jaredm
Well-Known Member
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... it all went fine. No problems. 2024 R1T Dual Motor Performance, Canyon Red.
Highlights / TL;DR
Being that I did not plan anything, the Rivian chose all my charging stops. I told it to prefer RANs as I have free referal charging at the moment, and Ionna. I only ever saw 2 Ionnas though, they seem to always be near RANs so the RAN won.
I never thought I'd get to see the Rivian outposts in CA, but thanks to getting laid off, I got to see both on the same trip! They are awesome, and the staff were even awesomer.
Specs/Mods
It's difficult to say what hurt my efficiency the most. So here's a list of everything that hurt it:
Well, one time I had range axiety, but it was (maybe) self-induced? I was leaving Death Valley in the pitch black of night (6pm in Feb
). I was double checking the route, and the RAN I was navigating to said "Offline". I was set to arrive there with like 6%. I panicked, as even that charger was mostly in the middle of nowhere (Shoshone, CA). Needless to say, it said Offline because the truck was offline with no reception, and didn't know the status of the charger. Rivian team, if you're reading this, please improve this UI. Change it from "Offline" to "Unknown" or the some other messaging. It ended up being a nothing burger. Charger was fine (as they all were).
Media
Just a fun drone shot at the end of onion creek. Breath-taking valley. Force it to 4k/60!
Off-road adventures
Moab - I did the onion creek rd (trail?). This is an easy one for our vehicles, I chose it because I was alone and I heard the views were the best. Indeed they were.
Joshua Tree - Old Dale rd. This is even easier, until you hit the last 30% when it gets sketchy. Tight curvy shelf with large rocks to climb. I got about 1/3 of the way into that before heeding the warnings and bailing when crossing the Joshua Tree border. Photos attached.
Bend - I don't recall the trails I did but nothing crazy (again because I was solo), but so many rocks! Beautiful area, and being close, I'll probably come back more frequently to hit them.
Side-note: I hit Old Dale rd on a Thursday (2/19/26). The Rivian outpost there told me the San Bernadino RCA club was going to hit it that Saturday. If I had known, I would have reached out to them and joined them for that. But we can't see all other club chapters on Heylo without an invite. Was tempted to fart around a couple days and ask to join but decided to just go solo and head out of JT before Sat.
Nokian vs Toyo
As mentioned above, I switched from Toyo OpenCountry ATIII EVs after only 2k miles because I tore a sidewall off-roading (thanks to RCA friends helping swap spare!). Those toyos are also hard to find in-stock - I was told, after DT called Toyo, that Toyo was 90-days out from restocking tire shops in my area. So... I had to switch even if I did like the Toyos.
As for comparing these two tires:
I "spent" $1,242.65 total in fast charging, $896 of which was at RANs which I had free from referral bonuses. The majority of the remainder was at Tesla's. I would have preferred Ionnas, just not enough of them in-between RANs I guess. Keep in mind my terrible efficiency. If you have road tires or ST ATs, you'll spend less than I did.
Final thoughts
Highlights / TL;DR
- Portland OR -> Merced, CA -> Groveland (Rivian Outpost) -> Yosemite -> Death Valley -> Moab, UT -> Anaheim, CA -> Joshua Tree (and its Rivian Outpost) -> Sacramento -> Bend, OR -> Portland
- Hit trails in Moab, Joshua Tree and Bend
- Efficiency of 1.85 mi/kWh (yes this is BAD, but read further for details)
- Regardless of efficiency and zero planning, never ran out of charge before a charger. Rivian nav and GMaps are goat
- Hit lowest elevation possible in the US in a vehicle (-275 ft, -282 ft on foot). I'll never break this record again on the R1T, as it'll probably never leave continental US.
- The Rivian Outposts can help score discounts at local hotels. Since I had no plans or reservations, this worked in my favor. I got an insane deal to stay at a Yosemite resort (Rush Creek Lodge). The discounts probably change periodically, so don't expect what I got, or that they'll exist if you go.
- I took my ICECO fridge which I power and store in the bed. It was so cold on some days, that the food inside the fridge froze.
- Rivian says Canyon Red is based on the red rocks from Utah, so of course I am attaching photos so you can compare for yourself.
Being that I did not plan anything, the Rivian chose all my charging stops. I told it to prefer RANs as I have free referal charging at the moment, and Ionna. I only ever saw 2 Ionnas though, they seem to always be near RANs so the RAN won.
I never thought I'd get to see the Rivian outposts in CA, but thanks to getting laid off, I got to see both on the same trip! They are awesome, and the staff were even awesomer.
Specs/Mods
- 2024 (gen 1) R1T Dual Motor Performance, Canyon Red, AT package
- Nokian Outpost nATs, plus spare
- Comma.ai 3X. This drove 99% of the 4,200 miles. I only took over for some of the crazier mountain passes - not because I didn't trust it, but because they're fun to drive. On the whole trip, I had 2 "system fault detected"s that turns off cruise. But it is temporary and minor and I can just re-engage cruise and it's back. These are NOT the same errors Kyle/OOS were having. I have never had those errors, but I installed it using the community recommendations (Lukas' harness), where Kyle and team did not.
- DCE rock sliders. They've definitely paid for themselves, I've banged them up a bunch. That said, a pain to install, and the flat top gets caked with mud. There are options now that have grated/hole patterns which should help let mud fall through, and easier to install.
- Xpel PPF, full-body
- Xpel window tints (70 rears, 45 driver/pass, 70 windshield) - my goal was heat reduction and less-so light reduction. These did the job.
- TWraps Sunroof Protection Film. I cannot recommend this enough. Single best upgrade I've done, and pairs really well with window tints of course. No longer baking in the vehicle in the summer.
- s00nish subwoofer upgrade. The gen 1 elevation system now sounds perfect to me. I don't miss the Tesla's system anymore. I've never heard the Meridian (despite having several loaners, never logged into spotify on them), but I imagine it now beats or matches it. It is glorious
- Some other minor improvements: EVSportline's dash cellphone mount & charger, Adventure High Tech's StowNCharge qi replacement, drawer to replace the camp speaker - forget the brand.
It's difficult to say what hurt my efficiency the most. So here's a list of everything that hurt it:
- Brand new Nokian Outpost nATs. They don't offer an ST or EV version, so these are LTs. 12lbs more per tire than stock pirellis, but can run them 60-65 psi (I tried both, felt about the same). I tried the Toyos everyone loves, I slashed the sidewalls on them on their FIRST trail. At 2k miles.
So, switched to Nokian. - Cold weather (being February, cold even in Cali, NV, UT). Most of this trip was before the recent update showing how much the cold is affecting range, so I don't have specifics. Most of the time, it was around 40F, with the highest I saw at 70F in Death Valley, and many mornings it was below freezing.
- High freeway speeds in NV and UT. Most of my time in UT was at 80-85mph.
- Mountains, mountains everywhere
- Atmospheric storm hit L.A., with winds that went inland all the way to UT - on the day I needed to head back to Cali. So, 80mph into a 30mph headwind. I think I hit 0.99mi/kWh that day, for MANY miles. The wind did not let up until after I hit Joshua Tree and stayed there for the night.
- I ran a fridge in the bed off the 120V there, for most of the 2 week trip. Outlets being on, even with low pull from the ICECO uses a lot of energy.
Well, one time I had range axiety, but it was (maybe) self-induced? I was leaving Death Valley in the pitch black of night (6pm in Feb
). I was double checking the route, and the RAN I was navigating to said "Offline". I was set to arrive there with like 6%. I panicked, as even that charger was mostly in the middle of nowhere (Shoshone, CA). Needless to say, it said Offline because the truck was offline with no reception, and didn't know the status of the charger. Rivian team, if you're reading this, please improve this UI. Change it from "Offline" to "Unknown" or the some other messaging. It ended up being a nothing burger. Charger was fine (as they all were).Media
Just a fun drone shot at the end of onion creek. Breath-taking valley. Force it to 4k/60!
Off-road adventures
Moab - I did the onion creek rd (trail?). This is an easy one for our vehicles, I chose it because I was alone and I heard the views were the best. Indeed they were.
Joshua Tree - Old Dale rd. This is even easier, until you hit the last 30% when it gets sketchy. Tight curvy shelf with large rocks to climb. I got about 1/3 of the way into that before heeding the warnings and bailing when crossing the Joshua Tree border. Photos attached.
Bend - I don't recall the trails I did but nothing crazy (again because I was solo), but so many rocks! Beautiful area, and being close, I'll probably come back more frequently to hit them.
Side-note: I hit Old Dale rd on a Thursday (2/19/26). The Rivian outpost there told me the San Bernadino RCA club was going to hit it that Saturday. If I had known, I would have reached out to them and joined them for that. But we can't see all other club chapters on Heylo without an invite. Was tempted to fart around a couple days and ask to join but decided to just go solo and head out of JT before Sat.
Nokian vs Toyo
As mentioned above, I switched from Toyo OpenCountry ATIII EVs after only 2k miles because I tore a sidewall off-roading (thanks to RCA friends helping swap spare!). Those toyos are also hard to find in-stock - I was told, after DT called Toyo, that Toyo was 90-days out from restocking tire shops in my area. So... I had to switch even if I did like the Toyos.
As for comparing these two tires:
- Nokians hurt efficiency because they are heavy LTs (12lbs more per tire).
- Nokians have kevlar sidewalls or similar (they call it "aramid shield"), so I feel more confident doing trails solo. The Toyos... not so much.
- The Toyos were louder, especially at freeway speeds, and handling felt worse. The Nokians feel so much better to drive on. Quiet, turn nice, chefs kiss. And I can confidently say this after spending 2 weeks driving upwards of 85mph for 8-12 hours per day.
- You can run Nokains at higher PSI. Usually folks do 60-65mph. This can offset some of the efficiency loss. However, it took me ~30 minutes to pump the tires back up from ~30 psi after a trail (not exaggerating). I use the Moorflate tubing system so the rivian pumps them all up at the same time, so mostly just sat around waiting. Can't walk away though as the compressor stops on its own every so often. Roughly every 5 minutes? I didn't time it. I assume it's a safety/over-heating protection thing, but man it is sloooow.
I "spent" $1,242.65 total in fast charging, $896 of which was at RANs which I had free from referral bonuses. The majority of the remainder was at Tesla's. I would have preferred Ionnas, just not enough of them in-between RANs I guess. Keep in mind my terrible efficiency. If you have road tires or ST ATs, you'll spend less than I did.
Final thoughts
- Shout-out to Chad at RivianRoamer for the new ability to group multiple drives into a single trip! Screenshot attached. Unsure why the efficiency isn't known, but the Rivian told me.
- Aluminum hood into massive head-wind is scary. So much flex. I thought it was going to crumple like a taco. But it did fine and no damage.
- TIP: Take a glass-cleaner of some sort, and Scott's glass-cleaner towels. All Ionnas should have squeegees, but don't rely on them
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