Experienced unsteady power during an R1S test drive in Phoenix

[TM1]

We went for a test drive near noon in Phoenix, temp somewhere around 105, and my nephew and I took turns driving.
Afterwards, both of us mentioned to each other that we had experienced the sensation of the vehicle's power ebbing and surging while driving at a steady speed (or trying to drive) in the 40 mph range.
The AC was on full blast and felt weak - the car was sitting in the sun - there was a lot of mass to cool down and it took nearly the whole test drive to finally feel some seriously cool air flowing. Just wondering if the AC was causing some power issues.
It sort of reminded me of the early days of the Prius hybrid system where one would notice the back and forth hand off between the ICE power and the electrical motor power. Perhaps something going on with the 4 quad-motors coordinating?
In retrospect, we should have asked our Rivian chaperone if that was normal or not.
So I'll ask in the forum if anyone else has experienced this to any degree.
If not, I should try to contact them to see what they have to say.

Sponsored

 

[AxelR]

R1S… unless you’re way ahead of the rest of us ?

 

[TM1]

R1S… unless you’re way ahead of the rest of us ?

Wishful thinking!!! Thanks for the catch. The R1S is a beast. I think the R2S will be more along the lines of what I'm looking for.

 

[iforbes]

We went for a test drive near noon in Phoenix, temp somewhere around 105, and my nephew and I took turns driving.
Afterwards, both of us mentioned to each other that we had experienced the sensation of the vehicle's power ebbing and surging while driving at a steady speed (or trying to drive) in the 40 mph range.
The AC was on full blast and felt weak - the car was sitting in the sun - there was a lot of mass to cool down and it took nearly the whole test drive to finally feel some seriously cool air flowing. Just wondering if the AC was causing some power issues.
It sort of reminded me of the early days of the Prius hybrid system where one would notice the back and forth hand off between the ICE power and the electrical motor power. Perhaps something going on with the 4 quad-motors coordinating?
In retrospect, we should have asked our Rivian chaperone if that was normal or not.
So I'll ask in the forum if anyone else has experienced this to any degree.
If not, I should try to contact them to see what they have to say.

AC affects gas engine because the compressor is stealing power from the motor. This does not happen with the EV. Your refrigerator in your house doesn’t work less well when you turn your fan on.
Without being there I’m guessing that this was a lack of familiarity with one-pedal-driving? Did you ask your guide if they noticed anything? Too bad they didn’t pre-cool the vehicle.

 

[TM1]

AC affects gas engine because the compressor is stealing power from the motor. This does not happen with the EV. Your refrigerator in your house doesn’t work less well when you turn your fan on.
Without being there I’m guessing that this was a lack of familiarity with one-pedal-driving? Did you ask your guide if they noticed anything? Too bad they didn’t pre-cool the vehicle.

Model S for 8+ yrs. AC does consume battery power.

 

[iforbes]

Model S for 8+ yrs. AC does consume battery power.

Of course it consumes battery power, but not at the expense of the motors.

 

[emoore]

Model S for 8+ yrs. AC does consume battery power.

AC doesn’t use the same circuit as the motors so there should be no impact on using the AC besides less range.

 

[mkg3]

Maybe it helps to say that the compressor on an ICE vehicle is driven by the engine; therefore, it takes away from the finite power available of the ICE.

The AC unit/compressor/heat pump for EVs are NOT driven by the motor. It is a completely separate unit; thereby does not affect the motor performance.

Clearly draws power from the same batteries. The simplest analogy is that the motor and other devices (e.g., AC) are in a parallel rather than in a serial circuit so that there is no voltage drop by having to draw from the same power source.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Of course it consumes battery power, but not at the expense of the motors.

Depends on what the limiting factor is. In the Bolt EV, battery output was limited, so when HV power was being used for other things, the motor wouldn't see 100% of what was otherwise available. In the winter with the heat on Max, you'd lose about 5% of the total output, which was actually noticable.

 

[Cactus]

@TM1- If you are coming from a Model S, the accelerator mapping is completely different. I own a 2014 Model S and just got my R1S. Accelerator mapping in the Tesla is smoother than in the R1 vehicles which seemed very herky-jerky to me on my first (and 2nd) drive. I'm kinda used to it now, but still notice the lack of fine control, especially when I am backing up into my garage.

If you were test driving, it's would be easy to mistake power surging and ebbing with slight right foot inconsistencies, especially if you were going over bumps. Maybe one day Rivian will re-map the accelerator pedal.

 

[TM1]

@TM1- If you are coming from a Model S, the accelerator mapping is completely different. I own a 2014 Model S and just got my R1S. Accelerator mapping in the Tesla is smoother than in the R1 vehicles which seemed very herky-jerky to me on my first (and 2nd) drive. I'm kinda used to it now, but still notice the lack of fine control, especially when I am backing up into my garage.

If you were test driving, it's would be easy to mistake power surging and ebbing with slight right foot inconsistencies, especially if you were going over bumps. Maybe one day Rivian will re-map the accelerator pedal.

Thank you Cactus, that makes a lot of sense. The road was a little bumpy. I tried to enable cruise control, but the chaperone person said it was only available on freeway/highways. I was really surprised by the feel. My nephew has a model Y and the same thing happened to him.

For us desert dwellers, a beefier AC would be welcome. There is a lot of interior to cool.
I'm just sad I have to wait 3 yrs for the R2S. I have a cybertruck reservation, but I'm pretty sure my wife would only agree to getting it if I agreed to get rid of it after a year or two. Maybe that can tide me over. Assuming my place in line is earlier than an R2S reservation.

 

[TM1]

Hmmmm - they moved this conversation to the repair category, but the conclusion is that there was nothing wrong with the R1S, just my expectation of how the drive should feel.

 

[Visket]

It was probably cutting power a bit while it was lowering ride height for safety. Try it in Sport / Lowest mode.

 

[Visket]

Watching

Sponsored