Factory winch and sliders / rock rails spotted on this Rivian R1T?

[Buckets0fun]

I would be absolutely shocked if there were a retrofit option:

1) The Tesla way, which Rivian follows, is hardware upgrade as you go, no retrofit, and buy a new one if you want the new hardware - whatever it is. This is the way.

2) SCs have zero capacity to do any repairs right now on existing fleet. They'd have even less capacity if there was some sort of retrofit like this. It takes time and money that Rivian doesn't have or want to spend to make it work as a retrofit.

3) RJ already said they'd have some hardware updates, etc after they refresh the assembly line at some point next year. See #1 above.

1) tesla used to retrofit many things at the service center, offering wiring jumper harnesses in the case of seat retrofits to older cars.
mcu - still done
Seats
Purchasable refresh (front clip) bumpers/headlights/hood/side cameras.

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[Mathme]

If this is Rivian doing this, I just hope it's better designed than either the electric or manual (that's already breaking in the wild) tonneau cover.

 

[Maxemus]

I’d be all over this upgrade. Rivian please add max battery, more power, wider wheels, winch and flared out fenders and I will trade in my R1T in a second.

 

[zymolysis]

Allegedly trying the rubicon with factory plates.

How would one know that it is a "factory winch," as opposed to a prototype aftermarket winch?

 

[crashmtb]

If the Rivian SC’s weren’t totally overwhelmed, I’d agree they could be. With 3+ month wait times, they gotta focus on making sure R1’s are actually operable as designed before having techs spend time adding accessories, even at huge margins.

Fortunately that’s a problem for Rivian to solve, not customers.
Protype seen out testing doesn’t mean it’s coming to market any time soon. Could be many months or a year or never.

Also, that pic doesn’t look like an “accessory” that would be DIY. If it were, sure, sell as many as you can like some Jeep part. But that looks like it takes legit work to do at an SC. Right now, the SC can’t even put on new $4,500 wheels until end of October…

It is not rocket surgery to bolt on a new bumper structure with winch & replace a front fascia. Land Rover sells a similarly integrated winch for the new defender as a dealer installed accessory.

 

[ElGuapo]

Right. The operable phrase being “dealer installed”. My point was Rivian isn’t going to sell a DIY accessory winch/bumper.

Also, Rivian has absolutely no incentive to solve their SC issues. It’s not stopping them from selling trucks. Just like Tesla service has been awful for years and they keep selling tons of EVs. Only better service at legit competitors can push them. But that’s not happening any time soon.

 

[Buckets0fun]

It is not rocket surgery to bolt on a new bumper structure with winch & replace a front fascia. Land Rover sells a similarly integrated winch for the new defender as a dealer installed accessory.

To be fair, the rivian lower bumper has 2 radar units and parking sensors. Where that winch is mounted is a factory crash structure, likely meaning that they’ve had to reengineer that part to accommodate everything(read: winch).
Having gone through the front of the vehicle without parts on it, this will likely be above 5k$ if ever offered.

my (front) tow hitch had to be relocated a bit lower due to the front structure / bumper.

 

[bd5400]

How would one know that it is a "factory winch," as opposed to a prototype aftermarket winch?

Though we can’t see from the photo, manufacturer plates would be an easy tell.

On top of that, the vehicle towing the R1T belongs to Rivian and is one of the trucks they use to deliver or move around individual vehicles. If this belonged to a third party who was doing prototype testing it’s unlikely Rivian would be hauling it around for them.

It also isn’t the first time we’ve seen the factory winch on an R1T, though I believe this is the first time we’ve seen it paired with a bumper that has cut outs in front of the wheels. The last factory winch I remember seeing had yellow tow hooks in the front instead of the standard silver, but had a full width bumper if I recall correctly. Previously versions of the mobile app also had hidden winch controls but they were later removed so we know Rivian was working on a factory winch at some point.

 

[zymolysis]

Though we can’t see from the photo, manufacturer plates would be an easy tell.

On top of that, the vehicle towing the R1T belongs to Rivian and is one of the trucks they use to deliver or move around individual vehicles. If this belonged to a third party who was doing prototype testing it’s unlikely Rivian would be hauling it around for them.

It also isn’t the first time we’ve seen the factory winch on an R1T, though I believe this is the first time we’ve seen it paired with a bumper that has cut outs in front of the wheels. The last factory winch I remember seeing had yellow tow hooks in the front instead of the standard silver, but had a full width bumper if I recall correctly. Previously versions of the mobile app also had hidden winch controls but they were later removed so we know Rivian was working on a factory winch at some point.

Thank you. I was unaware of most of that, and didn't realize that the tow vehicle belonged to Rivian. I don't believe I knew that a factory winch had ever been seen in the wild. Nice to see that they are, apparently, still working on it.

 

[kylealden]

The Ford has “Rivian Automotive LLC” with the DOT number on the side. More likely Rivian is moving it themselves.

 

[Tbirdjeff]

Allegedly trying the rubicon with factory plates.

Finishing Rubicon

 

[Dark-Fx]

why on earth would something like a winch bumper and winch not be available as an aftersales accessory?

These sorts of accessories are money printing machines.

If you're not careful about it, the DC-DC converter won't keep up with the power requirements of a high-amperage winch capable of freeing a vehicle the weight of the R1S/T. Since Rivian has such small batteries it's probably a real risk.

 

[crashmtb]

If you're not careful about it, the DC-DC converter won't keep up with the power requirements of a high-amperage winch capable of freeing a vehicle the weight of the R1S/T. Since Rivian has such small batteries it's probably a real risk.

Would think any OEM winch option would include/require everything needed to make it work, no?

 

[NY_Rob]

Would think any OEM winch option would include/require everything needed to make it work, no?

Including new/larger 12V batts as the two and now one tiny 18Ah original equipment batt(s) would not hold up to winch use.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Would love to see any OEM product include winch-only batteries hardwired back to the battery pack for charge/maintenance.

Been waiting for a winch since the beginning. I'd definitely buy if the product looks nice and preferably uses a tested off-the-shelf winch of high caliber and quality.

Not sure I like those sliders overall, but they are very minimal so I do like they don't take away from the looks of the vehicle. I don't think they provide enough protection from what I can see tho (esp if they're the same as on the Rubicon R1S).

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