Tesla saves Rivian - Mammoth Mountain Edition

[Ralph]

snip........"RJ, I was hoping the adapter would be available for this trip...but we all know, by now, the large gap between Rivian product/feature announcement and delivery is really the only thing this company consistently offers)."

I understand that Tesla is supplying the adapter to Rivian. So we should blame Rivian for the adapters not being readily available? Maybe you should write a post along the lines, "Tesla ruined my trip." But of course they didn't and neither did Rivian.

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[Riviot]

OP, I don't think a Rivian is for you. I'm sure there's someone out there that would be happy to give it a good home and you can go get a Tesla and then have nothing to complain about.

Forgive DALL-E's spelling, it's still working on it, but I think we need to start the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Rivians, rescuing Rivians from destructive homes.

Less toxic sidebar: does anyone know how to successfully tell DALL-E to fix typos? Every time I ask, they end up worse.

 

[Andystroh]

So how many miles did it take to get down to bishop? Would it have worked on the 90 miles? Did you need to charge longer at the EA? I have had experiences like this where I made a miscalculation but try to plan for the next one… unfortunately this is the reality in some mountain locations. How much are you losing overnight to arrive with 180, park at the condo and end up at 90? That seems like too much overnight drop, unless you were there for a few weeks

 

[Rivinski]

I’ve been to Mammoth 6 times in the past year, stayed at different places (lodge, Airbnb, hotel, cabin) each time, had all varieties of weather conditions, and I never had a problem like you did. General EV charging planning works and I’ve never charged at any level of Tesla charger in town. I guess it’s a miracle I survived. Did the random other non-level 2 chargers or my minimal planning “save Rivian”? Or was it just a normal situation as an EV owner at this point in time? You didn’t plan, plain and simple, and you just want to blame someone else for your failure to do so.

A couple other points:
- nav works fine in Mammoth, I’ve never had it do anything weird. But as someone else said, it’s a small town with just a couple main strips, so it’s odd you used/followed it but knew it was wrong
- there are multiple hardware stores in Mammoth, so you could have bought an extension cord once you realized your failure to plan might become a problem
- you most likely would have made it down to the Bishop RAN

I recommend this thread for a good out of the way charging kit of adapters and extension cords:
https://www.rivianforums.com/my-airbnb-charging-kit/

 

[NDIrish]

When my wife saw the first promo videos for the R1S "Adventure" vehicle cruising up a mountain with ski racks and a truck full of happy passengers, she turned to me and said, "I'm sold."

Fast forward 5 years, I am looking at the R1S range 'snow mode' and the 93 miles left has to last through freezing temps tonight, tomorrow, and then the trip down the mountain to Bishop. Based on the range loss I've seen the past few nights in much warmer weather, I think it will be a pretty close call and I just don't feel comfortable putting my family in that situation.

So, in a blizzard, I jump in the Rivian with my 21" All Seasons and ask Alexa to navigate to the only public J-connector charger in town...a level 2 *Tesla* box at the Mammoth Recreation Center that offers *free* charging.

Rivian navigation decides to take me the long way around on Old Mammoth Rd instead of straight down Meridian ?

I actually tried to charge at this Tesla station earlier in the day, but an R1T was charging at the only box out of 3 that connects successfully.

As I make the turn into the lot, I see a Lucid charging at one of the J-connector boxes that failed me earlier in the day. The Lucid obscures the view to the one charger that worked a few days ago, so as I plow through a foot or two of snow, I am super relieved to see the working box is available.

Thanks, I guess, for the Adventure RJ, I'm super pumped to sit in this parking lot for the next 2 hours. A sincere thanks to Elon for saving the trip by offering a working charging station for a connector you don't even use AND for offering NACS to the rest of the industry (RJ, I was hoping the adapter would be available for this trip...but we all know, by now, the large gap between Rivian product/feature announcement and delivery is really the only thing this company consistently offers).

I will buy an expensive EV from a start-up company in an immature EV market and then complain that the infrastructure and convenience doesn't match the mature ICE market or isn't as good as the most mature EV brand in said emerging market.

I get the frustration, but everytime I get frustrated I have to remember I KNEW THIS when I bought the R1T... service center is FAR, Long trips require pre-planning, service takes longer and costs more because their is no aftermarket support.... costs/risks of buying into a new company in an emerging market. Daily driver, weekend warrior this is the best vehicle for me.

I don't tow, I don't do long cross country trips, I made sure there was charging infrastructure around my normal adventure destinations (I ski every weekend, 400 mile round trip; there are 2 chargers on the route, I plan accordingly); I live in AZ which isn't the greatest EV Infrastructure, but there isn't anywhere in the state I can't plan and accomplish my offroading adventures. I would imagine CA, which is the most mature EV market would be better.

I respect that Tesla took the large leap and has come out strong; mostly because they built up around urban commuters, because that is where the EV infrastructure was easiest to build out. I'm happy they are getting competition and that the competition isn't marketing to the same demographics; Rivian found an adventure niche and developed a superb product, they need the cash from sales before they can build out the infrastructure. Polestar/Lucid/Fisker/legacy are all having trouble marketing to the same urban commuter market as Tesla; some went for luxury niche, or budget niche; but Tesla has both those covered.

And as another pointed out, Tesla opened up because they were incentived to open up (both from govt money and because they can make massive profits selling electricity). I think you make a good point about the average consumer; until solid state, no wait charging is available EV's won't replace ICE.

Consumers just don't want to plan. Personally this part has been the most eye opening to me, how much more energy I use climbing up the mountain to ski is significant (was with my ICE also, but never thought about it because gas stations were convenient, so I didn't have to plan and didn't realize how much more fuel I spent climbing or going 80mph vs 70mph) It's like any consumer market when you make things super convenient and accessible you spend/consume more and don't realize it. (College Tuition, Employer provided Health Insurance, Fast Food, cheap goods, FUEL) all are things the market has made super-convenient, super-accessible and arguments can be made are over-consumed.

Happy Friday Riv Forum!!

 

[Southern R1S]

OP, I think it's time to sell the Rivian and move along. These trucks aren't for everyone, and that's perfectly fine.

 

[scottie]

So how many miles did it take to get down to bishop? Would it have worked on the 90 miles? Did you need to charge longer at the EA? I have had experiences like this where I made a miscalculation but try to plan for the next one… unfortunately this is the reality in some mountain locations. How much are you losing overnight to arrive with 180, park at the condo and end up at 90? That seems like too much overnight drop, unless you were there for a few weeks

Haven't left yet, 19" of powder and another 3-7 throughout the day!

According to people in the thread it doesn't take much to get down to Bishop ?‍. But if I run out of charge then I'm an idiot for not 'planning' better and I don't deserve to own a Rivian ?

Range loss overnight is probably ~20 miles, then a few miles around town to the different lodges and groceries. Someone above said 10% per night, it's been a little less than that, probably bc of the covered parking.

 

[scottie]

I’ve been to Mammoth 6 times in the past year, stayed at different places (lodge, Airbnb, hotel, cabin) each time, had all varieties of weather conditions, and I never had a problem like you did. General EV charging planning works and I’ve never charged at any level of Tesla charger in town. I guess it’s a miracle I survived. Did the random other non-level 2 chargers or my minimal planning “save Rivian”? Or was it just a normal situation as an EV owner at this point in time? You didn’t plan, plain and simple, and you just want to blame someone else for your failure to do so.

A couple other points:
- nav works fine in Mammoth, I’ve never had it do anything weird. But as someone else said, it’s a small town with just a couple main strips, so it’s odd you used/followed it but knew it was wrong
- there are multiple hardware stores in Mammoth, so you could have bought an extension cord once you realized your failure to plan might become a problem
- you most likely would have made it down to the Bishop RAN

I recommend this thread for a good out of the way charging kit of adapters and extension cords:
https://www.rivianforums.com/my-airbnb-charging-kit/

This isn't a planning failure on my part. I haven't run out of charge, according to most people in the thread I have enough to get down the mountain. It was 47 degrees on Tuesday and a storm came out of nowhere and dropped temps to 5 degrees.

I was planning appropriately, we would have left last night to be on the safe side and we would miss the best powder day of the trip.

Things will get a lot better when the Tesla adapters arrive, if they don't then I'll swap the Rivian for a Cayenne.

 

[R1SFamilyGuy]

Sounds more like Tesla saved someone’s unplanned @$$ trip. Glad everything worked out!

 

[Redline]

This isn't a planning failure on my part. I haven't run out of charge, according to most people in the thread I have enough to get down the mountain. It was 47 degrees on Tuesday and a storm came out of nowhere and dropped temps to 5 degrees.

I was planning appropriately, we would have left last night to be on the safe side and we would miss the best powder day of the trip.

Things will get a lot better when the Tesla adapters arrive, if they don't then I'll swap the Rivian for a Cayenne.

 

[Count Orlok]

by this logic, EA, EVGO, and ZEF save a lot of manufacturers and lazy drivers

 

[cjust2006]

Go buy a Tesla then. Or just plan better. More of a you problem.

 

[Dark-Fx]

by this logic, EA, EVGO, and ZEF save a lot of manufacturers and lazy drivers

MDOT saves Rivian - State Highway Edition

 

[capitolm94]

This isn't a planning failure on my part. I haven't run out of charge, according to most people in the thread I have enough to get down the mountain. It was 47 degrees on Tuesday and a storm came out of nowhere and dropped temps to 5 degrees.

I was planning appropriately, we would have left last night to be on the safe side and we would miss the best powder day of the trip.

Things will get a lot better when the Tesla adapters arrive, if they don't then I'll swap the Rivian for a Cayenne.

I just returned from mammoth yesterday. There are Tesla chargers that work with the lectron adapter in the village lodge. I like to stay there for that reason, and there were like 10 rivians in the garage this week. People were good about moving after charging up. Using these if you leave mammoth with 95%+ you can get all the way to inyokern RAN without stopping.

in my experience it takes 25% to get from bishop to mammoth and 10% to get down. Typically if you charge to 70% at bishop you’ll be totally good for a 4-6 day trip, 80% even better. My truck only seems to use 1-2% per day sitting in the cold.

 

[WSea]

I remember back when gas stations weren't everywhere nor open 24hrs a day. Driving thru Montana I had to sleep in my car to wait for the station to open at 7am. Damn fossil fuel company ruined my trip

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