The electric Rivian R1T pickup truck has been one of the world’s most eagerly anticipated vehicles since it was revealed to the public at the L.A. Auto Show in late 2018. Promising eye-popping specs, a minimum range of 300 miles, and a spirit based on adventure, Rivian and its truck seemed to represent the equal and opposite of potential offerings from Tesla and Ford. Its lines were luxurious and novel, its on-paper performance legit, its accessories and features designed for those who favor human-powered endeavors.
Skeptics said Rivian would never bring the $69,000 truck to market, let alone sell any, and when pandemic-related supply chain issues twice delayed production, that added to the doubts. But Rivian kept at it and on September 14 founder RJ Scaringe drove the first customer-ready truck off the assembly line in Normal, Illinois. He was wearing a t-shirt that said Keep the World Adventurous Forever.
Two days later, in Breckenridge, Colorado, I was one of the first people outside Rivian to drive the truck, and I can tell you this: The R1T is the most amazing vehicle I’ve ever driven, car or truck, gas or electric. It exceeded my already high expectations and it wasn’t just me: Of the 10 automotive journalists assembled in Breck, their reactions ranged from “impressed” to “super impressed” to “mind blown.” There were plenty of small critiques, but the overall sense? It’s a whole new world.
To understand why, you need to know two things. First, the R1T is a computer on wheels. Yes, today’s internal combustion engine vehicles have more chips than a Super Bowl party. But software and programming are so embedded in how the truck drives, it feels like an extension of Rivian’s engineers, always ready to be improved or tweaked with an operating system update sent from the cloud to the truck’s LTE cellular receiver. Case in point: When engineer Ryan Kalb was testing an early prototype in West Texas and things went sideways, he didn’t crawl under the truck, he opened his laptop and rewrote the code. That makes the R1T’s performance malleable and future-proofed, rather than locked into inert sheet metal and rubber. Another example: Rivian has a program that will offer member-only drive modes, delivered, of course, wirelessly over the air; the truck that rolls off the line is only the start.
Second, Rivian set extremely high bars for performance on road and off—aiming for two best-of-class personalities in one rig. Max Koff, who was the third employee at the company and now is the director of vehicle dynamics, told me the off-road benchmark was the Land Rover Discovery and the on-road benchmark was the Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Sound crazy to have such disparate capabilities in one rig? Not when your hardware will do almost anything your software tells it to.
Let’s dive in.
OFF-ROAD PERFORMANCE
My very first impression was that the Rivian was shorter and a little wider than expected. At 217 inches, it’s about the length of a 2020 Toyota Tacoma and more than two feet longer than my 2007 Lexus GX470. With mirrors in, it’s about eight inches wider than both; with mirrors out, it’s about a foot and a half wider. It’s a big truck, yes, but smaller than the Ford F-150.
Once behind the wheel, the initial sensation was of smoothness. We pulled away from the LOGE Camp parking lot in Breck in a caravan of nine R1Ts, heading toward the North Fork of the Swan River, and the truck offered the same experience I’ve come to expect from my Tesla Model 3, instant acceleration and quietude, but with the added feeling of damping (the Tesla relays every tiny bump through the seat of your pants). At 30 mph on a two-lane road, it felt EV familiar, though much larger and less subject to every ripple in the pavement. (Around six thousand pounds, the R1T, like all battery electric vehicles, is girded by its power supply, which dramatically lowers the center of gravity.) It’s a heavy truck that doesn’t feel too heavy, thanks to its impressive power train and highly tuned suspension. The silent propulsion also frames your perception of weight, too—gunning a gasoline V8 to crawl over an obstacle sounds like you’ve harnessed 200 years of industrial age. While lots of people enjoy the growl of an ICE engine, it’s woefully inefficient: Internal combustion vehicles only convert 12 percent to 30 percent of the energy stored in gas to the wheels. Electric, by contrast, use 77 percent of their available energy.
When we got to the first rocks a mile up the rubbled and wet North Fork trail, I kept thinking how passengers would enjoy the ride so much more than in a typical off-roader. It was buttery. Jolts were lessened, bumps were softened. And yet, I still felt well-connected to the trail through the throttle and steering wheel. The Pirelli tires went exactly where I aimed them and when I needed a quick direction change in the really rough stuff, the truck responded as hoped.
This is an EV, remember, and the only noise it carries is the sound of wheels on dirt and rocks.
In short order, we were scrambling over softballs, bowling balls, marbles, and small boulders. Conditioned to worry about my oil pan, differential, and other sensitive underparts, I flinched as hazards rolled beneath us, but three of the R1T’s 11 cameras (one facing front, one on each side) showed that we could move forward with confidence, and Lilly Macaruso, a special vehicle engineer riding backseat shotgun, encouraged me to goose it. Unlike an internal combustion truck, the bottom of the Rivian is flat, with no hanging doohickies to catch or fragile elements to break. That alone should open up more terrain and build confidence, but the Adventure trim package comes with armor for extra protection.
Soon we came to some gnar, where Rivian had positioned spotters, and then a gully so tight we had to fold in the mirrors. At every step, the truck motored through without the slightest complaint. Once or twice I didn’t maintain enough speed to carry over an obstacle and the truck came to a stop, but giving more throttle popped us past it no problem. I was shocked at the burliness Rivian laid out before us, but never once did it seem like we were near the truck’s limits.
The R1T’s power specifications are astounding. It has more than 800 horsepower spread between its two dual-motor assemblies, and together the quad motors deliver more than 900 foot-pounds of torque. It’s a beast. There are four off-road driving modes, selected from the large touchscreen in the center of the dash. We drove mostly in Off-Road Auto, though it also offers Rock Crawl, Rally, and Drift (yew!). Each of these modes also offers two suspension settings, stiff and less-stiff. I mostly drove in the softer mode and found it to be exquisite. You still have fantastic trail feel through the steering wheel and suspension, but a cushier ride overall and none of the boaty sensation you might expect in a “softer” setting. This is thanks to Rivian controlling vehicle sway with hydraulics, variable-rate shocks, and a computer that’s constantly analyzing driver style, speed, and terrain. It’s like having an infinitely adjustable and removable anti-sway bar—except there’s no bar at all.
The R1T rides on air suspension with a range of 6.2 inches. At its lowest, ground clearance is 8.7 inches (roughly the same as a Subaru Outback); at tallest, it’s 14.9 inches. You can manually change the height, but the vehicle is smart enough to optimize it based on driving mode. Water fording depth is more than three feet—42 inches—and the max grade it will climb is 100 percent, or a 45-degree pitch. Approach angle is 34 degrees, breakover is 25.7 degrees, and exit angle is 29.3 degrees. There are vehicles with better angles, but none with overall specs this good, and of course no snorkel is required.
Another benefit is the absolute silence you bring to the backcountry. This is an EV, remember, and the only noise it carries is the sound of wheels on dirt and rocks. When you’re sitting at home reading these words on a screen, that might not seem like a big deal, but when you’re in a beautiful Douglas fir forest and raptors are flying overhead, it’s huge. Birds were the only wildlife we saw, but the Rivian folks shared stories of driving past deer and mountain goats that barely blinked as the trucks rolled by. Our nine rigs together barely cast a sound, while the one ATV we encountered could be heard miles before it came into sight. It’s an element that has to be experienced.
ON-ROAD PERFORMANCE
I spent an hour and a half driving in traffic from the mountains to Denver’s airport and another hour on rural roads and on Loveland Pass. The hood looked wide from the driver’s perspective, but the truck, for all its length, was not ungainly. Acceleration is instant at any speed and, frankly, freaking addictive. Rivian claims 0-60 in 3.0 seconds (depending on configuration). We didn’t bust out a stopwatch, but my driving partner Adam Bible stomped it coming off Loveland Pass and we were doing 99 before I could blink. And it felt like 70, such was the stability.
Speaking of stability, our Rivian chaperones encouraged us to stress the rig at every available opportunity, and I launched it into the first few uphill turns at Loveland well over the speed limit (no other cars were in sight). My GX would have swayed and drifted into the other lane, or maybe even rolled, but the R1T’s Pirelli-Rivian all-terrain tires stuck to the pavement like glue and body sway was next to nothing. I’ve never driven a Cayenne Turbo, but it’s a safe bet the Rivian handles more like a sports car than any truck yet invented. I don’t know if it’s enough to satisfy Max, who races Indy cars, but I was blown away.
As with off-road driving, on-road the vehicle is nearly silent. The tires are remarkably quiet—we heard those of other trucks but not our own—and the rush of air is low.
INTERIOR
When I was shopping for an EV sedan in 2019, I considered the Leaf but was turned off by the sense Nissan simply grafted battery technology into an internal combustion body. It felt like the brand was living in the past. The Rivian, by contrast, is like stepping into the future. The cabin is clean and elegant, the natural wood in the dash adds a homey touch, and there are two driver screens, rather than just one as in the Model 3. Two screens let the R1T show speed and driving directions straight through the steering wheel, with the less critical information on the larger screen in the center of the dash—it’s much safer and easier to use than Tesla’s single offset unit.
Some have complained that the Rivian has no switches to flip or dials to spin (aside some controls on the wheel). I get that, and truth be told, it’s not easy to change driving modes or HVAC on the fly because you have to navigate on the center screen. On the other hand, the cockpit is minimal and lovely and someday soon you’ll be able to activate those controls through Alexa and voice commands.
The front seats are clad in vegan leather and are comfortable for long stretches. Over two days, I spent about 12 hours in them and had zero complaints. I used their heating and cooling elements and enjoyed both. The back seats got less acclaim—I only spent a few minutes back there, but most folks thought they were too upright for long comfort.
STORAGE
There are 68 cubic feet throughout. The 54- by 51-inch bed offers 29 cubic feet under the tonneau, 14 cubic feet under the bed (where you stash the optional full-size spare), 11.6 feet in the tunnel, and another 11 cubic feet in the frunk. There’s storage under the rear seats, in the doors, and in the capacious center console. There is no glove compartment.
ACCESSORIES AND THAT EVER SO SEXY CAMP KITCHEN
Rivian is hanging its hat on adventure and you can see that embodied in the gear tunnel, which runs between the cab and bed and at 65 inches wide will store skis or snowboards and a pile of other gear. It’s also the home of the slide-out Camp Kitchen, a $5,000 option that comes with a two-burner electric induction stove, 30-piece Snow Peak utensil and place settings set, collapsible sink, and four-gallon water storage with spray nozzle. It’s as clever and sleek as videos show—and removable and modular, too. Power consumption is low: Cooking on both burners for an hour consumes just one mile of range. (Power draw from external devices like fridges is nearly inconsequential.)
The Camp Kitchen is beautiful, functional, utilitarian—and it points to other options for the gear tunnel. What about a slide-in range extender? How about a cot that slides out and unfolds origami-style? A launch point for a slip and slide? A sensory deprivation chamber?
Other accessories include a three-person rooftop tent and crossbars ($2,650), crossbars alone ($450), bike mount ($250), ski/board mount ($310), and kayak mount ($200).
ELEMENTS I LOVED
• Regenerative braking is a key part of recharging your battery on the fly, but in the R1T it also serves as an amazing hill descent control. We drove it on max regen and never felt like it impeded momentum. Indeed, all my hours in the Rivian were “one-pedal” driving, except once on the freeway when I had to stop short and needed to use the brake pedal.
• The built-in air compressor is a game changer. Well, the whole dang truck is a game changer. But the compressor is rad. Air up your tires, inflate your SUP or mattress, or thrown on an impact wrench in case of a flat tire. The port is tucked behind a cover in the bed and comes with a digital pressure screen. The hose and compressor are standard in all models.
• There’s a 1,000-lumen flashlight tucked into a spring-loaded tube in the driver’s side door.
• The Gear Guard feature is personified by a cute, scruffy yeti wearing a headband, who pops up on the screen to let you know it’s recording a would-be thief with some of its 11 cameras. Nylon braided cables with steel cores loop through your gear and snap into receivers in the bed. If you yank on them when locked, you will be recorded in all your glory and an alarm will go off. Some of the Rivian folks want the alarm to play Ride of the Valkyries. Epic.
• As a semi-pro outdoor napper, I appreciate the gear tunnel as an alternative sleeping platform. It’s not long enough for a six-footer to fit fully, but with a pillow on the tunnel door it’s a surprisingly good option for zzzs.
• So, for that matter, is the frunk. Lay down sideways with your head on one side and feet out the other—not only is it highly snoozable, the lid serves as a shade awning.
• Speaking of the tunnel door, it holds 300 pounds and makes for an excellent seat, step, or photographer’s platform. Also, a place to make coffee. Or work on a laptop. Or play dominos.
• The locking roof rack, built by Yakima with design by Rivian, clips into brackets inset above the cab and bed. Unlock with the key, flip a lever, and remove the rack. It’s the simplest, fastest rack setup I’ve seen.
• Ever gone for a trail run or surf and have no place to stash your keys? The Rivian comes with a near-field communication bracelet that will open the truck. You can also access it with a fob, key card, or phone app.
• There’s an LTE wi-fi hotspot for you and your passengers. It runs on the AT&T network and is LTE, but still: pretty cool.
• 1,200-watt, 18-speaker sound system? Yes, please.
• Towing capacity is 11,000 pounds. Towing will cut your range roughly in half, though it should be noted that towing hammers gas mileage in ICE trucks, too.
• There are two glow-in-the-dark door releases in the likely event I accidentally lock myself in the gear tunnel.
• How about a self-leveling function using the air suspension? At lunch, Rivian set up the rooftop tent, but the ground was at a sharp angle and would have made for uncomfortable sleeping. I joked that the truck should level itself and one of the engineers said that function will be coming soon, hopefully in an early over-the-air (OTA) software update.
• A 400-mile range battery pack for the R1T is available for pre-order. Cost is an additional $10,000 (don’t love that part).
ELEMENTS I DIDN’T LOVE
Rivian provided us with pre-production vehicles, which, like all pre-pro products, had a few glitches, such as screens freezing or a low-resolution camera feed. These minor problems have been resolved in the production units, so I’ve left them out.
• The biggest issue was the ingress to the driver and passenger seats, especially when near the top of the suspension height: The door sill is wider than most and the seat located quite far in-bound. That makes for a long step and skooch to get your butt into the seat and one I never got used to. Compounding the problem is that the A-pillar holds the airbag, so there’s no grab handle where you’d expect it (it’s actually above the side window). I don’t know that they could narrow the sill, but widening the seat wings would help.
• Changing anything on the screen while driving off-road is nearly impossible for the driver and challenging for the passenger, as despite the smoother ride you’re still jostling around. Perhaps there’s a software fix—in off-road modes, make the activation buttons bigger. Or accelerate the arrival of Alexa and voice commands.
• Gear tunnel doors are a little funky to open—they don’t pop out quite far enough.
SO…WHAT ABOUT RANGE?
The biggest question I had about the R1T, the biggest question most people have, is what happens if you run out of power in the backcountry? The short answer is don’t do that. The Rivian “large pack” comes with an EPA-estimated 314 miles of range, though that’s with the 22-inch wheels and road performance tires. Our off-road 20s, rocking 34-inch Pirellis, will get closer to 275. Either way, the truck will alert you of low range when you have 60 miles left and it will (figuratively) shake you by the shoulders when you’re down to 40 miles. Rivian promises 3,500 fast charging stations and 10,000 overall by 2023, most located in adventure-oriented destinations. You also can charge at any public charging setup, of which there are 50,000 nationwide. Many RV parks are offering charging for a nominal fee, too. So, while chargers aren’t as ubiquitous as gas stations, and while you have to plan, there are plenty of options to stay topped off, and the network is only going to grow.
That said, if the worst happens, you can get a charge from another Rivian or you can get a tow. Rivian has kicked around the idea of selling an external battery styled like a jerry can, who knows if it’ll ever happen (“It’s just an idea,” a Rivianite? Rivianer? told me). If you’re thinking, but what about solar panels? don’t bother: They might gain you only an additional mile per day.
Having driven the 240-mile-range Tesla Model 3 on road trips, I can attest that planning your charges is essential and you will spend more time on-boarding electrons than you would getting gas. On the other hand, you never have to worry about the battery dying deep on the Arizona Strip, or the fuel pump going, or the radiator overheating, or the oil pan springing a leak. Nor do you have to hand over $80 or $100 to fossil fuel companies every time you want to get farther down the road. And you can run the HVAC system while waiting. And surf via the wi-fi hotspot. And cook a quesadilla. And nap.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The media made much of the fact that Rivian “beat” Ford and Tesla by delivering the first electric pickup in mid-September. This of course misses the point. What good is being first if it’s a Pontiac Aztec? What matters is the quality of the vehicle you’ve created. Tesla’s Cybertruck may or may not ever come to market, but if it does it’s sure to be polarizing. Ford’s F-150 Lightning might very well be the vehicle that electrifies the masses, but it’s aiming at a different market. Rivian is building its vehicles for outdoor lovers, performance junkies, environmentalists, design nerds, car campers, mountain bikers, families. And not only has it created a truck of quality, it’s reinvented the category. The T’s performance range is both high and wide—it will climb 45 degrees, race like a rally car, and cling to mountain curves like nobody’s business. Rivian has redefined what a truck can and should be, and the R1T is the standard by which all new pickups should be judged.
There are, of course, concerns. $67,000 is the starting price. As tested, our truck was the Adventure version with Off-Road Package upgrade and cost $76,800. I’d argue it’s an astounding value, but that’s almost twice what I’ve ever paid for a car. Electric vehicle batteries rely on rare earth metals, which come with a host of environmental and ethical issues. The battery is guaranteed to hold 70 percent of initial range for eight years or 175,000 miles; what happens after that isn’t clear. Rivian plans to reuse “exhausted” batteries for solar power storage and could install a new one in the truck for a fee, but nothing official has been announced.
Still, we have about a decade to wean ourselves from fossil fuels or we’ll cross unimaginable climate thresholds. The more we act with tangible steps, from consumers to business to our representatives, the better. Charging our Tesla at home with our solar panels feels like liberation, like a thumb in the eye of the jackals who soil the earth with their greed. Fueling my GX with petroleum, the best rig I’ve ever had, burdens my heart. Although Rivian is tight-lipped about future plans, it has trademarked “R1X” and “R1V” and has also patented a sliding door mechanism for a van. To me, X suggests a crossover, perhaps something smaller than the coming R1S ute, and the V of course hints at a van. Fingers crossed that either or both of these, if they see the light of day, are reachable for more people’s budgets.
Meanwhile, Toyota’s long-anticipated new Tundra was revealed and what was actually revealed is that Toyota has jumped the shark. I didn’t think Tundras could get any uglier, but never underestimate the depths of a bottomless pit. The big news, I suppose, is that the 2022 Tundra has a hybrid engine…which gets 22 miles per gallon. Wait, what? A hybrid that gets only 22 mpg? At first I thought that was a typo, but no: Unlike Ford, this is a brand that fought higher MPG standards in the US.
The future lies not with half-measures like the Toyota, but all-in efforts like the Rivian. And I promise, if you drive it, the R1T will rock your world. Even if you don’t care about the environment (though I know you do), even if you haven’t heard that Rivian is partnering with the Nature Conservancy to put chargers at trailheads, even if you don’t know it’s installing chargers in all the state parks in Colorado and Tennessee, even if the adventure baked into Rivian’s DNA matters not, you will surely find the R1T to be the highest performance, widest-ranging, condition-adaptable vehicle yet made.
When I sat down to write this review, I worried about sounding like a fanboy, and reading it back, I still do. (And I certainly didn’t plan on writing 4,000 words, LOL.) But then I reflect on how the truck drives and what it means for the future of vehicles and the climate and I think I might not be gushing enough. The R1T changes everything, and this is only the beginning.
Photos by Elliot Ross/Rivian
This truck sounds amazing, and I hope they succeed. Hopefully able to drop the price a bit as they increase production, because $80K cars aren’t going to save us from climate hell.
“Another example: Rivian has a program that will be offer member-only drive modes, delivered, of course, wirelessly over the air; the truck that rolls off the line is only the start.”
And so our nightmarish, “car as a subscription service” future begins.
I love nearly everything about the Rivian, but button-free dashboards are simply a non-starter: it’s a distracting, frustrating, and ultimately unsafe interaction model for vehicles- and voice commands are nowhere near ready enough to make up for the absence of physical controls. Tesla is the main offender for sure but driving a modern Volvo is another exasperating experience. At best it’s poor interaction design and at most cynical it’s cost savings (no expensive tooling for small companies) rebranded as futurism.
/rant
Near-silent torque from 0rpm, on the other hand, is amazing. Both on road and off. Charging at home is amazing. It sounds like Rivian have done an amazing job on so much of the R1T, but count me out until basic controls can be adjusted without shouting at the dash or taking my eyes from the road.
Conspiracy theory…
Auto makers know that touch screen controls are more dangerous, but they are trendy and sell well. And more dangerous means more crashes means more car sales, so they’re gonna keep doing it.
I’m with you. Can’t stand modern touch controls.
“That makes the R1T’s performance malleable and future-proofed, rather than locked into inert sheet metal and rubber.”
Future proofed? =:D
There isn’t an industry left on the planet that is trying to make ANYTHING, future proof. In fact, I’d argue the opposite, this truck will suffer from the same upgraditis inducing “we just couldn’t push the design any further so we introduced a whole new platform” BS that has plagued cell phones and computer software for the last decade.
Don’t get me started on the bike industry…..
I’m all in, I think these are wonderful trucks, I applaud Rivian for pushing the envelope, and making the big boys get off their asses and accept the future, as far as gas guzzlers goes, but I don’t believe for a second that in 15 years, you’ll still be able to get much of anything serviced on this truck because, *new* is where the profitability for shareholders, is.
They won’t sell enough of these to make a difference to Ford or the other big boys. These are $75k toys – the automotive equivalent of a Hydroflask bottle (consumerism wrapped up in virtue-signaling). As cool as these may be, there’s not a huge market full of buyers who want an expensive pickup for off-roading; I don’t think that they’ll replace all that many gas guzzlers.
If I glossed over it in the article I apologize, but I’d like to see something that details the new technology in this vehicle that might trickle down to more mass market vehicles and thus make a real difference. Are they doing anything different than Ford or Tesla when it comes to what makes EV trucks tick? There’s a lot of neat computer-assisted tech in these trucks that impact the driving experience, but that’s also true of every luxury ICE vehicle rolled off the line by Mercedes/Land Rover/etc.
First, all adventure vehicles are effectively toys. Second, I fail to see how this is “virtue signaling,” which is easily the worst phrase in current English. Have you driven an EV? It’s night and day a better experience than ICE. Even if you don’t remotely care about carbon emissions, it’s simply a better experience driving an EV. You could spend $50k on a TRD Pro 4Runner (also a “toy”), or $75k on a much nicer Rivian that’s just as capable off road, gets anywhere from $7500 to close to $10k in rebates back, depending on where you live, and you never have to pay for gas. Now, whether there’s a market or not for a truck like this is not my expertise. I would argue there absolutely is — if they wanted to make a purely utilitarian truck they could have. This prob won’t replace F-150s on job sites, but that’s not what it’s for. The Ford Lightning can do that.
Agree that “virtue signaling” is among the worst phrases in current English.
But what about “alternative facts?”
Or “libtard?”
Or “conscious uncoupling?”
Or “cryptocurrency?”
To paraphrase Apocalypse Now: “In the 21st Century, the bullshit was so high you needed wings to get above it.”
Claiming that driving an EV is better experience is inherently an opinion. One could venture to say that driving an EV is a night and day different experience from driving an ICE, but to say it’s better is up to the driver.
I will agree with Ian in that it’s a 75K toy. At its core, the RIVIAN is a luxury vehicle. If you want to make a solid case for environmentalism, spend 40K on a Model 3 use the extra 26K to put in Tesla solar and a power wall (which would power your entire house) and still have 9K left over to buy a used weekend warrior vehicle. 75K is just simply outrageous for a vehicle with features that most buyers will use once in a lifetime.
I will say, the absolute silence of the vehicle must be nice!
And Tesla was criticized as making cars only for the rich. Our Model 3, with tax rebates, cost $38,000. Tesla sold 500,000 vehicles in 2020 and almost 400,000 through the first two quarters of 2021.
My feeling is people want quality goods even if they cost more. Look no further than the popularity of yeti coolers 🙂
I’d love to own a Rivian… just gotta start saving my pennies!
Thank you so much for writing the 4,000 words. Other than the rare earth metals part for batteries these trucks, now being lead by the Rivian are a very positive step in a good direction. Anybody can nickel and dime any new product whether it’s a car, phone, computer, whatever. Rivian has blasted forth what sounds like a pretty great truck. I do hope they make a two-door long bed version at some point. I know luxury sells but I don’t need four seats and four doors for my truck. I would like some more space in the back. That said, If I can make it work, a Rivian will be in my driveway with solar panels on the roof keeping it topped up and ready for what’s next.
I love a lot of things about this – they clearly learned the lesson from Tesla about continuous and easy updates (which, of course, has a light side and a dark side). That’s miles ahead (no pun intended) of the rest of the auto industry, and it’s great to have someone else driving this model.
But … if I can’t easily sleep in it, I’m not really interested. I drive a 2017 Tacoma with a long bed/access cab, and I specifically sought it out because I want to sleep in it. I don’t want a rooftop tent, I don’t want a four-wheel-drive camper, I want a simple shell that my sweetie and I can toss our bags in and get out of the rain and snow and have a little privacy.
I get mail from Snow Peak and think it’s cute, but I’m never going to buy one of their sets because I have honed my setup over 30 years of adventuring. Pretty much anyone that can afford one of these Rivian trucks is probably in the same boat. So I don’t really understand that part AT ALL.
I think it’s great that they’ve built a capable off-road vehicle, but I’m personally not really interested in rock crawling. I mostly drive crappy fire roads with erosion ruts and monster potholes, and roads that have been covered with sharp gravel that has an affinity for tire sidewalls.
And snow. Lots of snow, usually with ice. Nokian tires are my friend. So tell me about that, please.
My biggest stumbling blocks are the buy-in price, and the range. The range is enough to drive one way from my house in the SF Bay Area to Tahoe, and that’s great. But it’s not enough to do a full day of the drive to Alta.
I know this is going to be a controversial vehicle, and that’s good. I wish them success. But there is also a market of adventurers out here who are happy with “stripper” vehicles that don’t have leather, vegan or otherwise.
All good points, Chris. I’m not into pickups (for myself) for a myriad reasons, but bed length is a big one. Range and charging will be issues for the foreseeable a future—I don’t see electric fill-ups rivaling petroleum in duration any time soon. That said, Rivian’s fast chargers promise 140 miles in 20 minutes, which could be enough to get you over the hump to the next destination (though not Alta, obviously).
Aside from price, range and charging are the biggest issues for a western adventure lifestyle. As a potential buyer of the R1S, they concern me. But having owned the Model 3 for a few years, I want to make the jump to all electric, even if that means personal inconveniences.
Two other points: Rivian will be launching more vehicles and they will be built on an adventure foundation and I’m sure they will be less expensive as the brand grows. It took five years before Tesla made a car within my budget, but eventually they did.
Finally, the sooner we all transition to EVs, the better. Charging times are inconvenient, but so is a burning planet.
Steve, I think we’re in violent agreement on pretty much all points here, especially about the need to transition to EVs – I made my comments in large part in the hopes that someone from Rivian will be looking at them 🙂 I love what they’ve done, as a stake in the ground for the industry. It’s just not the right solution for me (I should amend my comment above to say that I drive a *base* 2017 4WD SR5 Tacoma, not a TRD or TRD Pro or other trim level. I wish I had the heated seat option, but that’s the only thing I miss from the higher trim levels.)
I understand not being a pickup guy. I wasn’t until I bought this vehicle – I leave a string of Subarus behind me. But I couldn’t stand any of their offerings when I needed a new vehicle a few years ago, and the new price of pretty much all of the other capable vehicles led me to try the pickup thing. Took a year or more, but I’ve grown to like it.
As well written as the article. Thank you Steve!
The point is, real tangible progress is being made in the right direction. How exciting for those that care about this rare spherical playground we call home!
Looking forward to a possible van or towing capacity truck as a full time RV’r. Yes – unfortunately, I am a full blown hypocrite.
I love the outdoors and care deeply about the environment but absolutely detest living my best life while sickeningly increasing the wealth of those petroleum folks and contributing to the destruction of what I love most. So I try to sit longer and move less. But what I really need is a livable or towing capacity EV.
The Rivian gives me hope. No, it’s not my answer but it’s so exciting to see so much effort made in the right direction.
The use of rare earth metals/minerals hurts but given time, and consumer interest maybe someday…
Thank you for such an informative, passionate and positive article about the Rivian!
You could also just become a real adventurer and live closer so you don’t need to drive 12 hours to Alta.
Visiting SLC is one thing. Living there is quite another.
You didn’t mention the thing that is the biggest stumbling block for me for an EV, and that is recharge time. Living out west, I often drive 6, 10, 12+ hours to reach a destination.
Assuming there are fast chargers available, how many additional hours are needed for recharging? Would my route have to significantly change to find them? And how long if there aren’t fast chargers?
I love the idea of this truck (minus the price), but I’m not sure I could deal with the current recharging hassles currently in much of the western US. Perhaps this is a problem I need to get over, but I’m not there yet.
Forgive my ignorance about pretty much everything EV, but could you “emergency charge” the truck in the back-country with a Honda generator? At least enough to get back to a real charger?
Yes, you could.
Great, in-depth review. Wish it had a 6′ bed, and that I could afford it!
Nice write up Steve. I’d say it is worth every 4000 words. I can sense the shift of design towards what one should expect of the present with the future in mind. I imagine driving the Rivian was to dirt as the Tesla was to the road when you first drove it. Not in the sense of comparison but rather the feeling that this is what ‘phones” should be like, what you actually want.
EVs are a great for urban use, but chargers at trail heads? I guess you just pound one into the ground like a wilderness boundary sign. No infrastructure needed! What could possibly go wrong?
I don’t see the appeal of a truck that has a front end that looks like an anime character.
Touch controls are not acceptable in a truck but they may be gearing this towards Yuppies because I don’t see anyone currently driving a F-150, RAM or Silverado going anywhere near this thing.
Niche product.
this is so stupid, that thing weighs 7,000 pounds!
no wonder it needs 800 hp.
what a waste of resources.
and about the 77% efficiency: depending on the source that efficiency goes dramatically down. a natural gas fired power plant has an efficiency of 42%.
it’s like saying ‘oh, don’t worry. my electricity comes from the wall outlet’.
It’s easy to make an argument that ANY electric vehicle is better than a fossil-fuel burning, energy-wasting, C02 emitting, polar bear and Maldivean-drowning ICE stinkpot.
The goal here for Tesla and Rivian and everyone else is to move toward a world that runs electric vehicles on renewable energy.
Because if you think the economic disruption from Covid is uncomfortable, wait until a world economy that runs on fossil fuels starts to run out of fossil fuels with no alternative in place.
To me, the threat of global, Venezuela-class economic chaos is greater than the threat of climate change – melting glaciers don’t move as fast as Molotov cocktails.
Norway is the model, with 50% of their cars already electric running on a 98% renewable grid – mostly hydroelectric.
California is gunning for a renewable grid by mid-century or sooner, and we’d have it sooner if there were only 5 million people in the state – like Norway – and not almost 40 million.
So Rivian’s first vehicle is heavy and expensive and maybe not ideal, but they just getting started.
Amazon ordering 100,000 electric vans is reason enough to admire Bezos – he don’t have to do that, but he’s doing it.
And it’s easier to regulate and filter the emissions from one natural gas or coal-powered plant generating electricity for a million electric cars, then regulate the emissions of a million fossil-fuel burning stinkpots.
Have a little patience. Have a little faith.
This shiznit takes time.
California can’t keep the lights on as is. Going all electric before improving the electric grid is idiotic.
Hybrids make the most sense
Hybrids are for peasants.
Hybrids are still semi-stinkpots. They will do in the interim but there is no system more elegant and efficient then charging your EV at home, ideally with solar panels on your roof and/or grid juice generated without fossil fuels.
California has power outages now because California has almost 40 million people which is 1/9 the population of the entire country.
The grid is as stressed as the water supply and the highways.
Some say people are leaving California in droves. They aren’t droving fast enough.
Since 1960 population of California has increased more than 1,000 people a day every day for 61 years. It would be nice to reverse that flow.
Redistribute 10 to 20 million people to Idaho or Oregon or Nevada or Arizona and California would be much closer to running a renewable grid and outlawing ICE stinkpots.
I agree that California is overcrowded, voting for YIMBYs like Newsom will not help.
Not everyone has access to an outlet. Many renters don’t and never will.
All electric makes zero sense
Newsom has little to do with overcrowding. People come to California because its the place to be.
If you don’t have access to an electrical outlet you should be required to move to Arizona.
Mostly electric makes sense.
There is zero advantage to stinkpots and muchos disadvantagiosos.
I read this article back in September and quickly put my money down based primarily on this review. I think Steve did an excellent overall take on this promising vehicle. Given the developments of this week I am canceling my order. I do not think that Rivian is a reputable company and their reputation is shot. For them to raise prices in the manner and amount they did makes me suspicious of the entire enterprise. Unproven tech, unproven support and this is how they treat the early adopters. No thank you. And judging by the miles long Reddit threads on this I am not alone.