Official Rivian Email: A Look Ahead to 2023. Rivian Membership cancelled and unbundled into subscription services

[elektrode]

Basically most of us got a free RAN membership to watch Kyle charge at one on YouTube.

Closest I’ll get to one I’d imagine.

I ain’t paying for a shitty NAV that can’t navigate basic routes or shitty Spotify.

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[Rally1]

Same question as above, what's in the bundle? LTE and free charging plus... updates, nav services, roadside assistance?

 

[CharonPDX]

"Covering charging on RAN through April 2023"

Kind of lame considering there's so few sites available at the moment

Yep. Was hoping the free to last at least through the end of the year. Now it's going to be a craps shoot on if I get to use one before the free goes away.

 

[OverZealous]

My assumption is they would cover basic connectivity for navigation, diagnostics, remote access via the phone app and maybe streaming music but not the hotspot or things like YouTube if that ever shows up?

I assume they'll take the Tesla approach, and only cover basic navigation, no traffic, and that's it. No streaming, no video, no hotspot, and probably a limited navigation experience in general.

 

[Jedwards]

I am curious what they will charge for charging? EA being 0.31 and Tesla around 0.30-70 I am hoping for the low 0.20's but that might be wishful thinking.

 

[ohseedee]

Can you get all the features provided via LTE over wifi? If so, would just using a wifi hotspot on your phone work instead of paying for LTE?

 

[CharonPDX]

I just hope the LTE is free or at least ultra-cheap ($10-$30/year) for "basic vehicle functionality", with a higher cost reserved for HotSpot use and (if they ever add it) streaming video. I don't want to pay $10/month just to be able to use remote app controls and live traffic navigation.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Same question as above, what's in the bundle? LTE and free charging plus... updates, nav services, roadside assistance?

Sounds like we're going to know more on the 16th. Rivian has a published support article that just says the same thing as the e-mail.

https://rivian.com/support/article/what-s-the-latest-on-membership

The thing I don't think I understood was that Rivian intended the membership to only be free for Rivian's first year of deliveries and not the first year that I own the vehicle. For that, I'm disappointed.

 

[Rivian_Hugh_III]

The nickel and diming begins.

Rivian listed as many as 18 ways to monetize Rivian owners in their run up to the ipo.

Soon we’ll pay for new modes, motor upgrades (in dualies), media options, LTE, RAN charging… what else? More to come no doubt.

It’s like Office365 and Adobe had a baby with wheels.

 

[elektrode]

“In 2023, we’re gonna start milkin’ ya!”

“We’re sorry, your motorized tonneau membership has expired -> CLUNK!”

 

[R1Thrilled]

Yeah pretty disappointed to say the least... I understand them needing to make changes to their business to stop bleeding cash but considering I haven't even been able to sniff a RAN charger yet and they're already talking about monetizing them it is a little hard to swallow.

 

[R1Tom]

Why not just release the structure to end wild speculation?

 

[thrill]

I'm annoyed about the charging ending in April as well, but this company can't keep bleeding cash and expect to survive. More revenue streams are needed, so it is what it is.

With so few RANs available how can that be a cash bleed?

 

[Prime]

Hopefully if they start charing for LTE they'll be offering more things to do with it like Tesla does with apps / video content so you have something to do when waiting for the truck to get charged. I personally wouldn't pay for membership just to have free charging with RAN, LTE, maybe depending on what they do with it down the road.

 

[DaveA]

With so few RANs available how can that be a cash bleed?

I'm saying it needs to become a revenue stream...the cash bleed is ramping/operations, not the RAN network.

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