Gladiator Mojave vs Rivian R1T (Photo Comparison)

[joeym7]

The thing has no "character" it looks like something that landed on a movie lot in the 1950's filming invaders from Planet Zion!

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[arskemp]

Comparing Apples to wireless charging.

That reminds me, the space given to place your cellphone for wireless charging is like 2x the size of my phone. If I drive as gingerly as a possibly can, it still slides enough to stop charging so it's pretty much useless for me.

 

[bleda2002]

I guess if they stick to accessible camp grounds their plan is OK. But if they go off road in it and it shits the bed then they're seriously screwed if it's not wide open ground. No towing an electric vehicle with any of the wheels on the ground or your warranty is gone.

Not true, the rivians allow for tow charging, so you can tow it

 

[shokker70]

Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all, but that thing is just plain ugly.

 

[Alan SOBX]

The picture immediately made me think of the line in Rush’s “Red Barchetta":

"Suddenly, ahead of me, across the countryside
A gleaming alloy air car shoots toward me, two lanes wide"

As in the song, I will stick with the traditional option and enjoy running the hell out of it.

 

[Mojave2021]

Looks-wise to be honest, the Gladiator looks better from the front (at least pre 2024 model) and the Rivian looks better than the rear. I don't know why Rivian went with that ugly vertical headlight design. Everything else about the Rivian looks fine to me.

Apparently Rivian was planning to have a removable roof version initially but abandoned it when their stock plummeted from $120 IPO to about $10. Their stock has been making a bit of a climb back of late to $25.

0-60 in 3 seconds in a pickup truck sounds near deadly to me...but it'd be interesting to drive one to see how that's like. Too much money for me still though.

 

[Gezer]

First time I have seen that thing. I can’t stop laughing. Like Rodney Dangerfield says, you buy that you should get a free bowl of soup. No nay never.

 

[KX L]

Not true, the rivians allow for tow charging, so you can tow it

Not according to Dr Google---Rivian is looking into the issue but both the RT1 and RS1 are NOT flat towable. Rivian support refuses to recognize the question. If you look at the capabilities of each model they list everything but the kitchen sink---including towing but never the option of being a towed vehicle.

 

[bleda2002]

Not according to Dr Google---Rivian is looking into the issue but both the RT1 and RS1 are NOT flat towable. Rivian support refuses to recognize the question. If you look at the capabilities of each model they list everything but the kitchen sink---including towing but never the option of being a towed vehicle.

Use more Google fu https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/tow-charging-r1t-r1s.3641/

Flat tow is different than tow charging. Flat tow is high speed on the highway for long distance. Tow charging is low speed for short to moderate distances as the Regen breaking is not disconnected.

So you can't tow it behind your RV but you can tow it off a trail at a slow pace no problem and actually charge your battery off it at the same time.

 

[Mojave2021]

What I do see promising about the EVs like the Ford Lightning is the ability to use it as a backup generator to power your entire house. We had an outage here last week and had to break out our generator but it’s not setup to power up items like our AC.

Apparently the Lightning has more power available than 7 Tesla Powerwalls which run $15K each. It can power your house for 10 days. If this technology can be further improved the whole concern about EVs overwhelming our power grids would be null. Theoretically they could help add power to the grid especially if owners are compensated for giving their EV power back to it.

I don’t believe the Rivian offers this option but if I eventually get an EV truck I’ll be looking for this feature.

 

[KX L]

Use more Google fu https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/tow-charging-r1t-r1s.3641/

Flat tow is different than tow charging. Flat tow is high speed on the highway for long distance. Tow charging is low speed for short to moderate distances as the Regen breaking is not disconnected.

So you can't tow it behind your RV but you can tow it off a trail at a slow pace no problem and actually charge your battery off it at the same time.

Well, kinda sorta. The requirement is you can only tow it forward and at 3!! MPH for short [undefined] distances. This is the quote from the Rivian response to the question asked about flat towing on the Rivian Forum you referenced:

Rivian vehicles can be tow charged but are otherwise not flat towable.

If you've run out of charge somewhere remote, it is possible to use a tow vehicle to pull the Rivian forward to add charge back to its battery. This is accomplished by tow charging. When tow charging, it uses the vehicle's regen braking feature to add charge to the battery. We wouldn't recommend this over long distances because it'd be like driving with brakes permanently applied to the tow vehicle and it could damage the inverters of the vehicle. Tow charging would need to be done by towing the Rivian behind a tow vehicle with both vehicles facing the same direction under 3 mph. The tow vehicle drives forward while the driver in the Rivian puts the Rivian into neutral or reverse to resist that forward motion (if in reverse, the Rivian driver does not accelerate so hard that it overpowers the forward motion that the tow vehicle is creating). The important thing to note here is that tow charging requires active drivers in both vehicles and is more about adding energy back into the Rivian than transporting the Rivian across long distances.

I hope this answers all of your questions. If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to reach back out. We are grateful to have you on this adventure with us. "

So you're absolutely right while being 99% wrong which I think is sort of like saying you have a good chance at winning a MegaMillions or PowerBall Lottery.

The reality is that if it shits the bed anywhere [not runs out of battery power] this "capability" will do nothing for you. I guess anyone who buys an electric car can be stupid enough to get on a trail with less than a full charge---or much more likely lives in a cold or hot place which means the range isn't ANYWHERE close to what Rivian and all other electric vehicles promise.

If it is a rundown battery and you're the lead 1 mile in on any narrow tree lined trail your screwed---because you can't tow it in reverse.

If your 50 miles in and have another 25+ miles to get to some sort of civilization to charge the truck it's great if you can tow it forward. But at 3MPH and NOT recommended at long distances due to the risk to the inverters. So if the manufacturer won't say anything other than "not recommended for long distances" I very much suspect if there is inverter damage there is about a zero percent chance they will fix it under warranty.

 

[bleda2002]

Well, kinda sorta. The requirement is you can only tow it forward and at 3!! MPH for short [undefined] distances. This is the quote from the Rivian response to the question asked about flat towing on the Rivian Forum you referenced:

Rivian vehicles can be tow charged but are otherwise not flat towable.

If you've run out of charge somewhere remote, it is possible to use a tow vehicle to pull the Rivian forward to add charge back to its battery. This is accomplished by tow charging. When tow charging, it uses the vehicle's regen braking feature to add charge to the battery. We wouldn't recommend this over long distances because it'd be like driving with brakes permanently applied to the tow vehicle and it could damage the inverters of the vehicle. Tow charging would need to be done by towing the Rivian behind a tow vehicle with both vehicles facing the same direction under 3 mph. The tow vehicle drives forward while the driver in the Rivian puts the Rivian into neutral or reverse to resist that forward motion (if in reverse, the Rivian driver does not accelerate so hard that it overpowers the forward motion that the tow vehicle is creating). The important thing to note here is that tow charging requires active drivers in both vehicles and is more about adding energy back into the Rivian than transporting the Rivian across long distances.

I hope this answers all of your questions. If you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to reach back out. We are grateful to have you on this adventure with us. "

So you're absolutely right while being 99% wrong which I think is sort of like saying you have a good chance at winning a MegaMillions or PowerBall Lottery.

The reality is that if it shits the bed anywhere [not runs out of battery power] this "capability" will do nothing for you. I guess anyone who buys an electric car can be stupid enough to get on a trail with less than a full charge---or much more likely lives in a cold or hot place which means the range isn't ANYWHERE close to what Rivian and all other electric vehicles promise.

If it is a rundown battery and you're the lead 1 mile in on any narrow tree lined trail your screwed---because you can't tow it in reverse.

If your 50 miles in and have another 25+ miles to get to some sort of civilization to charge the truck it's great if you can tow it forward. But at 3MPH and NOT recommended at long distances due to the risk to the inverters. So if the manufacturer won't say anything other than "not recommended for long distances" I very much suspect if there is inverter damage there is about a zero percent chance they will fix it under warranty.

I guess different views. Your original statement said you couldn't tow it, turns out you can. Sure there are some limitations, but jeeps aren't supposed to be 2 wheel towed and they are just at under 5 mph to save the tcase. Based on everything I've seen the risk of damage on the inverters is due to heat, so keep it under 5 mph for sustained distances, and it tows like every other vehicle. You can tug it/drag it backwards just again not far but it's not like it suddenly explodes if you tug it 10 feet to get around it either.

As with most EV stuff, lots of hyperbole and overblown limitations when it comes to what you can and can't do with them.

 

[ecupip]

Aesthetics

Not sure what it is, but the R1T's look much better in person than in photos. Very very cool truck with lots of tricks. Glad to see them come to market and hope they are around for a long time.

 

[Gryphon]

The "Look" is subjective, while many find it ugly i don't hate it but looks wise i thought the Gladiator was the ugliest truck ever when it came out, and we owned a Wrangler already. To me the Gladiator became it's own and or grew on me due to the aftermarket and the ability to make it look how you want, something we'll never see with the Rivian.

I can appreciate the tech and the engineering even though it wouldn't fit my lifestyle other than the short commute to work, beyond that as with most EV's the travelling, off roading, towing and the constant and far reaching weather / temp swings would just be too stress inducing.

 

[salvino]

Love the story behind Rivian and the truck is cool as heck. The use of space is something I wish jeep and other truck manufacturers would take note of. I watched a guy on youtube do a towing test that was impressive and how well the truck dead. But also very disappointing when it came to the battery life and how effective it was. If these things didn’t take so long to charge and didn’t have such a massive upfront cost, I would really consider it.

Though the front always reminds me of the thinking machine and sidekick robot from the movie hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

How well the truck 'dead.' Freudian slip, as in dead battery?

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