RivianTrackr: "Stop Buying EVs for the Trip You Take Twice a Year"

[Mos Eisley]

Editorial

Yes, I’m aware of the irony. We recently spent a few hours running a 70-mph range test with the Out of Spec crew, watched the number tick down mile after mile, and then published it all. So opening an article about how range does not really matter is a little rich coming from me. Our only defense is that we share the data and show exactly how we got there, and what anyone decides to do with that number afterward is not our responsibility.

But the number is not the thing.

Interesting read, thanks Jose! @RivianTrackr

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[RivianTrackr]

Yay glad you enjoyed it!

 

[knbond1]

I’ll be coming from a polestar 2, range isn’t an issue for me

 

[DuoRivians]

By this argument, we should all settle for an EV that gets 200 mile range and charges at 100kw peak. Such EV could cost under $30K.

Of course, we don’t because we *want* the freedom and flexibility to do many things, not to be limited by the car.

And far far majority of people will never take their R2 off pavement, so the extra ground clearance and “off-road” features are basically unnecessary and could have been stripped out or optimized for something else.

I guess what I’m saying is that this editorial seems to be trying to excuse R2’s shortcomings and why people should still buy it. And if you truly bought the editorial’s message, one probably shouldn’t be buying an R2, but some other cheaper EV. Seems heavily biased, to say the least.

 

[mkennedy009]

He missed one thing in his range argument. He talks about the Thanksgiving trip. I have seen the chaos at charging stations for the holiday and it is a mess. Smaller battery, lighter car is great until you have to charge multiple times during the holiday travel season.
I do understand, most times you are just driving to work or the grocery.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

The amount of time I save never going to a gas station during normal driving day to day more than makes up for the extra time I spend charging on the occasional longer trip.

 

[macb00kemdanno]

By this argument, we should all settle for an EV that gets 200 mile range and charges at 100kw peak. Such EV could cost under $30K.

Of course, we don’t because we *want* the freedom and flexibility to do many things, not to be limited by the car.

And far far majority of people will never take their R2 off pavement, so the extra ground clearance and “off-road” features are basically unnecessary and could have been stripped out or optimized for something else.

I guess what I’m saying is that this editorial seems to be trying to excuse R2’s shortcomings and why people should still buy it. Seems heavily biased, to say the least.

I mean, I get what he’s saying … but it’s highly dependent on the driver and you can’t use a blanket “Don’t think that way” approach.

I charge mainly at home, and maybe roadtrip once or twice a month. But those road trips consist of either:

1) 180 miles one way, with free Level 2 charging available at my destination
2) 160 miles round trip to see my parents, no charging needed
3) 360 miles round trip with one supercharging stop on the way home
4) 360 miles one way (NC to Baltimore for Orioles games) with one charging stop on the way up, and two on the way home. This trip is only once per year.

Long story short, even with 20” AT tires, I don’t see roadtripping with an R2 as being any more taxing than with our current 3 and Y. And if anything; it looks like it’ll probably get me out of the Supercharger faster to boot. Would I have preferred greater range? Yes, but it’ll work.

But YMMV.

 

[RivianTrackr]

By this argument, we should all settle for an EV that gets 200 mile range and charges at 100kw peak. Such EV could cost under $30K.

Of course, we don’t because we *want* the freedom and flexibility to do many things, not to be limited by the car.

And far far majority of people will never take their R2 off pavement, so the extra ground clearance and “off-road” features are basically unnecessary and could have been stripped out or optimized for something else.

I guess what I’m saying is that this editorial seems to be trying to excuse R2’s shortcomings and why people should still buy it. And if you truly bought the editorial’s message, one probably shouldn’t be buying an R2, but some other cheaper EV. Seems heavily biased, to say the least.

I may be a tad biased but I think I’m trying to overlooking the one shortcoming for the many positives R2 offers. But it’s also one person’s opinion.

 

[DuoRivians]

I mean, I get what he’s saying … but it’s highly dependent on the driver and you can’t use a blanket “Don’t think that way” approach.

I charge mainly at home, and maybe roadtrip once or twice a month. But those road trips consist of either:

1) 180 miles one way, with free Level 2 charging available at my destination
2) 160 miles round trip to see my parents, no charging needed
3) 360 miles round trip with one supercharging stop on the way home
4) 360 miles one way (NC to Baltimore for Orioles games) with one charging stop on the way up, and two on the way home. This trip is only once per year.

Long story short, even with 20” AT tires, I don’t see roadtripping with an R2 as being any more taxing than with our current 3 and Y. And if anything; it looks like it’ll probably get me out of the Supercharger faster to boot. Would I have preferred greater range? Yes, but it’ll work.

But YMMV.

I think it would have been a more convincing editorial to plainly acknowledge the shortcomings of the R2 openly (rather than trying to excuse them) but say because the other features of the car are great, it’s still worth getting the car.

 

[kanefsky]

I may be a tad biased but I think I’m trying to overlooking the one shortcoming for the many positives R2 offers. But it’s also one person’s opinion.

It's just one of many factors that need to be taken into consideration. It's unlikely that any vehicle will be the best at everything in terms of range, performance, handling, looks, cargo capacity, towing capacity, price, reliability, comfort, availability, etc. One person might happily sacrifice range for a car that scores well on almost everything else, and another person might be willing to sacrifice some other things if they can save a significant amount of time on every road trip.

 

[DCFC]

I think it would have been a more convincing editorial to plainly acknowledge the shortcomings of the R2 openly (rather than trying to excuse them) but say because the other features of the car are great, it’s still worth getting the car.

Is the current range a shortcoming? It's more range than my Polestar2. Heck, my 2005 Mitsubishi Evo 8 would be lucky to get 255 miles on the highway; it would be running on fumes.

Everything is a tradeoff. Looking at strictly battery size as the variable for range difference, I'm very happy with the set point Rivian chose. A bigger battery pack would weigh more and cost more. On a road trip, I stop every two hours regardless. I'll take the current range and have a more nimble handling, more efficient, and lower cost R2.

 

[DuoRivians]

Is the current range a shortcoming? It's more range than my Polestar2. Heck, my 2005 Mitsubishi Evo 8 would be lucky to get 255 miles on the highway; it would be running on fumes.

Everything is a tradeoff. Looking at strictly battery size as the variable for range difference, I'm very happy with the set point Rivian chose. A bigger battery pack would weigh more and cost more. On a road trip, I stop every two hours regardless. I'll take the current range and have a more nimble handling, more efficient, and lower cost R2.

Would you have paid $2-3K more for a 800V R2 with the same battery capacity?

 

[Mos Eisley]

I think it would have been a more convincing editorial to plainly acknowledge the shortcomings of the R2 openly (rather than trying to excuse them) but say because the other features of the car are great, it’s still worth getting the car.

He addresses that in several other posts and videos. This is a continuation of that discussion/topic.

 

[Sharmon]

Hoping to make the R2 my family of four's first EV. For context our current family car is a 2013 Subaru Impreza hatchback.

No question I was initially pretty bummed by the OOS / RivianTrackr highway range tests. Was hard not to anchor to that 330 number. But as our Subaru has it's own unealistic listing of 27 mpg city, 36 mpg highway, 30 combined, I shouldn't be surprised by EPA test differences (would guess we get about 30-32 mpg at our usual highway driving speed in the Subaru).

I think Rivian would do well to avoid that 330 number in marketing and instead break it down by expectations for city and expectations for highway (using 75 to 80 mph). As has been mentioned Tesla has changed their reporting to better come in line with what people might expect in more common highway driving speeds.

I watched all the OOS / RivianTrackr content (thanks Jose!) and one thing that was focused on in the charging video (but (appropriately) not within the range videos) is just how well the R2 does on charging speed for a 400V architecture when compared to the Model Y. So while the highway range was worse, the R2 charging speed was far better. Can't remember what that equaled on balance but that is something to weigh if deciding between the two (R2 less distance but faster charging stops, MY longer distance, longer charging). I have no thought of getting a Tesla, but as RJ has said, they make the leading EV models and so it makes complete sense that they are a benchmark by which the R2 is measured.

I've recovered from my disappointment though and that's from focusing more on the majority use case of the R2 for my family. For the day-to-day life, it will meet and exceed all of our needs (leaps and bounds beyond our Subaru). For the five to six 370 mile trips we take a year (several of those in cold midwest winter weather), we'll probably need to stop 1-3 times each way, but that isn't uncommon already in our gas vehicle. We have another 5 to 6 trips a year of 120 mile distance which may require 1 stop per round trip. Again a stop either on the way there or back is not unusual. I'm sure anything that feels like an extra stop or time on the road for those bigger trips will feel annoying in the moment (and by then we'll have easily forgotten all the around town gas station trips saved via garage charging).

So do I wish the R2 had better range, sure, but I think it has just about everything else that will make it an awesome family car. Thus the disappointment has passed.

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Don't quit your day job, Jose

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