Conserve mode effects on safety/handling?

[Austiopath]

Hi everyone,
I almost never use conserve mode in my R1S (quad, 22s) and always stick to all-purpose on pavement. we all know Conserve eats front tires… but I do have a long road trip coming up and I’m considering using it at least for flat highway stretches where I imagine increased tire wear will be minimal due to constant speed.
But generally speaking, is there a downside from a safety perspective in conserve mode? If I need to do emergency maneuvering, is Rivian’s traction control smart enough to instantaneously send power and traction to the rear wheels even in conserve? Would love to hear thoughts. Got a car full of kids and don’t want to sacrifice safety for a few extra miles of range.

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[KBabione]

I have a R1S, quad with 20"s...I'm in AP most of the time. On longer trips where I want to minimize the time spent charging (or stretch the time between charges), I'll use conserve when I'm on the highway using cruise control and/or Highway Assist. I'll keep it in AP mode until I'm ready to activate cruise and then switch to conserve. You can't change modes while using the cruise so after it switches to conserve I activate the cruise/highway assist. When I'm getting close to my exit or have to slow down for construction I'll put it back in AP until I'm ready to re-engage cruise control.

For me it adds about 40 miles of range when I'm starting with a full battery and made a trip from southeast PA to northwest PA (where charging options are limited) much easier because I only had to stop once.

 

[racekarl]

So much FUD here...
1) It's been reasonably well established by now that the excessive tire wear is really only an issue of concern if you're using it for the majority of your driving including "around town" situations. There should not be much concern about increased tire wear when used in steady-state highway driving.
2) Front-wheel drive cars have existed for decades without showing any significantly worse safety record; the R1S should be no worse turning and accelerating than all the minivans on the road. The only material difference would be that the apparent brake bias might be different with only regen on the front tires, but if it's a real emergency you would presumably be using the friction brakes anyway.

 

[stewart]

I use conserve on any long highway trip. I switch to conserve once I am on the highway and then engage conserve. It increases my range notably. I stay at the posted speed limit, 70MPH, and get another 15% or more. I also use it on long stretches of US Highways where there are no lights and at speeds of 45-50MPH the range impact is even more significant. I do not see much difference in wear on the 22 inch tires. No difference to me in handling or ride. Some say the ride is rougher, but I don't notice that. Maybe the roads are better in my area, not sure

 

[MIG]

We have a weekend house about an hour away from the city (about 60 miles). 45 of those miles are highway and we use conserve mode once we hit the highway. In over a year of driving there's no noticeable wear effects on front tires. We have 22,000+ miles on the tires and they still look great.

 

[Zoidz]

On the quad, if you are in conserve mode, there has never been any indication from Rivian or any other test reports that shows power is re-applied to the rear automatically. And if it were (which is highly doubtfully) it certainly would not be "instantaneous". The quad uses a mechanical clutch to disengage/engage the rear motors. It might be quick as in a few hundred milliseconds, but not "instantaneous".

IMO, the only significant safety advantage of conserve vs all-purpose mode is in limited traction situations such as rain, snow or ice.

 

[mkg3]

Hi everyone,
I almost never use conserve mode in my R1S (quad, 22s) and always stick to all-purpose on pavement. we all know Conserve eats front tires… but I do have a long road trip coming up and I’m considering using it at least for flat highway stretches where I imagine increased tire wear will be minimal due to constant speed.
But generally speaking, is there a downside from a safety perspective in conserve mode? If I need to do emergency maneuvering, is Rivian’s traction control smart enough to instantaneously send power and traction to the rear wheels even in conserve? Would love to hear thoughts. Got a car full of kids and don’t want to sacrifice safety for a few extra miles of range.

Two comments:

1) Conserve FWD mode only eat tires if used during accelerating and braking (e.g., in city driving, traffic on freeway) for period of time. I have R1S w/22" and now ~12,000 miles. Both front and rear tires are wearing evenly and have driven over 2,500 miles of that on the Conserve mode - only on the freeway road trips. I dont have treadwear measuring tool but I would say it's about 60~70% of original depth. Tires were rotated at 7K miles.

2) From safety perspective, it's no different than any other FWD vehicle when in conserve mode so there is no need to engage the rear on the freeway drive. That said, you need to use common sense, such as adverse weather (heavy rain, snow and so on) to be on AWD.

 

[jeeden]

I think that the "cruise control test" is a good one for conserve mode. That is, if conditions (road type, speed, weather, etc) are such that you wouldn't have a problem setting a traditional cruise control, use conserve mode. If not, it probably isn't ideal to use the conserve mode.

I only use it when I know I'm going to need the extra range to get to a charger or ease my anxiety of getting to a charger. Other than that we are always in all purpose.

To answer the question directly though, Rivian would not allow the implementation of a drive mode that was not "safe" it is simply not the optimal performance of other modes.

 

[SwampNut]

So much FUD here...
1) It's been reasonably well established by now that the excessive tire wear is really only an issue of concern if you're using it for the majority of your driving including "around town" situations. There should not be much concern about increased tire wear when used in steady-state highway driving.
2) Front-wheel drive cars have existed for decades without showing any significantly worse safety record; the R1S should be no worse turning and accelerating than all the minivans on the road. The only material difference would be that the apparent brake bias might be different with only regen on the front tires, but if it's a real emergency you would presumably be using the friction brakes anyway.

Yeah, what this guy said. And I'm in eco mode most of the time.

 

[Supratachophobia]

Hi everyone,
I almost never use conserve mode in my R1S (quad, 22s) and always stick to all-purpose on pavement. we all know Conserve eats front tires… but I do have a long road trip coming up and I’m considering using it at least for flat highway stretches where I imagine increased tire wear will be minimal due to constant speed.
But generally speaking, is there a downside from a safety perspective in conserve mode? If I need to do emergency maneuvering, is Rivian’s traction control smart enough to instantaneously send power and traction to the rear wheels even in conserve? Would love to hear thoughts. Got a car full of kids and don’t want to sacrifice safety for a few extra miles of range.

The only downside of this and Tesla's "chill" mode, would be predictability. If you are expecting the vehicle to behave a certain way (merging on highway comes to mind) and then you are surprised that the mode has changed the driving dynamics significantly.

 

[COdogman]

Last month I was driving in conserve through some REALLY bad rain, like so much coming down the drainage systems on the highways could not keep up so there were spots with large puddles and flooding. It was night time so it was hard to see them ahead of time.

When I hit a couple of the deeper puddles at speed there was some brief hydroplaning until I switched back to all purpose and that didn’t happen again. It was not unsafe IMO - just the same feeling as any other front wheel drive vehicle.

 

[Treebeard]

Hi everyone,
I almost never use conserve mode in my R1S (quad, 22s) and always stick to all-purpose on pavement. we all know Conserve eats front tires… but I do have a long road trip coming up and I’m considering using it at least for flat highway stretches where I imagine increased tire wear will be minimal due to constant speed.
But generally speaking, is there a downside from a safety perspective in conserve mode? If I need to do emergency maneuvering, is Rivian’s traction control smart enough to instantaneously send power and traction to the rear wheels even in conserve? Would love to hear thoughts. Got a car full of kids and don’t want to sacrifice safety for a few extra miles of range.

I use conserve all the time on my R1T, daily drive around town and long distance. It works very well, it reduces power, does not use the rear wheels in any circumstance that I have witnessed, I rotate my tires every 5000 and the wear stays even. The extra mileage is worth it in my world. I also use standard height unless on the interstate.

 

[ironpig]

unnecessary concern.

 

[corb00]

I did an extensive road trip mostly in conserve on quad R1S 20" AT and noticed the suspension much rougher after a while.. I'm suspecting a pressure leak though since none of you seem to notice that.. service appt I guess

 

[Reidski29]

So I am just going to chime in here. Do NOT use conserve mode on icy roads. I almost had a huge crash as a result.

Driving from Escanaba to Marquette on a snowy and icy day I was in conserve mode. A large semi was coming at me on a 2 lane road (this is a desolate area) and I moved over in cruise control. The front right side got caught in some wet snow and I also turned the wheel to exit and get back onto the lane fully centered as I lightly braked. Well, the truck turned 90 degrees to the left violently and immediately. I went into the next lane, I left off the brake, and re corrected (thank GOD no other car coming in the opposite direction and my family wasn't in the vehicle) and then shot back over into the right lane as the bed of the truck passed over my left shoulder and I wound up facing the direction I came.

Afterwards I learned conserve mode switches to front only (knew that and figured who cares tons of other FWD cars) but then the rear wheels do not regen brake. So I believe the front two wheels with the left wheel having grip and the right having ice, just that little bit of reg was enough to make it spin to the left quickly with the reduced traction and leading to my hard learning.

So just use the All Purpose mode or snow mode in any icy conditions.

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