Any one else excited for the Rivian? (2 Viewers)

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So my wife is on her 2nd Tesla. She had a model S and now has a model 3. Driving the EV pretty much makes my ‘13 LX570 seem like a dinosaur. Anyway I’ve been waiting to see what happens next with the 300 series (or 400?) as I hope to replace my LX with a highly capable off-road SUV with at least a 7000k lb towing capacity that is an EV.

The Rivian could be it

 
I’ve reached out to them. Seems the SUV with the big battery is going to be $85-90k. That’s a 3 row similar size to a land cruiser similar or better off road ability, 0-60 in under 3 seconds, and 8-9k lb tow capacity, over 400 mile range. The truck will have at least 12k tow capacity and all else same. The $70k truck will be ~8k lb towing 300 mile range.

They claim they are benchmarking the LC for the suv and Raptor for the truck.
 
The SUV looks cool. Much nicer then the other ones I've seen.

The Truck looks like a bit of a disappointment. Where's my 8ft bed? And touchscreens are a bit hard to use with work gloves on.
 
I don't think it's that kinda truck, more like haul your paddleboard to the beach kinda truck. Which is a disappointment cause id like an electric work truck too
 
Neither truck or SUV are full size. Truck is very similar to a Tacoma size. SUV is close to a 4Runner size. Certainly interesting to me. Not sure 400 miles range empty is going to work for towing anything meaningful if that means 100 miles or less range towing. If you're only towing short distances it would probably work. I think Olaus is right - it's really a lifestyle trucklet, not really a truck made for doing truck type stuff.

I like the styling though.
 
^^^. Check your specs. The SUV is close to but slightly longer and wider than an LC 200 (5040x2015mm vs 4990x1980mm). The truck is almost the same size as a 6.5’ bed f150. And does a taco have a 11,000 tow rateing?
As for towing range. It will be less I have a buddy with a model x that tows an r pod. He takes a 50-70% efficiency loss towing. But then I take a 40-50% hit in MPG towing my 22’ camper with my LX570.
Who knows what/if it will be if it makes it to market. The tech around all this is rapidly growing by leaps and bounds. I think even a year from now who knows what we will have. Tesla just put their phase 3 superchargers on line that can charge 1000 miles of range per hour.
 
Tacoma short bed 127" wheel base. Tacoma Long bed 140.6"
Rivian truck 135" wheel base.
150 crew cab = 145=157" wheel base.

Tacoma crew cab overall length: 208-221
F150 Crew cab overall length: 232-244
Rivian overall length: 215

width
Tacoma: 75
F150: 80
Rivian: 78.7

Seems like it fits closer to a 6.5 foot bed Tacoma than an F150. Although somewhere in the middle. They also said that they intended to be a midsize truck by design in one of the interviews I saw. The Honda ridgeline is probably the closest current production truck match in size.

I think the big difference towing would be that you'd need to have a charging station every 100 or less miles. And then if you need to wait for 30-45 minutes every 100 miles it's going to get pretty old pretty fast. I wouldn't count on towing much or towing often unless they develop something like a secondary battery pack to extend the range. If a Model X is losing 50% towing 2500lb, I'd guess 10,000lbs is going to loose 80-90%. May only get 50 miles per charge. That's a tough sell.
 
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I’ve had their site up in my browser for a month now with a deposit ready. All I have to do is hit the submit order button. Not sure if I want to the truck or the SUV. I love it! If I have an lx in the garage, the truck might be the ticket...
 
IMO it's a heck of a risk to spend that much money on a vehicle from a completely unknown and unproven company. From what I'm hearing, even Tesla's build quality leaves a LOT to be desired, and that's a much more established company at this point.

Cool tech all around, no doubt, and likely to be the future, but I'd give them 10-15 years to prove themselves at least a little bit.
 
IMO it's a heck of a risk to spend that much money on a vehicle from a completely unknown and unproven company. From what I'm hearing, even Tesla's build quality leaves a LOT to be desired, and that's a much more established company at this point.

Cool tech all around, no doubt, and likely to be the future, but I'd give them 10-15 years to prove themselves at least a little bit.
We are on our 2nd Tesla, 6 years with the brand. I think In general you just hear the complainers. Everything has been top notch. And I’m > 2000 miles from the nearest Tesla service center. Until you own an EV it’s hard to explain how mechanically simple they are.
 
3 feet of wading depth is pretty impressive
 
IMO it's a heck of a risk to spend that much money on a vehicle from a completely unknown and unproven company. From what I'm hearing, even Tesla's build quality leaves a LOT to be desired, and that's a much more established company at this point.

Cool tech all around, no doubt, and likely to be the future, but I'd give them 10-15 years to prove themselves at least a little bit.
A few folks I know have Tesla model S. Build quality and fit/finish is what you'd expect from a first time builder. The general experience is pretty good. But the seats are terrible. Maybe worse than a Tacoma's. Where Lexus can have a team spend 3 years just perfecting the seats for the ES, I think Tesla spent 3 days. I've read the newer ones are better. And I think that's kinda the point. The first series will never have the production quality that is developed over generations of continuous improvement.

I probably wouldn't jump on a first generation new either. Electric cars depreciate like crazy, so even waiting 2 or 3 years would typically get a big price drop. You can pick up a sub 50k mile Model S 85 for $35k. At that price I think it's actually a pretty decent value for a commuter car. For me it just doesn't make sense because my commute is so short I can just ride my bicycle. But I could pretty easily make the case for it if I had a commute as a low cost option. A used Nissan Leaf is damn near free. They're so cheap they're kinda begging to be stripped for an EV rock buggy drive train.

If the Rivan would actually tow my camper 400 miles on a charge - I'd have to look very hard at one. Someday it'll happen. I don't think that day is today though. Toyota has said that the next Tundra and Tacoma will be electrified at some level. It's not a far jump from there to full EV if the market will support it. I suspect that also means the next LC and 4Runner/Prado will also get the same treatment.
 
I drove a model x in the rain with ludicrous turned on and floored the accelerator, no wheel spin on all 4 wheels due to each is controlled independently. If I was blindfolded I would guess it was sunny outside. A mechanical awd is not as sophisticated
 
I drove a model x in the rain with ludicrous turned on and floored the accelerator, no wheel spin on all 4 wheels due to each is controlled independently. If I was blindfolded I would guess it was sunny outside. A mechanical awd is not as sophisticated
All the AWD Tesla’s currently available are duel motor not 4. One on each axel attached to an open diff. The Rivian, and proposed Tesla: semi, truck, and new roadster are all taking 4 motors. In our Our S and now AWD 3 straight line traction is outstanding as you stated. However the ESC systems cournering dynamics on ultra slick like solid ice could use some improvements.
 
Electronics can't overcome the threshold of motion problem. Doesn't matter how good they are. It's just physics. Mechanically coupled drive tires are physically capable of greater net friction. They can get close, and certain have advantages in cornering and such. But pure straight line friction - they'll never be able to reach the peak 4 tire threshold of motion like a mechanical coupled system can.
 
Ford kicking out $500 million. Add that to Amazon’s $800 million investment in Rivian. Looks like we know where the EV F150 will most likely come from

 
Electronics can't overcome the threshold of motion problem. Doesn't matter how good they are. It's just physics. Mechanically coupled drive tires are physically capable of greater net friction. They can get close, and certain have advantages in cornering and such. But pure straight line friction - they'll never be able to reach the peak 4 tire threshold of motion like a mechanical coupled system can.
So what you are saying is in a straight line mechanical is better? With our Tesla’s it is the other way around. Straight line traction is unbelievable, cournering is where they feel not quite up to par.
 

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