I bricked my R1S in the Oregon Outback - Learn from my mistake!

[HaveBlue]

RV sites never intended to charge EVs. The purpose of a TT30 adapter is to allow a large RV to grab the primary 120V phase and neutral at an TT30 camp site to run the camper. It won't be able to use it's secondary AC unit.

The purpose of a TT30EV adapter is to allow an EV to grab the 120V split phase to it's A/B hot phases.

Here's the one you need.
https://www.amazon.com/Parkworld-88...28161&sprefix=tt-30ev+adapter,aps,194&sr=8-15

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[iansriv]

Glad everything worked out and you're safe. After growing up in a cold climate with lots of camping trips, I moved to a warmer climate and will do everything in my power to not plan trips during the winter unless it's to a warm destination. I have a short trip planned in Late Feb. The roads a littered with Tesla chargers and all the other ones. I plan to use Tesla charging all the way but am making note of other chargers as a back up. Cheers.

 

[savethemanual]

The OP's entire ordeal could have been easily mitigated if whoever was in charge at the Lodge would of bent the rules and let her simply plug into a freeking 110 outlet for the night....Jeez.

 

[Aardvark]

@TractorJackie , great write up, and as others said, I really applaud your attitude in working through your crisis. There are a lot of excellent recommendations in your post. I hope you and your dog enjoyed the rest of your outdoor adventure!

 

[hammick]

Thanks for sharing. But I’m confused how you went from 0 to 100% overnight with an L2 charger Maybe full tank meant enough to get to a DCFC

 

[Time2Roll]

In hindsight the hardware store was probably charging faster than you think. Especially compared to L1. I would have been inclined to spend the night in the vehicle or hitch a ride back to the lodge. Still a pain in the neck. So easy to get into a flustered panic when the expected situation turns sideways. Glad to hear it all worked out.

I had a much easier episode with a charger that was not going to work and had 55 miles range and 50 miles of travel out of my way to get to the next available. Was close to midnight and I had another 150 miles to my destination that I needed to be in the morning. Very hard to drive slow on I80 to ensure the range was adequate.

The struggles make the best stories.

 

[skyguyscott]

I strongly agreed with articles about how AI is ultimately about enriching the very few at the cost of the many.

Yes, I think it paramount to understand, or try to, the "why" of anything if you hope to make sense of reality. It's my favorite toddler question -- they're onto something.

Why AI? Who's funding it, why are they spending so much, why are they so anxious for it. And it's not to cure cancer, (they would instead be funding cancer research) or end poverty (how many billions are you investing in this verses helping the poor?). Poke around and the answer is right in front of you -- to eliminate the cost of labor, the same reasons slavery existed for so long and was so intractable. The same reasons for share cropping, child labor, union busting, off-shoring manufacturing, automation...

They just haven't figured out what happens to society once they tweak AI to the point of replacing a huge section of the work force, or what happens to human intelligence, initiate, creativity or sense of purpose once we have nothing much left to do ourselves, or income to support it.

Too nebulous? Ok, let's bring it closer to now: how many Gen Z can read a map, or remember how to get somewhere, even though they have driven the route a dozen times? Can they hold a face-to-face conversation? What do they do when they're bored -- have they even had the opportunity to be bored? How has early exposure to technology wired their brains differently? Can they solve problems alone in their heads? Given a challenge (desert island game, business crisis, personal loss) can they effectively function, let alone devise a way to plan or cope without access to the internet? Reports from early studies on present day students utilizing AI in classrooms are giving warnings.

 

[skyguyscott]

As a usability hobbyist, I am not amused that the two adapters could look identical, yet function so differently!

Yes, it's a conundrum. I'm old enough to remember the days when everything you plugged into the back of your PC had a different plug (Serial, DB9, Cat 5, Keyboard, mouse, mini-phono, etc.)

Then, someone came up with a UNIVERSAL serial port! Finally, one plug and jack to rule them all! Fast forward a few years, and here is what the Universal Serial Port looks like:

Well, people were not happy, so they tried again, ONE cable to rule them all

Uh, now there is a Thunderbolt 5.

So you can spend lots of money buying a lot of different cables for different jacks, or you can spend lots of money buying different cables for the same jack. Which is less confusing? No, silly, that's the wrong question; the question is always, how can companies make the most money? Now it all finally starts to make sense!

Shouldn't we standardize? The great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

My wife says you're a rock star (aka I said)....

 

[usulio]

The OP's entire ordeal could have been easily mitigated if whoever was in charge at the Lodge would of bent the rules and let her simply plug into a freeking 110 outlet for the night....Jeez.

Later in the story it doesn't sound like 110 was actually charging the vehicle anyway due to cold. Maybe if you plug in immediately when the battery is already warmed up from driving.

 

[savethemanual]

Later in the story it doesn't sound like 110 was actually charging the vehicle anyway due to cold. Maybe if you plug in immediately when the battery is already warmed up from driving.

She was also at a higher SOC initially (60 miles remaining)

 

[BCondrey]

Such a good post, and timely.

 

[Captain JB]

Holey Moley! Thanks for sharing your experience. That is valuable info. JB

 

[ENVErider]

This is the story of how my R1S behaved when I didn't plan far enough ahead, and what I learned from it.

For context: I’m a 65-year-old woman road tripping alone with my dog in my 2026 R1S.

I was staying at The Lodge at Summer Lake when I realized I had a charging problem. I asked to use an exterior 110 outlet overnight and was refused due to “insurance issues.” (Oh, whatever.) An employee told me that Santa’s Hardware in Christmas Valley had an EV charger. Great!

At the time, I had about 60 miles of range. Mind you, this is the Oregon Outback. Middle of NOWHERE. Christmas Valley required backtracking roughly 30 miles—so 60 miles round trip. Tight, but theoretically possible. I called the hardware store before leaving and confirmed the charger existed and worked. That part was true.

I drove there, plugged in, and quickly realized the charger was effectively no better than a standard 110 outlet. Painfully slow. After waiting long enough to gain just enough charge to return, I unplugged and drove back to the lodge—now with about 15 miles of range left. Worse than when I started. Overnight temps were forecast in the 20s, which made everything more precarious.

Across the highway from the lodge is an Oregon Fish & Wildlife station. I walked over, explained my situation, and the rangers generously allowed me to plug into a 110 outlet in their barn overnight. It technically charged, but in those temperatures it was barely effective. After another night at the lodge, I looked at my Rivian app and saw I still had only 15 miles of range, and declining before my eyes, due to the frigid temps. I had to get out of there.

Warning: Do not rely solely on ChatGPT for navigation, especially in remote areas.

Good news was Chat told me that if I could get to the RV campground at Summer Lake Hot Springs "just up the road," my portable charging cable would work on their RV hookup. I did not know this, so that was great to learn. It said the campground was about 3 miles away.

Bad news: It’s closer to 17.

I started driving toward the RV spot and after just six miles realized I wasn’t going to make it. I turned around and crept into Playa, an artists’ retreat just before the hot springs. They kindly let me use a standard 110 outlet, for which I gratefully repaid them with drone footage of their property.

After about two hours, I had a whopping 14 miles of range—actually much better than expected. I was optimistic because I believed I only needed 10 miles to get to the RV hookup.

My optimism evaporated quickly. As soon as I was back on the road, my range suddenly dropped from 14 to 9 to 6 to 0, in just a few minutes. I crawled, watching for downhills to regen. The display read zero for maybe a mile. Then the car told me—very firmly—to pull over. "You're done." The vehicle rolled to a stop on the side of the road. The worst part? I could see the hot springs ahead of me, no more than 1,000 feet.

I called a tow operator out of Paisley and told him not to bother with a flatbed—just a rope. I was that close. He pulled me the short distance (I was able to put the vehicle in neutral), and all interior electronics were still functioning, which lulled me into thinking I was in the clear.

This is probably the most important thing I learned...

There are two kinds of “dead” in a Rivian: Brick and Cinder Block

The moment the tow truck rolled me up to the RV hookup, the Rivian threw a warning about sensors going offline and the wheels locked completely. Not “can’t drive” dead—full doornail dead. If that had happened 20 feet earlier, I’d have been in real trouble.

I plugged into the RV’s 240V (NEMA 14-50) outlet using the Rivian portable charger and immediately began charging normally. They put me up in their deluxe cabin and they also gladly took payment in the form of drone footage! Wow.

My dog and I were back on the road the next morning with a full tank and the rest of the road trip went without any further hitches.

What I learned:

• Zero means zero.
• Cold weather dramatically accelerates range loss at low SOC.
• Plan beyond the next charger.
• 110 outlets are not reliable.
• RV campground hookups are your friend.
• Carry 220V adapters.
• Know Brick vs. Cinder Block.
• Always pack the drone.
• Stay calm. You'll figure it out. Enjoy the journey.
• 
  
• 

I'm glad to hear that you made it to the RV outlet and eventually got it back up and running. If you want to further your learning experience, the YouTube channel Out of Spec has documented both what the Rivians do when driven to "You're Done" and how to resurrect a truly bricked one that won't even light up the screens, which others on this forum have reported happening. They also documented the relationship between calibration and how important it is when running close to 0% charge on the dual standard LFP batteries. On their run to 0% video, they basically drove the R1 and several competitors till it gave them that message, with a truckbed charger following the Rivian. It was interesting to see how each manufacturer handled arriving at an empty state in that final mile of driving. The good news is that every year, the charging experience gets better as the network fills gaps in more remote locations.

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