Interview w/ Rivian's Max Koff (Director of Vehicle Dynamics) on The InEVitable podcast by MotorTrend

[BrayBay]

About an 80 minute podcast with Director of Vehicle Dynamics, Max Koff.

I wish I took notes while listening, but off the top of my head here are some interesting little highlights:

• Rivian could not benchmark the R1 vehicles against a single vehicle. They took the pieces from a Land Rover Discovery, Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and Ford F-150 Raptor
• Max Koff took the leap of faith right out of college! Was Employee #5
• Some history about the suspension system
• The opportunities presented with a "software defined vehicle" like new modes and speed of development/tuning

Pretty entertaining segment about the glass roof too.

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[zefram47]

Good one, thanks for posting! Another fun note was that Rivian changed from doing a sports car to the truck in 2015. Turns out the rationale from going from a dual motor originally to the quad motor design was the off-road / overlanding community. So I'm actually the demographic Rivian was going after for the R1T. Max mentioned that they found many folks had an off-roader and an EV, but there wasn't anything on the market that could replace both. In comes the quad motor Rivian! I'm actually trading/selling my off-road built 4Runner and my electric MINI Cooper to get the Rivian.

 

[Jac]

This interview podcast with Rivian’s fifth employee, engineer Max Koff, was easily the most interesting thing I’ve heard from Rivian senior management. The hosts hopped from one interesting question to another interesting question and Koff answered them all with details and insights into Rivian’s thinking. This podcast could not be more different than listening to Rivian Stories hosts’ fawning “interview“ of Tony Caravano. Worth listening to if you are a Rivian fan!

 

[crashmtb]

This interview podcast with Rivian’s fifth employee, engineer Max Koff, was easily the most interesting thing I’ve heard from Rivian senior management. The hosts hopped from one interesting question to another interesting question and Koff answered them all with details and insights into Rivian’s thinking. This podcast could not be more different than listening to Rivian Stories hosts’ fawning “interview“ of Tony Caravano. Worth listening to if you are a Rivian fan!

It’s the difference between writers who have interviewed people for years for published articles asking questions and a super-excited fan asking questions.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

The insight from Max in this podcast during the 10-15 minutes that they actually let him talk is almost worth listening to the other two talk for 68 minutes. He seems very much from the same mold as RJ.

 

[COdogman]

I love the guys at Rivian Stories, but they are more an extension of Rivian‘s PR department than anything resembling objective observers or journalists. To be fair, they aren’t advertising themselves as such… It’s pretty obvious where they are coming from after 30 seconds on the site.

I’ll check this MT interview out though.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

This interview podcast with Rivian’s fifth employee, engineer Max Koff, was easily the most interesting thing I’ve heard from Rivian senior management. The hosts hopped from one interesting question to another interesting question and Koff answered them all with details and insights into Rivian’s thinking. This podcast could not be more different than listening to Rivian Stories hosts’ fawning “interview“ of Tony Caravano. Worth listening to if you are a Rivian fan!

As I said in another thread, I had written Max off as a leftover of the Rivian old guard. I was happily proven wrong by that interview. Max had a great understanding of the vehicles dynamics, shortcomings, as well as advantages in nearly every sense. I wish they had gone further down the technical rabbit hole with him because I find it fascinating, but all in all, well worth the listen/watch.

 

[Guy]

As I said in another thread, I had written Max off as a leftover of the Rivian old guard. I was happily proven wrong by that interview. Max had a great understanding of the vehicles dynamics, shortcomings, as well as advantages in nearly every sense. I wish they had gone further down the technical rabbit hole with him because I find it fascinating, but all in all, well worth the listen/watch.

I plan to listen, just haven’t found the time yet. When you say shortcomings is that related to how the S rides vs the T? If so that would give me hope that further substantive improvements would be coming.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

I love the guys at Rivian Stories, but they are more an extension of Rivian‘s PR department than anything resembling objective observers or journalists. To be fair, they aren’t advertising themselves as such… It’s pretty obvious where they are coming from after 30 seconds on the site.

I’ll check this MT interview out though.

When RS had Tony on following the removal of Max Quad, I was severely disappointment by their exuberance. I get it, don't bite the hand that feeds you. That access to Rivian employees can easily be taken away. But, had any of them had a preorder for a max quad that was years in the wings waiting to see the light of day to be told last minute that "nevermind" I expected a little more cold shoulder rather than getting "Oh my gosh, that's amazing that you are offering a Dual Max instead at nearly the same pricing?" claps all around, "oh and 400v architecture? Oh we didn't need 800V anyway"... more claps all around

 

[COdogman]

When RS had Tony on following the removal of Max Quad, I was severely disappointment by their exuberance. I get it, don't bite the hand that feeds you. That access to Rivian employees can easily be taken away. But, had any of them had a preorder for a max quad that was years in the wings waiting to see the light of day to be told last minute that "nevermind" I expected a little more cold shoulder rather than getting "Oh my gosh, that's amazing that you are offering a Dual Max instead at nearly the same pricing?" claps all around, "oh and 400v architecture? Oh we didn't need 800V anyway"... more claps all around

Exactly. There is a way to respectfully question Rivian in a way that attempts to get answers but still allows you to be a fan. I think almost everyone here are fans too. The difference is most here can also acknowledge the flaws and errors.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

I plan to listen, just haven’t found the time yet. When you say shortcomings is that related to how the S rides vs the T? If so that would give me hope that further substantive improvements would be coming.

I don't recall them touching on dynamics between T and S. More a comparison to Quad and Dual, motor at each wheel vs ABS style traction control and the response rates of each. The did a decent dive into some of Rivians decisions in getting to the quad motor system as well as the hydraulic sway bar tech.

I can't spoil it all, give it a listen!

 

[zefram47]

When RS had Tony on following the removal of Max Quad, I was severely disappointment by their exuberance. I get it, don't bite the hand that feeds you. That access to Rivian employees can easily be taken away. But, had any of them had a preorder for a max quad that was years in the wings waiting to see the light of day to be told last minute that "nevermind" I expected a little more cold shoulder rather than getting "Oh my gosh, that's amazing that you are offering a Dual Max instead at nearly the same pricing?" claps all around, "oh and 400v architecture? Oh we didn't need 800V anyway"... more claps all around

The RS guys have been critical of even offering a max pack for a long time. In various threads they were constantly pushing people to just take a large pack truck.

 

[travbz814]

Interesting comment about the battery maintaining heat while plugged in. Assuming this means it's not set on a charging schedule too. But he's saying that the battery will warm itself, like it is being preconditioned to drive in cold weather. Did I miss interrupt this? Anyone see any success with this?

It's at the 1:06:00 mark in the conversation. Link to that time stamp:

 

[Jac]

… and interesting discussion about the glass roof in warm climates.

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