R1S Towing Capabilities (tow a 34’ camping trailer)?

[dg770]

Hey everyone, first post here. I put down my deposit for an R1S a couple of weeks ago. I’m hoping to take a camping trailer (7000 lb) on road trips around the south east.

Does anyone have experience towing a 34’ camping trailer with their R1S?

Of course I’ll get WDH. I’m planning to get the dual motor

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[Electrified Outdoors]

Congratulations!

We have some experience towing ours. Ours is 5000-5500 and the walterboro EA station is supposedly fixed now. How often do you plan to tow?

Range will be about 115 mi on the low end to 140 mi on the high end. Assuming you have a traditional travel trailer. Weight matters less then the aero of the trailer. Weight does come into play when your increasing elevation though.

I haven't had to unhitch yet but mine is a little shorter than yours at only 28 ft.

We use ABRP with reference consumption @65 set to 1 mi per kwh. Seems to do well in our experience. Keep it below 65 if possible for best efficiency. I found 60 mph gives best efficiency vs time.

Here is video of our trip to Hilton head:

 

[dg770]

Nice! Thanks for sharing. What pack do you have? We’re planning on getting large pack

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Nice! Thanks for sharing. What pack do you have? We’re planning on getting large pack

It tows like a boss. Little more sway and bouncing in R1S.

We have quad motor with large pack.

Check the tongue weight on your trailer and make sure it's below the max of 810 for R1S.

Also, it's something I repeat frequently to. Folks who are towing. doesn't apply specifically to Rivian. But there is a lot of confusion about what a vehicle can safely tow. Basically what I do is I subtract the curb weight from the gross vehicle weight rating and then I also need to subtract off the additional people and stuff that I have in the truck. What's left over is what I can safely place on the tongue. Most trailers are about 10% but some can go as high as 17% on the tongue.

 

[Thedude]

You likely won’t be able to tow a 7000lb trailer and be within the manufacturer limits. That’s a 900lb tongue weight if it’s set up properly.

 

[Steve A.]

Hey everyone, first post here. I put down my deposit for an R1S a couple of weeks ago. I’m hoping to take a camping trailer (7000 lb) on road trips around the south east.

Does anyone have experience towing a 34’ camping trailer with their R1S?

Of course I’ll get WDH. I’m planning to get the dual motor

Check out the All Electric Family EV Towing youtube playlist. They've got a 30' AirStream that they've towed w/ their R1S, R1T, Hummer EV, and Ford Lightning for comparisons.

 

[Tango001]

Please forgive me, I’ve done a lot of searches and reading and am new to travel trailers, tongue weight, WDH, etc. We have a gen 1 R1S PDM max pack and are looking into buying an airstream flying cloud 30FB bunk. It has a base weight of 6,700 lbs with a hitch weight of 900 lbs. I know the R1S towing capacity is 7700 lbs but the tongue weight maximum is 770 lbs. Will the R1S with a WDH handle this trailer? I see the all electric family pulling this trailer with an R1S but don’t want to do anything that is going to harm the vehicle or be dangerous. I also have an F150 3.5L ecoboost that I could use but would like to be able to use the Rivian for hauling the kids. Thoughts?

 

[Thedude]

Please forgive me, I’ve done a lot of searches and reading and am new to travel trailers, tongue weight, WDH, etc. We have a gen 1 R1S PDM max pack and are looking into buying an airstream flying cloud 30FB bunk. It has a base weight of 6,700 lbs with a hitch weight of 900 lbs. I know the R1S towing capacity is 7700 lbs but the tongue weight maximum is 770 lbs. Will the R1S with a WDH handle this trailer? I see the all electric family pulling this trailer with an R1S but don’t want to do anything that is going to harm the vehicle or be dangerous. I also have an F150 3.5L ecoboost that I could use but would like to be able to use the Rivian for hauling the kids. Thoughts?

It will but you will be outside the limits Rivian put on the vehicle. A dry weight of 6700lbs really means it weighs 7700lbs once you add propane, batteries, options and your stuff. That translates to a tongue weight of at least 1000lbs, well over the limit. Your next consideration is payload (1600lbs give or take on a R1S if I recall), that trailer leaves 600lbs available for people and stuff in the cab. Two people works, a family likely does not.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

1,000 lbs is typically the buffer many RV places will tell you is ok. I thought the max tongue weight was 810 lbs. Even so at 900 lbs your still over on the tongue weight Rivian says is the max.

With all that said, towing capacities require more calculation. What you need to do to figure out how much you can safely tow is subtract the curb weight of the vehicle from the gross vehicle weight rating gvwr that's the amount of cargo you can safely carry in the vehicle and that includes on the tongue.

The GVWR of the R1S (check your sticker on the driver side door jamb. Don't take my word for this) is about 8500 lbs. The curb weight is about 7,100 lbs. Again check door jamb for your numbers.

That means you have about 1,400 lbs of payload capacity = people, gear, etc you can carry in the vehicle and on the tongue.

So how many people will you have in the vehicle when you're towing it? How much gear will you have? and what does each of these weigh?

If you have 600 lb. Worth of people. Then that means you have only 800 lb left that you can put on the tongue before you're over the safe operating weight of the vehicle. If you add gear then that number is reduced. Further. The amount the vehicle can actually tow is one thing but the amount of weight you can put on the tongue really depends on how much you're putting in the vehicle.

So you may be able to put 900 lbs on the tongue without causing damage so long as there is no more than 500 lbs of people,gear, etc inside the vehicle (note Rivian specifies a max that's lower likely due to them accounting for some standard amount of payload in the vehicle already).

You will most definitely want a WDH because that shift some weight to front wheels which is needed for steering control.

The industry really needs to do a better job of explaining tow ratings. If you go over buy a couple hundred lb on what you're towing, the issue is not really the total weight of what you're towing. It's the amount of weight you're putting on the tongue and what your vehicle can safely carry.

Hope this helps. The r1t due to the longer wheelbase can carry significantly more. So if the r1t would work for you, that may be a better choice for the flying cloud.

 

[Tango001]

1,000 lbs is typically the buffer many RV places will tell you is ok. I thought the max tongue weight was 810 lbs. Even so at 900 lbs your still over on the tongue weight Rivian says is the max.

With all that said, towing capacities require more calculation. What you need to do to figure out how much you can safely tow is subtract the curb weight of the vehicle from the gross vehicle weight rating gvwr that's the amount of cargo you can safely carry in the vehicle and that includes on the tongue.

The GVWR of the R1S (check your sticker on the driver side door jamb. Don't take my word for this) is about 8500 lbs. The curb weight is about 7,100 lbs. Again check door jamb for your numbers.

That means you have about 1,400 lbs of payload capacity = people, gear, etc you can carry in the vehicle and on the tongue.

So how many people will you have in the vehicle when you're towing it? How much gear will you have? and what does each of these weigh?

If you have 600 lb. Worth of people. Then that means you have only 800 lb left that you can put on the tongue before you're over the safe operating weight of the vehicle. If you add gear then that number is reduced. Further. The amount the vehicle can actually tow is one thing but the amount of weight you can put on the tongue really depends on how much you're putting in the vehicle.

So you may be able to put 900 lbs on the tongue without causing damage so long as there is no more than 500 lbs of people,gear, etc inside the vehicle (note Rivian specifies a max that's lower likely due to them accounting for some standard amount of payload in the vehicle already).

You will most definitely want a WDH because that shift some weight to front wheels which is needed for steering control.

The industry really needs to do a better job of explaining tow ratings. If you go over buy a couple hundred lb on what you're towing, the issue is not really the total weight of what you're towing. It's the amount of weight you're putting on the tongue and what your vehicle can safely carry.

Hope this helps. The r1t due to the longer wheelbase can carry significantly more. So if the r1t would work for you, that may be a better choice for the flying cloud.

So the door jam has GVWR listed at 8532 lbs but I don’t see curb weight listed. The sticker with the tire pressure information says “The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1779 lbs” so I guess the curb weight is 6753 lbs? So if my family of 5 weighs let’s say 700 lbs to be on the safe side and I had a tongue weight of 900 lbs I would be ok if I basically had no cargo in the car and centered our cargo over the axels of the trailer so as to not add to the tongue weight?

 

[tk21]

Hey everyone, first post here. I put down my deposit for an R1S a couple of weeks ago. I’m hoping to take a camping trailer (7000 lb) on road trips around the south east.

Does anyone have experience towing a 34’ camping trailer with their R1S?

Of course I’ll get WDH. I’m planning to get the dual motor

No problem. Anderson WDH and carry on.

 

[Tango001]

No problem. Anderson WDH and carry on.

What is your hitch weight?

 

[Thedude]

What is your hitch weight?

Looks like an Outback 299TBH. If so that’s a 7000lb trailer with minimal added stuff and a ~900lb tongue weight. Same scenario as what you’re looking at, over the manufacturer limits but still doable.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

So the door jam has GVWR listed at 8532 lbs but I don’t see curb weight listed. The sticker with the tire pressure information says “The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 1779 lbs” so I guess the curb weight is 6753 lbs? So if my family of 5 weighs let’s say 700 lbs to be on the safe side and I had a tongue weight of 900 lbs I would be ok if I basically had no cargo in the car and centered our cargo over the axels of the trailer so as to not add to the tongue weight?

Ok, due to the safety implications of towing I looked at both the manual for the 24 and prior R1S and the 2025 and up (Gen2).

In the (2025) page 85 and (2024 and prior) page 90 tells you how to calculate load limits. Page 194 (2025) and page 201 (2024 and prior) tells you about the towing limits.

With that said Rivian appears to now recommend a tongue weight of 10% total trailer weight instead of specifying a limit in the manual. I recall reading a limit of 810 lbs in prior iterations but I can't find any reference to that now.

Generally with travel trailers you will see a tongue weight of between 10 and 15% of the total weight. As was stated propnae tanks, batteries, etc add to this.

What I would suggest in your case is to get one of those hitches that has weight dial on it so you can see how much is on the tongue. If you go strictly by Rivian's wording in the manual you could assume the max (given their 10% recommendation) would be 770 lbs.

If you go above that, the big concern in my mind is steering control. A good WDH helps shift some of that tongue weight forward so to the front axle.

If you choose to tow this make sure you get a really good WDH setup and a very experienced tech to adjust/configure the WDH setup properly for your trailer and tow vehicle.

For safety reasons, my recommendation would be to choose the R1T instead to tow it since its well within the towing limits of R1T.

 

[Tango001]

Ok, due to the safety implications of towing I looked at both the manual for the 24 and prior R1S and the 2025 and up (Gen2).

In the (2025) page 85 and (2024 and prior) page 90 tells you how to calculate load limits. Page 194 (2025) and page 201 (2024 and prior) tells you about the towing limits.

With that said Rivian appears to now recommend a tongue weight of 10% total trailer weight instead of specifying a limit in the manual. I recall reading a limit of 810 lbs in prior iterations but I can't find any reference to that now.

Generally with travel trailers you will see a tongue weight of between 10 and 15% of the total weight. As was stated propnae tanks, batteries, etc add to this.

What I would suggest in your case is to get one of those hitches that has weight dial on it so you can see how much is on the tongue. If you go strictly by Rivian's wording in the manual you could assume the max (given their 10% recommendation) would be 770 lbs.

If you go above that, the big concern in my mind is steering control. A good WDH helps shift some of that tongue weight forward so to the front axle.

If you choose to tow this make sure you get a really good WDH setup and a very experienced tech to adjust/configure the WDH setup properly for your trailer and tow vehicle.

For safety reasons, my recommendation would be to choose the R1T instead to tow it since its well within the towing limits of R1T.

Yeah, I think I’m just going to use my F150 unfortunately.

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