Rivian Electric Truck

The specs are crazy.

They are getting closer to practicality.

Looks like fun too

Great concept, nice execution

Styling is ... well .... interesting ..

SUV as well

https://products.rivian.com/suv/

As they tout, Independent motor on each wheel creates lots of potential for totally new driving dynamics both on and off road. Wonder how advanced the software development is and what plans for over the air enhancements ?

Supposedly "starting" under $70K for the truck and about $72K for the SUV . $90K + for the model shown ... Like Tesla, only the high end model will be available to start.

All the new electric entries, including Porsche, Jaguar etc. have a big hill to climb to compete with Tesla's existing charging network. Although not perfect, its a huge advantage.

It suggests 400+ miles. I wonder what that mileage would look like when really used as a truck? Ex...tie my 11,000lb boat on the back of it, or even a 5000lb fishing boat and lets measure mileage at say 60mph. I suspect if you want to use it to haul groceries it would be an awesome advantage....but as a truck...a real truck...I dunno……. Very interesting though.

Rated for 7700 lbs. towing. Still not enough range. I could not get from my house to our friends in either Medford or Klamath Falls, OR. And no one there would have a charger. Other than that, it looks pretty neat.

It's a nice thought, but I'd still really prefer the hybrid gas/electric system used in the Volt. I never bought a Volt as I own a truck to haul stuff, although the majority of miles do go on it for my commute during the winter.

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They are getting closer to practicality.

 

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Have you heard of the

Neither of these trucks are yet practical for the masses but it's exciting to get a glimpse of what's to come.

Solid State battery's are (hopefully) only a few years out & will more then double energy density, be safer, & eventually cheaper (kw/$) then today's offerings.

I'd forgotten about the Bollinger ... another great concept with a completely different target market from the Rivian.

While the Rivian is like a modern day Land Rover (ie oriented to the luxury, mostly street oriented market) the Bollinger appeals to the 1960's Series IIa, lets go on an African safari, Land Rover crowd .

Oddly enough, the Rivian may have greater off road potential with 4 independent motors, but the Bollinger has more than enough capability with the hydraulic suspension and lots of proven, high end off road technology

Of the two, I'd go with the Bollinger, but they do need to get the range up a bit

I worked at the Normal, IL plant where it will be built when it was a Mitsubishi plant. Hope it doesn't jinx them.

Now this looks like an electric vehicle that Americans would actually buy (although the Tesla Model 3 is currently outselling every other midsize luxury sedan, sedans don't seem to be where it's at any more), if they can get the price down a bit. This is like a half-ton pickup that's priced like a loaded 3/4 ton pickup, but without the 3/4 ton's hauling capacity. My F-150 with the Ecoboost V6 and 3.15 axle will tow 10,700. IIRC, the Ecoboost goes up to 13K with a 3.73 axle, and higher with a V8.

Tesla has shown a pickup, but I think they're going to have to make some more money (they had a $516 million profit in Q3) before they can build the production capacity for one.

They show some very fast charging times for the Rivian, without saying anything about what chargers are used to achieve them. And it does seem we'll have a bit of proprietary fight for fast charging standards. Tesla's Superchargers dominate for now, but VW's Electrify America just started installing 350 kW chargers that no currently-available vehicle can use. They should be able to add 200 miles of range in about 10 minutes. Upcoming VW and Porsche EVs will use them.

The existing CCS DC fast charging standard supports up to 350 kW, and after digging around for a while on the Electrify America site, I found that these Electrify America chargers are CCS chargers, not a proprietary standard. A Tesla Supercharger, the highest-power charger in widespread use, is only about 120 kW, and can only be used by Teslas. Currently-deployed CCS chargers are about 60 kW. Using one of the latter, I once got a 90% charge on my i3 in the time it took me to have a cup of coffee.

Electrify America installs California's first 350kW EV chargers