800v Architecture R3 series

[Hereforthesnacks]

Ditto. Too much attention on cells and platform architecture. Charging infrastructure is the third part of equation. 800V and newer cells can only shave 5-10 minutes or so per session under ideal conditions. To truly have the 5-10 minute session times that are starting to roll out in China you’d need the chargers and a grid that can deliver. And without authority of government behind that, not easy to achieve any time soon. Our governing culture can’t even agree on what is fact vs opinion. To get a unity in policy on charging/grid standards?! Good luck.

I don’t know where you are getting your math. How long does it take to fast charge 10-80 on an R1? Let’s simplify it and not go battery by battery. Just average time’ish. 40-45 minutes?

A 100kwHr battery on 800V under good (not ideal, but good) conditions takes about 24 minutes. That’s almost half the time.

This concept of shaving only 5-10 minutes isn’t tied to real world data. Not for the R1 at least.

The 800V charging experience is a lot better. Is it worth focusing on for Rivian? I don’t know. Solid state batteries will be much faster, with better range and lifespan. Rivian is in survival mode, so if they can actually get to solid state before competitors, that’s the way to go and they can skip over 800V.

Regardless, it’s better to have a convo based on real world facts, not fiction.

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[OpalescentIceytea]

I agree that Rivian should eventually make the move over to a 800V system. However, currently the largest charging network in the US, Tesla, only really supports 400v systems(their v4 stalls being the exception). Same for their biggest seller, the Y.

 

[Nixapatfan]

At some point Rivian will need to update to 800v even if they don't think it is worth it, when most of your competition will be marketing 800v and you still want to look like you are an EV front runner you have to keep up with the arms race.

Going to 800v is not some technical breakthrough it is mostly how things are wired up and inverters to support higher voltage in the grand scheme of things it's not a huge undertaking like solid state batteries, on a new design they should be able to accommodate though I don't see that happening for R3 as that will mostly be an R2 with a different body.

 

[BCondrey]

DCFC speed is a big nothingburger for me. Its a very small percentage of my charging. I'd rather have better efficiency / more miles.

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