shap
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Hello all,
This is not a usual report - just a quick summary of the road trip I just did from Austin, TX to Frisco, CO, and back through Durango, Taos, Santa Fe, McDonald Observatory, and back home.
R1T 23, Quad, Originally 21" wheels replaced with 20" Goodyear RIV tires on MSW type 52 wheels.
The Good:
1. "Do not buy an EV if you can not charge at Tesla superchargers" - very wise message.
Except for a few charging sessions, I charged at Tesla SC and it was flawless. Just worked. Standard charge curve (that is mediocre but it is what it is).
Also, all SC that I charged at were located near restaurants (some better, some worse). Or supermarkets. Huge plus vs EA. The average charging time was 35-40 minutes. Never waited for the charger! And they all worked!
2. Goodyear RIV 20" Tire worked great for me - I got 2.22 miles per kWh: (truck with 2 people and fully loaded bed).
Driving 10% above the stated speed. (all temperatures are in Celcius)
3. The truck had no issues at all - I was able to charge every time w/o thermal issues, preconditioning worked well, all was great and worked well. The A2Z adapter worked perfectly well. The only thing - you need to make sure the truck will not take over the charging session with a higher price. Happen to me twice as I moved the lock switch on the A2Z adapter by mistake and in this case Tesla lost the session and Rivian took over.
4. Price - only once I was able to charge for free at my friend's house - 100kwh free. The other 1277 Kwh was paid in $. The overall price was: $480. So the average price per kW - 0.38c. Compared to a 20mpg car - 3k miles = 150 gallons *$3 = $450. So basically the same price as gas, which is awesome, and huge thanks to Tesla SC (and Elon / RJ that got this agreement) for this price. EA would be much more expensive. The most expensive one was Government sponsored Francis charger in NM - 0.59c. Great example - government is never a solution, it is a problem.
The Bad:
1. Noise. Wind and tire noise on Texas roads - there are silent roads and there are very noisy ones. It seems that some Texas road's surface is "grainy" and tire noise is just horrible. The problem almost does not exist in Colorado and New Mexico. However, wind noise is horrible when driving 75+. Very bad at 85mph+.
And I have sealers all across - doors, windows, etc. I used all techniques published on this forum.
2. Driver+ - this is a true embarrassment for Rivian, and RJ should be personally ashamed. Driver+ uses the same Mobileye that the BMW X5 2021+. And it is many times worse than BMW. It is a shame it was released like this. Side cameras have nothing to do with this, the main windshield camera is what is important for Driver+. It will disengage suddenly and reappear again. Most of the roads were not covered by Driver+. When you pass a huge semi you need to adjust the position in line a bit and Driver+ will disengage. And the last one - in Texas, we have roads with 85 mph. So we drive 90mph. Driver+ max 85 mph ...
3. Steering - road imperfection passes to the steering wheel. At 85mph wheel will shake most of the time because of this. And it is not an alignment or balance - when the road is super flat there is no shaking. It is a road imperfection that passes to the steering wheel. This does not happen in BMW or other premium cars.
4. Windshield quality - the windshield of Rivian is soft. It is not the angle or anything else - it is the glass. The good - I did not get any cracks. I had 3 direct hits of small stones and got many pits but not a crack. Again, compared to the BMW X5, after 40K miles I have fewer pits than in Rivian after 20K. By far. The glass specs Rivian uses are too soft.
The Ugly:
Nothing really. The truck was reliable and worked well. Got us to Leadville 100 miles run, served us well there, and on our way back. I was fine with the stops that added 25% charging time. But this personal, my wife did not like it
Tesla SC is the game changer. For the good.
This is not a usual report - just a quick summary of the road trip I just did from Austin, TX to Frisco, CO, and back through Durango, Taos, Santa Fe, McDonald Observatory, and back home.
R1T 23, Quad, Originally 21" wheels replaced with 20" Goodyear RIV tires on MSW type 52 wheels.
The Good:
1. "Do not buy an EV if you can not charge at Tesla superchargers" - very wise message.
Except for a few charging sessions, I charged at Tesla SC and it was flawless. Just worked. Standard charge curve (that is mediocre but it is what it is).
Also, all SC that I charged at were located near restaurants (some better, some worse). Or supermarkets. Huge plus vs EA. The average charging time was 35-40 minutes. Never waited for the charger! And they all worked!
2. Goodyear RIV 20" Tire worked great for me - I got 2.22 miles per kWh: (truck with 2 people and fully loaded bed).
Driving 10% above the stated speed. (all temperatures are in Celcius)
3. The truck had no issues at all - I was able to charge every time w/o thermal issues, preconditioning worked well, all was great and worked well. The A2Z adapter worked perfectly well. The only thing - you need to make sure the truck will not take over the charging session with a higher price. Happen to me twice as I moved the lock switch on the A2Z adapter by mistake and in this case Tesla lost the session and Rivian took over.
4. Price - only once I was able to charge for free at my friend's house - 100kwh free. The other 1277 Kwh was paid in $. The overall price was: $480. So the average price per kW - 0.38c. Compared to a 20mpg car - 3k miles = 150 gallons *$3 = $450. So basically the same price as gas, which is awesome, and huge thanks to Tesla SC (and Elon / RJ that got this agreement) for this price. EA would be much more expensive. The most expensive one was Government sponsored Francis charger in NM - 0.59c. Great example - government is never a solution, it is a problem.
The Bad:
1. Noise. Wind and tire noise on Texas roads - there are silent roads and there are very noisy ones. It seems that some Texas road's surface is "grainy" and tire noise is just horrible. The problem almost does not exist in Colorado and New Mexico. However, wind noise is horrible when driving 75+. Very bad at 85mph+.
And I have sealers all across - doors, windows, etc. I used all techniques published on this forum.
2. Driver+ - this is a true embarrassment for Rivian, and RJ should be personally ashamed. Driver+ uses the same Mobileye that the BMW X5 2021+. And it is many times worse than BMW. It is a shame it was released like this. Side cameras have nothing to do with this, the main windshield camera is what is important for Driver+. It will disengage suddenly and reappear again. Most of the roads were not covered by Driver+. When you pass a huge semi you need to adjust the position in line a bit and Driver+ will disengage. And the last one - in Texas, we have roads with 85 mph. So we drive 90mph. Driver+ max 85 mph ...
3. Steering - road imperfection passes to the steering wheel. At 85mph wheel will shake most of the time because of this. And it is not an alignment or balance - when the road is super flat there is no shaking. It is a road imperfection that passes to the steering wheel. This does not happen in BMW or other premium cars.
4. Windshield quality - the windshield of Rivian is soft. It is not the angle or anything else - it is the glass. The good - I did not get any cracks. I had 3 direct hits of small stones and got many pits but not a crack. Again, compared to the BMW X5, after 40K miles I have fewer pits than in Rivian after 20K. By far. The glass specs Rivian uses are too soft.
The Ugly:
Nothing really. The truck was reliable and worked well. Got us to Leadville 100 miles run, served us well there, and on our way back. I was fine with the stops that added 25% charging time. But this personal, my wife did not like it
Tesla SC is the game changer. For the good.Sponsored
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