Rivian exploring is awesome. (2 Viewers)

[swhme]

I’ve had my R1T for 18 months now, built it up for exploring this summer, and it’s been incredible.

Pros:

• Truck bed plus gear tunnel plus frunk means way more storage space
• Massive battery means no stress about power. Fridge in the bed, freezer in the frunk, pass an extension cord up to my tent for a home fan or space heater. I even brought a toaster oven last weekend for fresh cinnamon rolls
• Silent off roading with the windows down is awesome
• Cheap running costs. Total fuel costs for Santa Fe to Durango to Silverton to Lake City to Santa Fe (almost 600 miles) about $40

Cons:

• You’ve gotta get to a charger every 3-4 days, so you can’t do an extended overland trip

 

[suprarx7nut]

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I’ve had my R1T for 18 months now, built it up for exploring this summer, and it’s been incredible.

Pros:

• Truck bed plus gear tunnel plus frunk means way more storage space
• Massive battery means no stress about power. Fridge in the bed, freezer in the frunk, pass an extension cord up to my tent for a home fan or space heater. I even brought a toaster oven last weekend for fresh cinnamon rolls
• Silent off roading with the windows down is awesome
• Cheap running costs. Total fuel costs for Santa Fe to Durango to Silverton to Lake City to Santa Fe (almost 600 miles) about $40

Cons:

• You’ve gotta get to a charger every 3-4 days, so you can’t do an extended overland trip

The silent off roading part has huge appeal to me. I love doing trails with the windows down and the Land Cruiser motor noise isn't exactly what I'm trying to hear out in the wilderness.

 

[120mm]

What was initial purchase price?

What is the expected death of the battery pack date?

 

[swhme]

What was initial purchase price?

What is the expected death of the battery pack date?

$70k (after federal rebate)

Battery has an 8 year, 175k mile warranty. I’ll probably trade for a new rivian with a bigger battery before then

 

[suprarx7nut]

What was initial purchase price?

What is the expected death of the battery pack date?

I've found this question fascinating for years because it's a critical part of the whole EV deal. If the battery is poorly made (looking at you Nissan Leaf, lol) then the car is virtually worthless. Thankfully not every EV is a Nissan Leaf or a Chevy Volt/Bolt. Now that the original Model S is a decade old there's lots of good data on those early Tesla battery packs. So far, the original one or two battery types from Tesla seem to have done pretty well. Figuring out "average death age" is tough because only a tiny percent of those batteries have actually died. Rivian is a new company so obviously we don't have decade old data yet, but I suspect they followed best practices from Tesla and will see similar longevity. In that sense I guess the answer to your leading question is... so far out that we don't have an accurate way to estimate it? Typical degradation seems to be 10% loss of capacity at 150k miles. Total death before then is very rare and covered 100% under warranty by most (all?) manufacturers. Also worth noting these batteries are typically just a set of "packs". You can swap packs out without replacing the entire thing. Again, since the batteries of most all EVs on the road are still under warranty the second hand and refurbish market hasn't really taken off. I suspect you'll see lots of battery pack tester/resellers as more wrecked EVs provide donor packs.

Estimates for modern battery lifespans are 300k-500k miles, but it will take another 5-10 years to see if that's an accurate estimate.

 

[120mm]

As I stated in another thread, I see long term vehicle ownership as a critical portion of economic success. EVs become much, much more attractive to me if I can be assured I won't be slave to a car payment.

I have noticed the proliferation of Teslas in our area to mid level economic status people and was wondering if rapid depreciation related to battery pack aging was driving that.

3-500,000 miles would be great, if it bears out