Story: Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) Scaling for R2 and Beyond

[BrayBay]

Quick shortcut to those who want to see the map: https://rivian.com/experience/charging#map. Texas is really sparse, but fortunately we have Buc-ees with plenty of Telsa Superchargers. Nothing at Big Bend National Park or Guadalupe Mountains National Park, not even "coming soon" indicators.


Somewhat related topic, and probably an unpopular opinion, but I think the location of the charge port should have been front passenger side for R2 and beyond. It's functionally equivalent to backing in with a Tesla so no worries about "blocking" chargers, you don't have to deal with the nonsense of backing in, every other public charger is designed to pull in, and it probably opens up for side street parking charging possibilities without having the cable exposed in the traffic side. I'm sure there was engineering reasons for it, since the original R1 previews had it on front passenger but I'm sure someone more informed could explain why.

I guess its nice the newer RAN chargers have longer cables to avoid that, but its hard to count on RAN being everywhere.

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[SANZC02]

Quick shortcut to those who want to see the map: https://rivian.com/experience/charging#map. Texas is really sparse, but fortunately we have Buc-ees with plenty of Telsa Superchargers. Nothing at Big Bend National Park or Guadalupe Mountains National Park, not even "coming soon" indicators.


Somewhat related topic, and probably an unpopular opinion, but I think the location of the charge port should have been front passenger side for R2 and beyond. It's functionally equivalent to backing in with a Tesla so no worries about "blocking" chargers, you don't have to deal with the nonsense of backing in, every other public charger is designed to pull in, and it probably opens up for side street parking charging possibilities without having the cable exposed in the traffic side. I'm sure there was engineering reasons for it, since the original R1 previews had it on front passenger but I'm sure someone more informed could explain why.

I guess its nice the newer RAN chargers have longer cables to avoid that, but its hard to count on RAN being everywhere.

I agree I would prefer the front right. What is interesting is the early prototypes had it there, it was later moved to front left.

 

[C12farmer]

The most useful Rivian chargers I have used have all be in remote areas not served well by other operators, including Tesla. Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Highway 101 Northern along the California coast up to Oregon. All those chargers actually make road trips much more accessible and have real value. The L2 chargers at Yosemite are a real game changer when it comes to charging strategy and great advertising for the brand.

RAN locations in dense urban areas will never succeed against Tesla, Ionna or even EA. High prices and small # of stalls with shared power make it enough of an annoyance that I usually choose use Tesla SC. Especially since many RAN are located within eyesight of a Tesla SC.

I actually wish they would focus on adding more L2 chargers at popular outdoor destinations like national parks, recreational areas, etc.

 

[VandalSibs]

Somewhat related topic, and probably an unpopular opinion, but I think the location of the charge port should have been front passenger side for R2 and beyond.

Part of the cost reduction efforts on R2 was to reduce the amount of wiring. With the RWD R2 coming in the future, you want the shortest distance possible between the charge port and the inverter for the battery pack, which means it needs to be at the rear of the vehicle since the inverter is at the rear of the pack. And you don't want to have multiple different bodies for different trim levels, so all the R2 trims need to have the port at the same place.

Combine that with there being enough Tesla chargers with short cords and those being a big part of any charging equation, it leaves you with having the port at the driver's side rear.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Combine that with there being enough Tesla chargers with short cords and those being a big part of any charging equation, it leaves you with having the port at the driver's side rear.

THAT was the primary driver for the decision and has generally been widely lauded.

 

[lefkonj]

I think it is great that rivian planned ahead by having extra capacity in the ground at their RAN locations. add more ports and let's getting going.

With regards to the location of the charge port, the cables need to be long enough to not care since there is no standard for location, just like with gas ports. It can be anywhere and pretty has for more than 100 years.

 

[VandalSibs]

THAT was the primary driver for the decision and has generally been widely lauded.

Well, it was the primary driver for it being on the driver's side. It was always going to be in the rear with there being a RWD trim.

 

[VandalSibs]

With regards to the location of the charge port, the cables need to be long enough to not care since there is no standard for location, just like with gas ports. It can be anywhere and pretty has for more than 100 years.

The problem with this comparison is that there are very few gas stations where you either back into or pull up to the pump. You almost always pull up alongside it, which makes front/rear placement of the filler not as big of an issue.

 

[savethemanual]

I don’t know of an alternative. But it just seems like Rivian is employing the same Tesla playbook from 10 years ago, when EV tax credits/discounts and regulatory credit sales were big tailwinds.

Now that these govt policies don’t exist, I just don’t know if sticking to this same Tesla playbook is a winning strategy.

The current lack of Fed support for BEV's and infrastructure is temporary, the tides will for sure change.

 

[lefkonj]

This would be a serious miss by Rivian if they didn't make these compatible UNLESS .... like Apple contstantly chaging their adaptors, it's a cynical way to make $?

The problem with this comparison is that there are very few gas stations where you either back into or pull up to the pump. You almost always pull up alongside it, which makes front/rear placement of the filler not as big of an issue.

Tesla is the one with the short cables, not a problem for EVGO, EA, Chargepoint, Shell, IONNA etc etc. if Tesla just gave us a longer cable it wouldn't matter either.

 

[SANZC02]

Tesla is the one with the short cables, not a problem for EVGO, EA, Chargepoint, Shell, IONNA etc etc. if Tesla just gave us a longer cable it wouldn't matter either.

They do on the V4 stations.

 

[Rade]

The RAN chargers I’ve used has a lower rate for Rivian vehicles compared to other vehicles. You can see pricing in the Rivian app. 2 examples are Barstow, CA and Quartzite, AZ, they 53 cents for Rivian and 62 cents for other vehicles.

Here is another example in Atlanta, GA

Good to see it happens in some places. Not here... RAN in RI.

 

[DuoRivian]

The current lack of Fed support for BEV's and infrastructure is temporary, the tides will for sure change.

No need for support on infrastructure since we have multiple private operations Iona, Tesla etc building L3 charging and the situation is a lot better than just a couple of years ago.

 

[savethemanual]

No need for support on infrastructure since we have multiple private operations Iona, Tesla etc building L3 charging and the situation is a lot better than just a couple of years ago.

I forgot, the NEVI funds are still a go so there is some support for infrastructure. But when the current administration deactivates thousands of chargers at Fed buildings nation wide, it sure sends a message.

 

[SANZC02]

Good to see it happens in some places. Not here... RAN in RI.

That appears to be one of the few early locations still not open to other vehicles.

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