Rivian R1T in World’s Toughest Towing Test on Ike Gauntlet [by TFL]

[Max]

I am curious about the range, towing the same thing on flat lands.

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[DanielM]

It's not even a full sized truck (dimension wise) yet it handled the torture test well, better than any other truck so far when it comes to acceleration and brake applications. The range, as expected, is limited when towing over 8K lbs up a 7% grade. Most of us don't need to tow up the Rocky mountains in the winter but if you do, this video is great to tame your expectations.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I’m not surprised by the range decrease. From Boulder to Golden, along 93, is all uphill. But Golden to the Eisenhower tunnel is all up MOUNTAIN. I’m actually a little surprised they made it to Frisco. For those that don’t know, the bottom of the IKE run is 8 miles down from where Eisenhower tunnel ends. That is the town of Silverthorne and Dillon, CO. Frisco, CO is a few more miles west. There are Tesla Superchargers in Silverthorne, but of course they aren’t an option at this time. Also, they are tucked behind a Starbucks. There is next to no room for a truck with a trailer.

It’s kinda amazing to me that something as simple as a trip odometer is missing. I know they can add one in the software. On the surface, that seems like an easy thing to do. So why hasn’t Rivian done so.

Also, it seems to seems to me that that the batteries temperature is the roadblock on fast charging. It would be hugely useful the have a battery temp indicator. Again, something that can be added through software. It’s almost as if Rivian doesn’t want you to know this thing.

The real bad thing, for me, is that my wife was watching this video. Now she’s against me buying a Rivian, even though we rarely tow.

 

[Max]

It's not even a full sized truck (dimension wise) yet it handled the torture test well, better than any other truck so far when it comes to acceleration and brake applications. The range, as expected, is limited when towing over 8K lbs up a 7% grade. Most of us don't need to tow up the Rocky mountains in the winter but if you do, this video is great to tame your expectations.

I wonder if there will be low rolling resistance tires on trailers for EVs to squeeze a few more miles. But it sounds like faster charging and tow friendly stations are the most important thing with the current battery tech.

 

[Max]

The real bad thing, for me, is that my wife was watching this video. Now she’s against me buying a Rivian, even though we rarely tow.

Now you know why Rivian tries to control how much info we have

 

[Doublemfarms]

I haven’t had a chance to watch this video yet but something to keep in mind is that when they test the Ford,GMC and Ram HD diesel trucks with full load on the IKE, they avg under 4 mpg. These are trucks that when driven normally will get from 17-21mpg.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I haven’t had a chance to watch this video yet but something to keep in mind is that when they test the Ford,GMC and Ram HD diesel trucks with full load on the IKE, they avg under 4 mpg. These are trucks that when driven normally will get from 17-21mpg.

Yup, I’ve seen nearly every Super IKE test. The biggest negative is all the time taken in recharging.

 

[COdogman]

Maybe I’m an idiot, but I think this turned out pretty well.

Getting from Boulder to Frisco is impressive to me. That is about as demanding a towing situation as most will find themselves in.

From the west side of the tunnel to Frisco is not all downhill. You have to go back up a hill from Silverthorne to get to Frisco. So gaining 2% between the tunnel and Frisco is pretty good I think. And of course there was charging issues… I feel like that will be the norm. And it was good to see the longer downhill from the tunnel to the office saved some battery. Although the error showing 336 miles when they parked was not good LOL.

The on ramp onto I-70 headed east from Silverthorne is a freaking pain in the a$$. If he hit 60mph in that short merge lane towing 8100 lbs, that is amazing. My Tacoma always struggles with that particular spot (yes, I know they are not exactly known for their acceleration). The way the interchange is designed just doesn’t allow you to build up much speed before having to merge onto the highway.

Will be interested to see how it does with more “normal” towing down in the lowlands.

 

[Joints4Sale]

Many comments have been made about the lack of energy regained before this video came out. I also wondered why they didn't regain more energy via regen. It is mentioned that the brake pedal was not touched during the decent however the brake lights came on as they should when decelerating(most if not all EVs do this). I wonder if the trailer brakes are actually activating when this occurs. That could explain why they didn't recoup more energy along with possible thermal management of the battery. Paying attention to the charging, it appears that the BMS is certainly in its infancy.

@TFLtommy Did the trailer brake stay set at 5 for the entire test?

 

[DanielM]

I haven’t had a chance to watch this video yet but something to keep in mind is that when they test the Ford,GMC and Ram HD diesel trucks with full load on the IKE, they avg under 4 mpg. These are trucks that when driven normally will get from 17-21mpg.

6 to 8 mpg on a Ford 150 ecoboost and V8 Ram Hemi, respectively.

 

[Joints4Sale]

I'm impressed with how the R1T did. A couple of things that I'm thrilled to learn from the video. The receiver looks to be 2 1/2"(most 1/2 ton trucks have 2" receivers) and the trailer brake controller is activated vie the right scroll wheel on the steering wheel.

 

[Grabs10]

Pretty impressive based on cost round trip if you have residential charging. They put in 56 KWH’s at the EA at 31 cents a kwh…. Then pulled back in at the shop with 16%…. So to fill back up to 100% at the shop would take around 115 kwh at there business/residential rate….

really works out to 1/2 the per mile cost or so depending or your residential rate compared to a gas pickup.

if you have to rely solely on DC fast charging for your charging it probably doesn’t pencil out to have electric.

 

[ads75]

The real bad thing, for me, is that my wife was watching this video. Now she’s against me buying a Rivian, even though we rarely tow.

Sounds like your wife wants something to trailer. Let us know if you are getting a camper or a boat!

 

[manitou202]

The DC charging speed is my biggest concern with Rivian. My Audi E-tron (2019) will hold 150kW all the way to 80%. It's battery is 83.5kWh, about 40% smaller than the Rivian. So the Audi charges at a higher speed and has less capacity to refill. There is no excuse for the Rivian to not hold at least 150kWh all the way to 80%. Even without towing, it will turn my 20 minute charging stop in the Audi to almost 40 minutes in the Rivian.

 

[Forager]

Better than Sunday morning cartoons.

I wager that the lack of regen downhill was because the batteries were too hot, which would also explain the low charge rate once the batteries hit 40% SOC at the EA.

Cannot believe they left the trailer connected while charging and blocking most of a drive aisle. Sure the lot isn’t packed full, but it still seems inconsiderate. What if a few more EVs showed up to charge? This seems like glimpse into the near future when more people will be towing EV caravans for summer vacation but when the charging network still isn’t built out to properly accommodate trailering.

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