He also points out that very few DC fast chargers are rated for 600 amps -- most only provide up to 500 amps (the same as the adapter).
Probably because they aren't assuming you'll use an adapter. Tom went out of his way to use that particular charger with an adapter not because it was more convenient, but because he wanted to try the 600 amps.
From my understanding, the RAN chargers are only rated to 500 amps. I assume that future sites will be more powerful now that the R2 is designed to use 600 amps.
Bc R2 is not CCS. It pulls 600 amps on NACS natively. The ABB charger Tom charged at is the problem, not the R2. The Walmart and IONNA Alpitronic stations pull 600 amps just fine on NACS.
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...-dispenser-technical-specs-ran-charger.53110/
In that case, until there are adapters that can handle more than 500 amps, you'd probably want to make sure you just used a NACS pedestal at the RAN station.
Possible. What's interesting though is that it charges exactly the same with production units as the "preproduction" ones tested months ago - the charge curve matches *exactly* the CarWow video from February.
"Better" is subjective. But once you have a 80-100kWh battery, the 800V architecture becomes more important.
I understand your perspective, but you can always just charge to 90-95% if you're not ready to leave... As someone who did ~15k road trip miles in my R1T in 2024 (with dogs), I find ~15-20 minutes to be the sweet spot if I need to pee and walk the dogs. Except when I sit down to eat I've never needed 30 minutes. But 30 minutes of charging gains about 180mi of range, or more like 120-140mi if you're doing 80mph or in the winter. Not even 2 full hours between stops. I don't need 20 minutes of rest that frequently.
Yup... Tesla batteries have been getting worse over time - cost optimization. Sadly, Tesla is still top of the pack when it comes to road trip capability in the US (excepting Porsche, Lucid).
iX3 is not the same class, arguably, being ~$15k more expensive... but it destroys the R2 in both range and charging. Bigger battery, slightly more efficient, and MUCH faster charging throughout the curve. I would pay that $15k to get the iX3 battery in the R2.
It's actually better. R2 has much better designed cooling and thermals.
Great post! You should make it a new thread with all that extensive content.Possible. What's interesting though is that it charges exactly the same with production units as the "preproduction" ones tested months ago - the charge curve matches *exactly* the CarWow video from February.
I am skeptical, but if they can find 10-20kW across the 35-75% region, that would get it from 27 to 23 minutes.
"Better" is subjective. But once you have a 80-100kWh battery, the 800V architecture becomes more important.
The *majority* of DCFC sites in the US are already 800V capable. As you noted, even Tesla sites going forward are 800V capable.
And the Lucid Gravity and BMW iX3 use boost systems that can charge at 200-230kW on a V3 supercharger (until the handle overheats) - so no "penalty" on superchargers.
I understand your perspective, but you can always just charge to 90-95% if you're not ready to leave... As someone who did ~15k road trip miles in my R1T in 2024 (with dogs), I find ~15-20 minutes to be the sweet spot if I need to pee and walk the dogs. Except when I sit down to eat I've never needed 30 minutes. But 30 minutes of charging gains about 180mi of range, or more like 120-140mi if you're doing 80mph or in the winter. Not even 2 full hours between stops. I don't need 20 minutes of rest that frequently.
Yup... Tesla batteries have been getting worse over time - cost optimization. Sadly, Tesla is still top of the pack when it comes to road trip capability in the US (excepting Porsche, Lucid).
(Solid lines are power, dashed lines are Range added)
Model Y efficiency makes it slightly better (~3.0 vs ~3.6mi/kWh @70mph).
R2 pulls much more power from 30-75% but is ~20% less efficient.
Note the data here is using individual testing events from various sources, so there could be some reasonable variation.
iX3 is not the same class, arguably, being ~$15k more expensive... but it destroys the R2 in both range and charging. Bigger battery, slightly more efficient, and MUCH faster charging throughout the curve. I would pay that $15k to get the iX3 battery in the R2.
It *seems* like there's a bug (or genuine) limitation for iX3 when charging on superchargers - it holds ~190kW for a while, then drops off far earlier than it does on 800V. Perhaps the boost convert is thermally limited? Even with that limitation, it still can (just) beat out the R2 and Model Y.
Yeah. I'm extremely disappointed with the R2 battery (both capacity and charging speed), but at the same time it's better than basically every other US market EV at the same or lower price.Great post! You should make it a new thread with all that extensive content.
Your post and many of the others have demonstrated to me that the R2 is very competitive in the space they are targeting, and the average buyer will be completely satisfied with the charging performance.
Unless they melt an adapter, that is.
Great post! I agree with most of what you said but a couple of things. The vast majority of DCFC sites in the US are NOT 800v capable. Just Tesla superchargers alone account for over 50% of DCFC plugs in the USA, and they are not 800v capable. And that doesn't include a bunch of other "legacy" DCFC sites that can't do 800v either. Tesla superchargers can only do 400v, unless they are the very rare V4 "cabinets" superchargers that are rolling out slowly which can do up to 1000v. There's only like 10 of these sites currently. That's why iX3 can only do ~190kW on Tesla superchargers bc the amps are limited to 500 along with voltage.
SoC or kWh added is all that matters. Miles added is meaningless IMO bc it's a metric that changes greatly depending on conditions.
