Range anxiety before purchasing trimotor R1S?

[Polar]

Here’s the most fun part about electric vehicles - traffic legitimately increases your efficiency.

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[iansriv]

My dogs are border collies and they travel to the farm to sheep herd. It is difficult to find the right car as I have 3 dogs with 3 crates. Currently have a Land Rover lr4 that is 15 years old and is the perfect car space with just enough off road capability to keep me from getting stuck in snow or mud on an unpaved road. I have been lucky as far as Land rovers go that it is still around. Unfortunately they no longer make that vehicle . The R1s space wise with its flat cargo is perfect. Just have to decide which tires.

We call them sheep dogs. Quite familiar with these. It's funny how there's this connection with sheep dogs and land rovers. Please, post photos when you get to the farm. Cheers.

 

[A_E]

About once a week I take my dogs to a farm that is 75 miles away mostly highway driving.
So that is 150 miles round trip.

I assume you can charge at home. Set a charge limit of 80%, plug in every night, and you'll be fine.

My concern is real world range of traveling 75-80 MPH on the highway or if I run into traffic, although unusual. I am hoping to be able to make this frequent trip
without stopping to charge.

Slower / Stopping in traffic is better for range than non stop 80 mph.

Would I have to charge to 100% the night before I make a trip like this? Would I still be able to perform this trip if I get the AT tires.

You would not have to charge to 100%...Grant it, in the Winter your range will take a hit, perhaps up to a 20% hit and during the winter you will figure out what higher % you need to charge to, but I wouldn't think 100%. Yes, you can do this trip with AT tires. Even at 2 miles/kwh with AT tires that's 280 miles of range.

I calculated if I charge the vehicle to 80%( as charging to 100% is bad for battery) and willing to run it down to 20 % that would give me a theoretical range 60% of the full range or 197 miles in the 329 rated AT tires trimotor? So if the trip is a Max of 150 miles would that be cutting close given the faster speed or real world driving environments?

I would not really go by EPA, it's never right honestly. I have a DMP R1T w/ 21" Road Wheels & a Tri Motor R1S with the AT package. The R1T with the 21" road wheels will get 2-3 miles per kwh highway in good weather depending on incline, speed, etc. The R1S with the 20" AT does worse in All Purpose. I think I am getting about 2.0 miles/kwh in All Purpose mode in decent weather.

I realize there is "conserve mode" but read that was not good for the tires?

This is rubbish. There is nothing wrong with conserve mode. In fact, the Dual Motor variants are always in conserve mode...The only thing that I don't like about conserve mode in the Tri Motor is that it really makes the vehicle feel underpowered compared to All Purpose or Sport Mode. You get used to all the power and when you go in Conserve you lose 2/3 of your power. It's still plenty to drive and the rear motor setup will engage if you floor it or if you're asking for more power than the front can output but there's a little delay etc. Conserve will get you the same range as the dual motor variant though...

I do drive my car on farms off road but nothing extreme, just dirt roads, grass and some minimal mud. I do live in the upper midwest where there is snow. Do you think the 22' tires could handle this type of use.

I have the 21" road on my R1T & the 20" AT on my R1S. The R1T 21" road tires handle Indiana snow / weather just fine. I just drove it during our last big snow and didn't have issues as I was driving like there was lots of snow on the road. At no point did I ever lose traction or get stuck. If I had to do it again I would probably just get the 22" wheels as those are an all season tire.

Finally my only other concern is the sound system has gotten some very nasty reviews. Curious are most of you satisfied after the software update?

The sound isn't great compared to Tesla. It does lack a decent amount of bass. It is better than both the Lucid Air & the Cadillac Lyriq as I've rented both of those and they were abysmal. It does have the Dolby Atmos which is a cool party trick, but overall it could use more power and more bass. I would still take the Rivian over the Tesla all day every day.

 

[CharonPDX]

150 miles round trip? You don't have to take any precautions at all. Unless you'll be driving it at 100+ MPH the whole way with a rooftop tent or something, *ANY* Rivian could handle that no problem.

R1S Tri is rated for 329 miles of range with the AT package. You could make your round trip twice without recharging and still have 10% leeway. Keeping it in the 80-20% range, you would have zero issues even at 80 MPH.

 

[CANCERDOC]

150 miles round trip under the worst circumstances where you would get half the normal efficiency (assuming you drive 90mph against a huge headwind), you would still not use up all the range of a max pack.

if you need to, you can charge beyond 80% and run it below 20% if you actually need the range. The battery pack has a very long warranty.

 

[Zoidz]

You will be fine. I do a 150 mile trip several times a month in my Gen 1 Quad. I charge to 80% overnight and typically have 50-60 miles of range left at the end of the trip. The first few times, to settle your range anxiety, charge to 100% overnight. Drive the trip and find out first hand what the result is. Then on future trips reduce the charge % to give you a comfortable margin while avoiding a high state of charge. Note that in the cold or bad weather (rain, snow, wind) your range will go down a bit.

 

[SRO]

I am finally ready to make the jump to EV. Looking at the Rs1 trimotor.
About once a week I take my dogs to a farm that is 75 miles away mostly highway driving.
So that is 150 miles round trip.
My concern is real world range of traveling 75-80 MPH on the highway or if I run into traffic, although unusual. I am hoping to be able to make this frequent trip
without stopping to charge. Would I have to charge to 100% the night before I make a trip like this? Would I still be able to perform this trip if I get the AT tires. I calculated if I charge the vehicle to 80%( as charging to 100% is bad for battery) and willing to run it down to 20 % that would give me a theoretical range 60% of the full range or 197 miles in the 329 rated AT tires trimotor? So if the trip is a Max of 150 miles would that be cutting close given the faster speed or real world driving environments?
I realize there is "conserve mode" but read that was not good for the tires?
I do drive my car on farms off road but nothing extreme, just dirt roads, grass and some minimal mud. I do live in the upper midwest where there is snow. Do you think the 22' tires could handle this type of use.
Finally my only other concern is the sound system has gotten some very nasty reviews. Curious are most of you satisfied after the software update?

If you do run into congestion your range will be even better. I’ve gone bumper to bumper driving for 5 miles and only dropped one mile of range.

 

[echo44]

Is it more difficult to drive an EV in traffic based on regenerative breaking?

 

[mudito]

Is it more difficult to drive an EV in traffic based on regenerative breaking?

Not at all. Single-pedal driving is easier than Automatic Transmission. Once you get used to it (took me only a couple of hours), it's just a seamless process of accelerating and losing on the gas pedal. SUPER easy.

It WILL feel weird the first time but again, just a couple of minutes/hours to re-wire your brain and you'll be just fine.

 

[csharp]

You will be absolutely fine. Go for the AT tires and youll still be able to make it easily. Heck, you could tow a trailer and still make it there and back. I have a quad S with the AT's and don't even think about a 150 mile trip.

 

[mmcdonald]

We do 80 mile drive every weekend to beach house. 30% battery each way. Use trip planner app for round trip and it will tell you mileage remaining at each destination

 

[Seano]

We routinely drive 230mi in the winter with snow tires - no problem at all.

We generally only charge at home, but I have stopped at a couple different chargers when I wasn’t in a rush/didn’t really need to charge to see what the different chargers were like. Clearly RAN are the easiest; some of the others are a little hit and miss, but I’m surprised how many chargers there are out there now.

 

[NY_Rob]

Is it more difficult to drive an EV in traffic based on regenerative breaking?

Pretty much just the opposite, put on max regen and one-pedal drive it like a go-cart! Driving an ICE in stop-and-go traffic sucks, driving an EV in traffic sucks less

I'd also love to see some of your Boarder Collie sheep herding if you get a chance. Our dog is a Boarder Collie mix, and he's always pushing us around from behind when he wants to get us to go somewhere.. but at least he doesn't nip our legs!

 

[iansriv]

Is it more difficult to drive an EV in traffic based on regenerative breaking?

If you have not already, you should get a couple of test drive in. This is my first EV and the local SC let me take two one hour test drives. I was good with the regen driving by the end of the first drive. You should not have any issues.

 

[Thedude]

Is it more difficult to drive an EV in traffic based on regenerative breaking?

You ever ride an ATV with an automatic transmission? EV one pedal driving is almost exactly the same concept, just modulate the throttle to speed up and slow down and only use the brakes when you need to stop very quickly or when sitting at a stop.

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