Need more range for skiing

[Singletracker]

I agree, all other things being equal, speed IS the mileage killer. I traded in a Toyota FJ for my R1T. I had an RTT mounted on a flat roof rack with a front fairing attached. With that setup, I saw no significant hit to my mileage, as long as I didn’t exceed 70 mph. Above that, forget about it. So, a fairing may help some. I’m in the process of mounting that same RTT on my R1T. It will be mounted on a 19” tall bed rack and just barely clear the roof spoiler, behind the antenna fin. I’m trying to keep it as low as possible to minimize the mileage hit. We’ll see. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

About heading into the mountains to ski, what goes up must come down. I drove up to my favorite ski area (Kirkwood) the other day, climbing about 3500’ in 37 miles. The energy consumption going up was terrible, below 1.3 miles/kWh. However, by the time I got back home, I was back to about normal for this chilly time of the year. I averaged about 1.95 miles/kWh - for the entire trip, on 20” Blizzacks. I have made lots of round up into and over the Sierras. I’ve learned not to panic when I see those miles disappearing on the way up. For me, it seems to magically, mostly reappear on the way down.

I’ve found that warming up the battery and the interior of the vehicle, with shore power, prior to heading out, really helps maximize range. It’s said that a battery conditioning feature will be coming soon. That will basically do what I already do manually.

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[Epicloop]

Took my large pack R1S quad from NE Portland to Mt Hood Meadows and back yesterday for a family ski adventure. We left with 94% charge for the 190 mile round trip, temps in the high 30’s, dropping to mid 20’s up on the mountain. I have a low profile Inno Wedge rooftop box on the rear two roof mounts on the car. I have the factory 20” AT tires.

We used 60% of the battery just getting to the parking lot, and had to stop and charge at an EA on the way home. Drove in AP or snow mode, no conserve.

I never expected we’d get the full 300 mile range driving to the mountain and back, but I was really surprised the car couldn’t make the <200 mile round trip without needing to stop for a charge.

Has anyone experimented with a fairing mounted on the forward roof attachment point, with a rooftop box on the rear two? Any thoughts or insights here on how to avoid the need for a charge on the way home?

As others have said start with 100% (time it right for departure), drop to 70mph or less in conserve till the temps drop to freezing.
Try the fairing & adjusting location of rack.
Return trip no problem.
A quick charge before leaving (while changing) to warm up battery may help with regen & warm up losses. Changer may be available as others may have left already.
More efficient tires once this set wears out.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Thanks for the reply. Need the box to fit the gear, but am curious about if I put a fairing in front of it how much that would improve the range. Slowing down will prob be the biggest factor, I was going ~75 on the way there through the gorge and that sucked a ton of range up before we even started climbing the mountain.

My god man, it's like your were trying to get the worst possible range.

20" tires, no conserve mode, sub-zero temps, 75mph, AND increasing your drag coefficient by 30%. I literally have no idea why you thought 300 unadjusted miles were enough.

 

[RivAW]

I feel the same and chalk it up to new battery tech and too small of battery for the truck. It's frustrating to do all the calculations with different apps and show up at charge stations that are unreliable as of now. I will never use my R1S for long distances and will stick to my other ICE vehicles because it will be years before the infrastructure is reliable. I've been burned too many times going to an EA station with 2 out of 4 working and Ioniq's sitting there for free juice. Then I have to wait 40+ minutes because the R1S is slow to charge. Around town and charging at home is great but long trips are just a hassle at this point. Driving below 70 with the heat off and all the other workarounds because of inefficiency is just not a fun experience and it's why the average person should not get an EV until it gets better.

It seems like you’re just not ready for an EV yet. Admittedly the support infrastructure is a work in progress. It is well known that a cargo box, speed, temp, tires and altitude climb are things that affect range (it seems like conserve mode would be inappropriate for OPs particular ride?). Manage your own expectations and be an educated owner…or wait to be an owner until it suits you. The Rivian batteries are already ridiculously large….its the efficiency that needs to be improved….the answer most definitely is not trying to cram in more battery…

 

[RivAW]

My god man, it's like your were trying to get the worst possible range.

20" tires, no conserve mode, sub-zero temps, 75mph, AND increasing your drag coefficient by 30%. I literally have no idea why you thought 300 unadjusted miles were enough.

Agreed…wishful ignorance doesn’t make it Rivian’s fault. Owners and prospective owners need to be educated and manage their own reasonable expectations…

 

[webfootdawg]

Also, why go out through the Gorge on 84? Could just take 26. It's probably 20 miles less each way. Easier to go slower since it's mostly 2 lane highway.

 

[Drott]

Also, why go out through the Gorge on 84? Could just take 26. It's probably 20 miles less each way. Easier to go slower since it's mostly 2 lane highway.

This is the way. Unless there is an accident, going 26 will most likely solve the issue.

 

[jjswan33]

Here are changes you can make ordered by the magnitude of impact

• Get rid of the roof box
• drive slower
• switch to 21" wheels (or at least road tires on your 20s)
• install the upcoming software update that allows you to heat your battery before you unplug.
• use conserve mode,

For the record 21” tires are not the answer for more range on a ski trip
…. For yesterday OP would have needed chains, that would not help range

 

[Yossarian]

This has been an interesting, and in some sense, eye-opening discussion for me.

I won't bore everyone with the mundane details as to why, but like the OP, I have a top box that is essential for travel to ski country. The distances I need to cover are much greater that that of the OP however. What I'm seeing posted in the Rivian forums lately, and particularly the comments in this thread, gives me substantial pause about my decision to go to an EV at this juncture.

I planned to replace my Telluride with the R1S, and thought I had a reasonable understanding of the challenges that going EV meant. For example, I put a great deal of effort into trip planning with the Telluride, and thought that the additional effort that the R1S will require would be manageable. And and as retiree, I don't really face many time constraints in traveling. Even so, it's looking more and more that my thinking may be overly optimistic.

Fortuately, any Rivian delivery is at least a few months in the future, and so no immediate decision is necessary. I will use the time to carefully contemplate whether an EV this year the right choice, or if waiting another couple of years would be the better option.

 

[KBabione]

The other thing I've had to do was to NOT put a destination in the nav system when I'm heading back home because the Rivian system doesn't know I have a charger there and it will route you to a charger (it will be very persistent) even if you don't need it. Sounds like you've done the drive enough that you wouldn't need nav anyway.

 

[Zorg]

Rule of thumb: climbing 1000' of elevation burns an additional 10 miles of range

 

[jjswan33]

This has been an interesting, and in some sense, eye-opening discussion for me.

I won't bore everyone with the mundane details as to why, but like the OP, I have a top box that is essential for travel to ski country. The distances I need to cover are much greater that that of the OP however. What I'm seeing posted in the Rivian forums lately, and particularly the comments in this thread, gives me substantial pause about my decision to go to an EV at this juncture.

I planned to replace my Telluride with the R1S, and thought I had a reasonable understanding of the challenges that going EV meant. For example, I put a great deal of effort into trip planning with the Telluride, and thought that the additional effort that the R1S will require would be manageable. And and as retiree, I don't really face many time constraints in traveling. Even so, it's looking more and more that my thinking may be overly optimistic.

Fortuately, any Rivian delivery is at least a few months in the future, and so no immediate decision is necessary. I will use the time to carefully contemplate whether an EV this year the right choice, or if waiting another couple of years would be the better option.

You should understand the what conditions on Mt Hood were yesterday and what wind and travel is like in the Columbia River Gorge…. Most of the comments on this thread have been pretty poor advice or just not really helpful.

So some thoughts:

1. A roof box will obviously effect range but I would be very surprised if it is more than 10% on an R1S. You can test on your ice vehicle, how bad is the fuel economy difference between it off/on the EV will have the same impact.
2. Road conditions were rough yesterday after about 18” of fresh snow at pass level. All roads were snow covered for probably that last 20 miles of the drive in both directions.
3. It was a cold and windy day, not sure what the winds were like in the gorge yesterday but usually it gets windier there because it funnels through that area
4. OP took the long route (in distance) but even with charging in Hood River it was probably faster as HWY 26 through Government camp turns into a parking lot on busy days. Even worse the closest parking lot from that direction was closed and would have saved OP some distance and about 1000ft of vertical
5. If OP had arrived early enough he could have plugged into L2 at the ski resort, although it is expensive at $0.42/kWh and likely was full by 7-7:30am he wouldn’t have needed to charge
6. More efficient tires would have resulted in OP needing to stop and put chains on. Chains or Traction tires were required yesterday

All that said having to stop and charge for 10 min doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me, especially considering all of the above.

 

[KBabione]

...but like the OP, I have a top box that is essential for travel to ski country. The distances I need to cover are much greater that that of the OP however.

I think much of the range issue goes away if you know you clearly have to charge to reach a destination. You will plan your trip accordingly and charge on the way there and on the way home. We've two longer trips in our R1S and they went as planned. I live near Lancaster PA and one trip was to Cooperstown NY (charging stop in Oneonta NY on the way there and Scranton on the way home) and another trip to northwestern MA (charging stop in Goldens Bridge NY on the way there and a night on an L2 charger at my in-laws on the way home). Trips from PA to the northeast are easily doable with the infrastructure in place today and it will only get better. Probably, as someone else pointed out, your biggest issue will be a destination charger while you're skiing. If you don't have access to one you'll just need to factor that into your plans both ways.

 

[underkuver]

Similar situation here regarding range. Our kid's school does ski Fridays. Last year was no issue with the equipment inside the R1S. This year they are both skiing well so we aren't helping the instructors. My wife and I both ski during their lesson. Enter the Yakima Fat Cat EVO 6 on the roof.

I hadn't paid much attention given we did this trip all last winter until we left dinner for our final commute up the mountain where we live. Wow, we were dangerously low on range unlike any time last year w/o the skis on the roof.

This week we will use conserve mode and slow down a little. Had not expected the range hit...

Looking forward to any fairing suggestions. The whistling reduction would be welcomed as the R1S is our daily school driver/grocery getter and the ski rack stays on all winter.

 

[usulio]

No need for certain posters to be so harsh on the OP. It's a learning opportunity for them and others. Knowing a few basic factors can go a long way:

• Air resistance -- speed and attachments to the vehicle
• Tire choice and traction conditions
• Cold temperatures and preconditioning
• Elevation gain

Unfortunately, OP ran into all of those at once. And EV education should be better, we can all help by simplifying it down and helping make it common knowledge.

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