Rivian Battery Reveal- Sandy Munro Live

[Canthoney]

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[Singletracker]

Very interesting. However, looking at the size of that thing, it‘s hard to imagine what a significantly larger Max Pack would look like. Also, it’s easy to see why there is no Max Pack R1S (shorter wheel base) on the horizon. With advancements in battery technology, I wonder how easy it would be to retrofit or include those new technologies into the current battery pack tray configuration. Would it be a major deal to convert this basic configuration to, say, solid state batteries?

 

[zefram47]

Very interesting. However, looking at the size of that thing, it‘s hard to imagine what a significantly larger Max Pack would look like.

Max pack will just take up the rest of the empty space in front of the rear axle.

 

[electruck]

Max pack will just take up the rest of the empty space in front of the rear axle.

That will get you 2 more modules, so from 9 to 11. Where will the 12th go?

 

[Canthoney]

That will get you 2 more modules, so from 9 to 11. Where will the 12th go?

I seem to recall that the under seat storage in the large pack of these trucks would be filled with batteries in the max pack configuration, I don’t remember where I saw that though.

 

[SASSquatch]

I seem to recall that the under seat storage in the large pack of these trucks would be filled with batteries in the max pack configuration, I don’t remember where I saw that though.

I recall the same. The underseat storage in the rear seat of the R1T (drivers side - passenger is already taken up by subwoofer) will contain a battery module so you will lose that storage.

 

[Autolycus]

That will get you 2 more modules, so from 9 to 11. Where will the 12th go?

Can’t remember where I saw it, but I’ve seen at least one source indicate that the max battery pack will indeed have 11 modules, not 12.

 

[BigE]

Can’t remember where I saw it, but I’ve seen at least one source indicate that the max battery pack will indeed have 11 modules, not 12.
[/QUOTE
I was an original Max pack deposit from 2018...so I think I'm remembering correctly, Rivian initially said it was a 12 module Max pack, Large was 9. Then maybe in 2020 ish, they revised to 11 modules but also stopped sharing kWh pack size.

 

[zefram47]

Can’t remember where I saw it, but I’ve seen at least one source indicate that the max battery pack will indeed have 11 modules, not 12.

I've seen both quoted and nothing since. I hope it's 3 extra modules though as two would only be 30 kWh vs 45 kWh more or roughly a 30 mi difference in range.

 

[Fly YX]

Nice video but was watching some of the other videos and a few of there engineers seem to be jerks. At my last job we had a engineering department towards the end of my career there I was the only one left. The director of operations he was fairly new there at the time wanted me to show him a new piece of automated equipment that we had. He would always argue with me about how it worked. I did not say anything to him. He later asked the Maintenance manager he told him to ask me because I was the one that had a part in designing it and helped put it together. I could never just have a office job I like to get my hands dirty and work on what I designed so the next project will be better then the last. My brother is a electrical engineer we graduated from the same school but I went to a Community college to do industrial maintenance course. He can design it but he would have trouble trying to do anything else. When I get back from Vacation I will post some pictures of our battery packs ”ESS” from our vehicles. We are having problems with one of them. Something to look forward to when I get back ?

 

[Singletracker]

I've seen both quoted and nothing since. I hope it's 3 extra modules though as two would only be 30 kWh vs 45 kWh more or roughly a 30 mi difference in range.

Well, if the Max Pack is supposed to add 30+% more mileage, it’s going to have have 30+% more capacity. Correct? Therefore, it seems that, at 30kWh per module, there would have to be three.

 

[Autolycus]

Well, if the Max Pack is supposed to add 30+% more mileage, it’s going to have have 30+% more capacity. Correct? Therefore, it seems that, at 30kWh per module, there would have to be three.

They've stated "400+" mile range for the max pack R1T. 400/316 (EPA range of the large pack) is 1.266. 11/9 is 1.222. That's not far off. There's always a chance they can somehow eek out 400 miles with 11 modules.

 

[zefram47]

Well, if the Max Pack is supposed to add 30+% more mileage, it’s going to have have 30+% more capacity. Correct? Therefore, it seems that, at 30kWh per module, there would have to be three.

It's been assumed that with Large pack being 135 kWh that Max pack would be 180 kWh, which would be 3x 15 kWh modules. At ~2.3 mi/kWh that would give right about 400 miles of range, assuming 172 kWh usable.

 

[Singletracker]

They've stated "400+" mile range for the max pack R1T. 400/316 (EPA range of the large pack) is 1.266. 11/9 is 1.222. That's not far off. There's always a chance they can somehow eek out 400 miles with 11 modules.

Yeah, I was ball parking it with the 30+% and that was a bit high. Actually, I think the Rivian range estimate on the large pack R1T is 314 miles, which stretches the 11 modules a wee bit more.

FWIW, how about this math? What am I missing?

314 miles/9 modules =34.9 miles per module.

34.9 miles per module x 11 modules = 384 miles.

34.9 miles per module x 12 modules = 419 miles

 

[Autolycus]

Yeah, I was ball parking it with the 30+% and that was a bit high. Actually, I think the Rivian range estimate on the large pack R1T is 314 miles, which stretches the 11 modules a wee bit more.

FWIW, how about this math? What am I missing?

314 miles/9 modules =34.9 miles per module.

34.9 miles per module x 11 modules = 384 miles.

34.9 miles per module x 12 modules = 419 miles

Oh, you're right, I think 316 was for the R1S. Your math is conceptually correct. Off the top of my head, there are a couple ways they can eek extra miles though. One would be to use a fixed buffer in kWh rather than as a percentage of the total battery capacity, thereby actually using a slightly larger percentage of the total pack capacity compared to the large pack.

Another would be to use slightly higher capacity cells in the max pack (i.e. a slightly newer version of the cell chemistry). They would probably cost more per cell, but that $10k premium should easily cover it.

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