Mileage and battery life.

[dpt]

New (3 months old) R1S Dual Max. Colorado mostly highway and not a crazy driver. I’m finding the estimated miles on the battery are not very accurate at all. Drains way faster than the actual miles driven. Yes air is on this hot summer. Turned fear guard off and same result. Is this the norm? If I did the math I’d likely be getting around 320 miles
On a full charge vs the 410 advertised

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[tbinmd]

lots of factors play into range. What tires/wheels do you have? Speed (faster you go, the less range)? is it hilly?

 

[usulio]

The 410 advertised is not at highway speeds. It's for a mix of speeds, all of them slower and more efficient. Sorry, your expectations were wrong (perhaps Rivian's fault).

On a dual max with efficient all-season tires (I'll assume from the 410 advertised range), in Colorado summer, I would expect 320 miles of range at a pretty high average speed, like 75mph or maybe closer to 80mph. If that is your average speed, then you are getting what should be expected. If you are driving 65mph and only getting that range, even in the mountains, I'm surprised. Unless you have the all-terrain tires.

 

[VSG]

I’m finding the estimated miles on the battery are not very accurate at all.

If you're talking about the "fuel gauge" on the screen behind the steering wheel, that's NOT an "estimated miles" number. That's simply battery state of charge, in percent, times the EPA range. If that doesn't make sense to you, then please go into your settings and change the display so that it shows SoC % instead - that way you won't get mislead by your own assumptions.

The 410 advertised is not at highway speeds. It's for a mix of speeds, all of them slower and more efficient. Sorry, your expectations were wrong (perhaps Rivian's fault).

The 410 is the EPA mileage, which is determined using the exact conditions specified in the EPA testing requirements. It's exactly accurate. Rivian has little to no leeway in how it reports this number - it must comply with the test conditions. And yes, EPA is a specific mix of driving speeds and conditions. If your expectations are wrong, that's entire YOUR fault.

I can't comprehend why people don't understand this. EPA testing has been the same for 50 years. If you don't drive with exactly the same conditions as the EPA test conditions then you won't get the EPA mileage. This is true for every vehicle ever made. If you're getting less than the EPA mileage with your Rivian, then you were also getting less than the EPA mileage with your previous vehicle (assuming you're still driving in the same manner and in the same location). If you have been paying any attention at all, then you will know whether you were getting the EPA range for every single vehicle you've ever driven. If you always get less than the EPA range, then you will get less on a Rivian as well - because it's all about the conditions.

If you drive 80mph on the highway in an ICE vehicle, you won't get the EPA mileage. It has nothing to do with the vehicle brand or ICE vs EV, and everything to do with the test conditions - drag increases with the square of the velocity, so driving at 80mph costs you 50% more energy than driving at 65mph. Whether that's energy from gasoline or energy from a battery doesn't matter. So you get less mpg / less range if you're constantly driving at high speeds.

Note that the advertised EPA ratings are the combined highway + city ratings. The individual highway and city ranges are also published, so to find out what is expected from highway driving under EPA conditions, look at the highway rating not the combined rating. And correct for your speed vs the assumed EPA speed.

The advantage of EPA ratings is that they are done in a standardized manner, so if you know how YOUR driving in YOUR part of the country affects the EPA rating, then you can use that to predict how far you can drive in any vehicle from the published EPA ratings for that vehicle.

If you use the navigation, you will find that the estimated miles shown on the center screen is accurate, because navigation takes into account the terrain and your speed and your driving history to make the estimate of how far you can go given the way you're driving.

Also, like every other car ever produced, if you're getting bad mileage that could be an indicator of a problem. Maybe your tires are not inflated to spec. Maybe your alignment is bad. etc. A change in mpg / efficiency is a valuable diagnostic tool to detect problems before they get worse. Always has been.

 

[COMtnEV]

I'm not sure why, but it seems Rivian "real world" is much worse relative to EPA estimates than other vehicles. I've compared similar trips using my 2025 Dual Max AT R1T (estimated 356 miles of range) versus my 2025 GMC Denali EV. Colorado mountain interstate/dual lane highway driving, some town/city. The best I get on my R1T is about 2.2 mi/kW, or ~310 miles of range 100% charge. Same drives/temps/driving style with the Denali I have seen up to 530 miles of range (about 2.4mi/kW - well above EPA estimates. Interesting to me that the much heavier, bigger GMC is more efficient. I did not expect that. Tires are properly inflated on both vehicles.

 

[mclcooper]

I have a 30 day old R1S - range 410 miles. During a 700 mile road trip yesterday, I tracked range efficiency the last 150 miles because it was late and I didn't want to charge up again before arriving at our destination. I watched the efficiency monitor move from ~ 2.1 mi/kW while at 80 mph on I-95 to ~ 2.9 mi/kW while at 60 mph on a 4 lane mostly rural feeder road. Using the simplest math (2.1/2.9), my 410 range would become 296. I'm learning that many factors would impact this (HVAC, traffic on interstate ...); but the net is that you'll likely be well below EPA unless you drive at 60 MPH and use no AC. My previous vehicle was a Lexus RX450h, a great car; and I am sure it wasn't close to its 28 HWY MPG when I was driving on an Interstate at 80 MPH. The R1S is my first EV. I love all the metrics that I never had or wouldn't have paid attention to with my RX or previous gas vehicles.

At the end of the day, I would have had to gas up 3 times with the RX to make this 700 mile road trip. It typically showed ~ 396 miles of range when tanked up. I made the trip with my R1S on 2 charge ups.

 

[FraserC]

On a recent move, we used our Gen 2 R1T (dual/Max) towing a cargo trailer weighing 8,500 pounds from Cincinnati to Seattle (2,700 miles) we fully expected huge range reduction - but expected this to be primarily added wind drag. But what we found was that the actual battery temperature was another significant knock down. We learned this, and then managed it by deliberately driving earlier in the morning, and less during the hotter part of the day also proved significant.

I mention this hotter battery effect because I had not seen others highlighting this, excuse me if I simply missed this.. We did learn this before doing a small number of 140 mile legs between faster chargers, which helped us avoid going at speeds as low as 45mph on interstates, which fortunately only happened while traffic was very sparse.

Thoughts on this anyone?

 

[dpt]

lots of factors play into range. What tires/wheels do you have? Speed (faster you go, the less range)? is it hilly?

Stock Pirellis. Yes hills but reasonable speeds and there are downhills too for regen

If you're talking about the "fuel gauge" on the screen behind the steering wheel, that's NOT an "estimated miles" number. That's simply battery state of charge, in percent, times the EPA range. If that doesn't make sense to you, then please go into your settings and change the display so that it shows SoC % instead - that way you won't get mislead by your own assumptions.


The 410 is the EPA mileage, which is determined using the exact conditions specified in the EPA testing requirements. It's exactly accurate. Rivian has little to no leeway in how it reports this number - it must comply with the test conditions. And yes, EPA is a specific mix of driving speeds and conditions. If your expectations are wrong, that's entire YOUR fault.

I can't comprehend why people don't understand this. EPA testing has been the same for 50 years. If you don't drive with exactly the same conditions as the EPA test conditions then you won't get the EPA mileage. This is true for every vehicle ever made. If you're getting less than the EPA mileage with your Rivian, then you were also getting less than the EPA mileage with your previous vehicle (assuming you're still driving in the same manner and in the same location). If you have been paying any attention at all, then you will know whether you were getting the EPA range for every single vehicle you've ever driven. If you always get less than the EPA range, then you will get less on a Rivian as well - because it's all about the conditions.

If you drive 80mph on the highway in an ICE vehicle, you won't get the EPA mileage. It has nothing to do with the vehicle brand or ICE vs EV, and everything to do with the test conditions - drag increases with the square of the velocity, so driving at 80mph costs you 50% more energy than driving at 65mph. Whether that's energy from gasoline or energy from a battery doesn't matter. So you get less mpg / less range if you're constantly driving at high speeds.

Note that the advertised EPA ratings are the combined highway + city ratings. The individual highway and city ranges are also published, so to find out what is expected from highway driving under EPA conditions, look at the highway rating not the combined rating. And correct for your speed vs the assumed EPA speed.

The advantage of EPA ratings is that they are done in a standardized manner, so if you know how YOUR driving in YOUR part of the country affects the EPA rating, then you can use that to predict how far you can drive in any vehicle from the published EPA ratings for that vehicle.

If you use the navigation, you will find that the estimated miles shown on the center screen is accurate, because navigation takes into account the terrain and your speed and your driving history to make the estimate of how far you can go given the way you're driving.

Also, like every other car ever produced, if you're getting bad mileage that could be an indicator of a problem. Maybe your tires are not inflated to spec. Maybe your alignment is bad. etc. A change in mpg / efficiency is a valuable diagnostic tool to detect problems before they get worse. Always has been.

thanks for the detailed answer. I used to drive a Lexus 570 and I got almost exactly what it was rated to get. On highway and in city

 

[RivAW]

New (3 months old) R1S Dual Max. Colorado mostly highway and not a crazy driver. I’m finding the estimated miles on the battery are not very accurate at all. Drains way faster than the actual miles driven. Yes air is on this hot summer. Turned fear guard off and same result. Is this the norm? If I did the math I’d likely be getting around 320 miles
On a full charge vs the 410 advertised

Estimated miles of range are exactly that.....an ESTIMATE which only accounts for previous driving characteristics. Treat it like a loose estimate....there are a lot of things that affect driving that are not constantly accounted for in the initial estimate before driving....

 

[badger4149]

New (3 months old) R1S Dual Max. Colorado mostly highway and not a crazy driver. I’m finding the estimated miles on the battery are not very accurate at all. Drains way faster than the actual miles driven. Yes air is on this hot summer. Turned fear guard off and same result. Is this the norm? If I did the math I’d likely be getting around 320 miles
On a full charge vs the 410 advertised

I find that it varies. I have a Tri-motor R1S with all terrain package. Full charge range when I left home was 352 in Conserve mode. I drove 175 miles, and range still said 173 - only 4 miles off estimate. Drive was 99% freeway, AC and seat cooler on the whole time, dry road, almost no elevation change, average speed 70mph. Sometimes it's significantly less efficient though. Many factors affect range: wind, wet roads, elevation gain, etc. It's kinda weird, and sometimes inexplicable.

 

[riverie]

I think some of the confusion / missed expectations for someone new to EV's, like myself, comes from the way that ICE and EV vehicles get good efficiency / range in different situations. EPA "highway" mileage for an ICE vehicle is just about always higher than "city" mileage, where the opposite is true of EV's.

 

[Golfer04]

I have a 30 day old R1S - range 410 miles. During a 700 mile road trip yesterday, I tracked range efficiency the last 150 miles because it was late and I didn't want to charge up again before arriving at our destination. I watched the efficiency monitor move from ~ 2.1 mi/kW while at 80 mph on I-95 to ~ 2.9 mi/kW while at 60 mph on a 4 lane mostly rural feeder road. Using the simplest math (2.1/2.9), my 410 range would become 296. I'm learning that many factors would impact this (HVAC, traffic on interstate ...); but the net is that you'll likely be well below EPA unless you drive at 60 MPH and use no AC. My previous vehicle was a Lexus RX450h, a great car; and I am sure it wasn't close to its 28 HWY MPG when I was driving on an Interstate at 80 MPH. The R1S is my first EV. I love all the metrics that I never had or wouldn't have paid attention to with my RX or previous gas vehicles.

At the end of the day, I would have had to gas up 3 times with the RX to make this 700 mile road trip. It typically showed ~ 396 miles of range when tanked up. I made the trip with my R1S on 2 charge ups.

Interesting to me you mention the 450h. I've owned 3 of them and liked them all, but they never got EPA estimated mileage (neither did my Highlander hybrids). ALL electric/hybrid vehicles are better in city driving than ICE vehicles. ICE vehicles are better in the highway. I tracked gas mileage on my last 450h driving from Peoria, IL to western Nebraska on I-80. Pretty flat trip in 75 degree weather. Got 24 mpg which is 15 percent less than EPA. Was going 75mph most of the time. In highway driving at 75mph my Tri motor R1T has 350 miles of range (not in the winter) which is also about 15 percent less than EPA.

My Ford f150 diesel (EPA 25mpg) consistently got 27-28 mpg on the same trip at same speed.

Because of how EPA does the calculation (55 percent city driving assumed) ICE vehicles will exceed the EPA average regularly. EV & hybrids won't.

 

[Cal]

I find that it varies. I have a Tri-motor R1S with all terrain package. Full charge range when I left home was 352 in Conserve mode. I drove 175 miles, and range still said 173 - only 4 miles off estimate. Drive was 99% freeway, AC and seat cooler on the whole time, dry road, almost no elevation change, average speed 70mph. Sometimes it's significantly less efficient though. Many factors affect range: wind, wet roads, elevation gain, etc. It's kinda weird, and sometimes inexplicable.

Did you note the efficiency on the trip?

I have the same truck, Calif Dune and my efficiency has dropped a lot since the 2025.22.30 update. I'm averaging in the low 1's to just below 1.99 m/kWh at 55 mph. Way worse when I first leave the house (below 1). I'm rural street roads and don't get much above 55 mph.

I sent a message to Rivian service asking about this. Included snapshots of my screen, and a table of my energy use since purchase in June.

 

[badger4149]

Did you note the efficiency on the trip?

I have the same truck, Calif Dune and my efficiency has dropped a lot since the 2025.22.30 update. I'm averaging in the low 1's to just below 1.99 m/kWh at 55 mph. Way worse when I first leave the house (below 1). I'm rural street roads and don't get much above 55 mph.

I sent a message to Rivian service asking about this. Included snapshots of my screen, and a table of my energy use since purchase in June.

I don't have actual numbers, but it seems like I was averaging about 2.2 for the entire trip, in total around 400 miles, conditions as noted. I have not noticed an effeciency decrease since the last software update. I'm taking it on a longer trip next week (maybe 700 miles), which will include 4000' elevation changes and I'll be tracking my efficiency.

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