’s cool to wear squirrel piss laden velvet pants with a hot pink polka dot shirt and a skinned crocodile hat every moron with money gobbles it up.

 

[jeepers29]

Any of y'all watch Long Way Up with Ewan McGregor? They prototype test the hell out of them. Along with the all electric Harleys.

Great show. Have you seen the other 2 in the series? As good if not better that Long way up.

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