Anyone else completely disappointed that MaxPack battery not available until 2023?

[emoore]

And then if you tow.......

Negative range?

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[tomis916]

Everyone was attracted to Rivian for a different reason so I don't feel the need to convince anyone that my view is the right one.

That said, I'm disappointed. My reservation for a max pack was made in October 2020 and I don't plan on changing it. I want to tow a camper in the Rockies. I could make do with less but I'm not interested.

At this point, I have some IPO stock (with an unrealized gain) and a baseball cap in Forest Green (my reservation color). I have a 2001 Tacoma and it continues to do its thing. I plan on keeping my reservation, but when my Rivian becomes available ("first half of 2023" - whatever that really means), I will take a look at what's out there (from Rivian or otherwise) and decide if I want to take delivery. If they want to raise the price in the meantime, I understand, but I won't necessarily buy either. A large truck with a 4.5' bed was always a bit of a stretch for me.

 

[Monkey]

So what do I do? People keep talking about spending $10k for 100miles of range, but in my opinion, the choice is between spending $80k on a vehicle that isn't exactly what you want, or $90k on a vehicle that is. In many ways, if you know you need the max pack, then buying the large pack is effectively throwing away $80k, not saving $10k.

I've owned an EV that only gets 260-270 miles of range for 6 years. A large-pack R1T with the 20" wheels & off-road tires hits, at best, about 270-280 miles. It's not really any further. And the charging infrastructure is far behind the supercharger network I'm used to.

We already have several day trips we simply can't drive to in the Model S, because the charging options just don't make it practical.

I know the 400 mile range version is a better choice for us, but I don't like being forced to choose between getting the vehicle with less range or risking losing out on the above.

Rivian doesn't have control over #2 (they can't control the tax credits), but they can absolutely control the other 3, by guaranteeing pricing and features to preorder holders. If I knew for certain that those would be stable, then I'd feel a lot better about waiting.

I'm right there with you. Tesla owner for almost 6 years myself since getting an early VIN 2016 Model X P90D. Loved that car but we sold it for a few reasons when we got our Model Y in 2020, one reason being the X just didn't have enough range, especially in winter weather. The Model Y is better, gets about 60 miles further on a 90% charge in real-world usage vs the old model X. New model X, Y, S and 3 all do even better. The Y Handles much better in the cold due to the new heat pump system, but even that falls short in extreme cold. I need to travel distance, haul stuff... I want to go camping and often go to remote locations... So I'm sitting tight. I really like the R1T overall. But it's a no-go for me without the max pack. It needs 300+, really 325+ miles of real world range with couple people in the cab and gear in the bed if I'm going to buy it. This is killing the F-150 Lightning for my consideration as well. 300 miles estimated for the extend range battery on the Lightning isn't going to cut it. As ugly as Cybertruck is, if Tesla can deliver it with the 500+ mile range and other specs they've stated, they have my money.

...I'm probably getting a PowerBoost F-150 rather than the Lightning for my personal truck and I'll wait for the R1T or other to show up with a real-world 350+ miles. The more the better. I get the 265+ miles of the large pack R1T is fine for many customers. It's more than fine for me on the days I'm just driving around town or even on casual road-trips. It's not fine for 1/3 of what I need to do...

I think it sucks they're delaying the max pack. I talked with Rivian CS about this a few days ago. I'm hoping enough max pack customers will lean on them about this and hopefully change their mind. I get it though, the max pack may not be economically viable for them until battery supply issues are addressed. What I got from Rivian CS is that they feel confident that their production will be running pretty well in the second half of '22 that the battery supply will probably be the real bottleneck and not their production ability. It makes sense to prioritize batteries to build large packs so they can ship more trucks. It just sucks having to wait with only a guess as to when it might become a reality.

 

[RideAlong]

Car & Driver had a poll at the end of their recent article on this very subject. 60 % said they would not switch to the smaller pack to get their vehicle sooner. ya , I know , it's a poll , but still..

 

[R1Tr8000]

I'm right there with you. Tesla owner for almost 6 years myself since getting an early VIN 2016 Model X P90D. Loved that car but we sold it for a few reasons when we got our Model Y in 2020, one reason being the X just didn't have enough range, especially in winter weather. The Model Y is better, gets about 60 miles further on a 90% charge in real-world usage vs the old model X. New model X, Y, S and 3 all do even better. The Y Handles much better in the cold due to the new heat pump system, but even that falls short in extreme cold. I need to travel distance, haul stuff... I want to go camping and often go to remote locations... So I'm sitting tight. I really like the R1T overall. But it's a no-go for me without the max pack. It needs 300+, really 325+ miles of real world range with couple people in the cab and gear in the bed if I'm going to buy it. This is killing the F-150 Lightning for my consideration as well. 300 miles estimated for the extend range battery on the Lightning isn't going to cut it. As ugly as Cybertruck is, if Tesla can deliver it with the 500+ mile range and other specs they've stated, they have my money.

...I'm probably getting a PowerBoost F-150 rather than the Lightning for my personal truck and I'll wait for the R1T or other to show up with a real-world 350+ miles. The more the better. I get the 265+ miles of the large pack R1T is fine for many customers. It's more than fine for me on the days I'm just driving around town or even on casual road-trips. It's not fine for 1/3 of what I need to do...

I think it sucks they're delaying the max pack. I talked with Rivian CS about this a few days ago. I'm hoping enough max pack customers will lean on them about this and hopefully change their mind. I get it though, the max pack may not be economically viable for them until battery supply issues are addressed. What I got from Rivian CS is that they feel confident that their production will be running pretty well in the second half of '22 that the battery supply will probably be the real bottleneck and not their production ability. It makes sense to prioritize batteries to build large packs so they can ship more trucks. It just sucks having to wait with only a guess as to when it might become a reality.

I’m totally with you..really can’t state it any better…
As I watched the Rivian website last 2 or 3 yrs..they were really pushing, advertising the Max Pack option and that’s what I need to make the pickup a reasonably viable ‘adventure’ vehicle. Simply cannot get to many locales, then explore roads and jeep trails etc, then have enough left to comfortably get home. And there are not Rivian accessible chargers where I want to be.
I think they are making a mistake; they should start the Max deliveries late this year, say a dozen or 2 a month.
That’s assuming it will actually be ready then (I’m not convinced they have solved whatever issues with it yet).
I too am now looking at other options. ?

 

[cmiller]

we can all sit here and complain about max packs being pushed back, but the fact of the matter is that they can push out more regular pack vehicles and considering they are a start up releasing a totally new product for the first time they will go for what makes them the most money. Is anyone on here going to tell me if they released their first product ever that they will not be focusing on making as much money as possible to be able to keep pushing product out? I do agree that they should not have been pushing people towards the max pack initially if they were not 100% sure they would be able to produce enough vehicles.

 

[IdahoNativeNate]

Disappointed... yes.
Did I put reservations down on other cars now, yes. Can't afford not to do so with these push outs...

I figure the more refundable reservations I make, the more likely they oversupply batteries and push down prices. I can always cancel once I finally get an order put through.

We need auto suppliers to oversupply batteries and vehicles so prices come down.

 

[mweingar]

Not trying to be difficult here but it just makes. The cells they have will go farther when building the large pack. The supply chain was completely disrupted, by your logic Tesla has had years to amass batteries why aren’t they building twice or three times as many Model 3s?
It sucks for sure but I’d imagine Rivian’s goal is to get as many vehicles out the door in 2022 as they can. And since the max pack was always coming later it’s easier to push it out.

Did you bother to check how many cars Tesla shipped in 2021 before making this statement? They almost hit 1 million and were way over expectations. This isn't simply supply chain, it's choices on how to maximize the number of customers they can satisfy while keeping contractual commitments to Amazon for delivery vehicles in my view. Notice that others such as Lucid and Tesla deliver first on the units with the highest margin to maximize profit per unit. I would have expected this from Rivian as well but alas, I was left disappointed.

For those choosing the standard pack over max, I assume you've given up on the notion of towing. The 314 mile range gets cut to about 100 miles when towing per those that have tested this. I can't see the value in this vehicle with a 100 mile range when towing is EXPECTED.

This was a poor outcome and questionable decision process in my view. I will stay on the list with my reservation for a max but I am looking to see what I can find elsewhere through 2022 and may well make a different decision. Unfortunate as I really was hoping for this truck to be out by now with a reasonable battery size. Again, trucks are MEANT for towing. Keep that in mind when looking at these numbers.

For reference, my pre-order was March 8th, 2019. The wait continues...

 

[mweingar]

They must really be hurting for battery packs because I doubt rivian thinks they will have a 100% reservation conversation rate.

Don't forget the 100,000 delivery vehicles they signed up to deliver to Amazon that get in the way of our vehicle deliveries...

 

[GEON]

This is the first I heard that they'd only be building Large Pack R1T in 2022. Really wanted the MaxPack for longer range.

But I do not want to wait another 18 months or longer for my Rivian. I'm very disappointed in Rivian for not getting this information out sooner.

I'm going to take the range hit and go with the Large Pack. If you were holding out for the MaxPack, what have you decided?

My pre-order is July 2019. If I wait for MaxPack, that's 4 years! No thanks. "first half of 2023" means, what, August-September-October 2023?

Yep, I am in the same boat. I changed my config to the large pack and asked if they would reschedule the build date, basically if they told you 2023 it doesn't matter what you pick. I switched back to the max pack. I suppose if I had known that information earlier - I could have chosen the LE.

Very poor communication, but they are always upbeat and nice.

At this rate I have little confidence that that first half of 2023 means deliver before June 2023. That will put me a 3 years.

So your deposit timing seems to have little to do with the date, not sure how they selected people/vehicles.

At this point it will afford me to see what other vehicles are available at that time... it looks like Ford will beat the Max pack delivery timeframe.

 

[nfrank]

My strategy should have been from the beginning to sign up for a Launch edition vehicle and change to max pack when they called asking for payment. When Rivian calls me this month I'll default to changing to a Large pack and try to strong arm them into a Launch edition with the free wheel upgrade. Once they call me later in the year to finalize everything I will make my max pack or not decision.

 

[mweingar]

As a reminder to all regarding Rivian's initial strategy, see below my confirmation email from March 8th, 2019 for my order. Note the commitment to do the MAX pack FIRST...

They lied.

Your Rivian preorder is confirmed. If at any time you decide you'd like to switch models, no need to cancel your order and lose your place in line — when it’s time to configure your vehicle, you’ll be able to switch between the R1T and R1S. Production will begin in 2020. Fully equipped vehicles with the highest performance level and largest battery pack will enter production first. Our 180 kWh and 135 kWh packs will be available at launch with the 105 kWh to follow in 2021. Let the adventure begin. View Details​ Please Note: You can cancel your preorder and receive a full refund at anytime by sending an email to [email protected]. Rivian will execute your refund within 3 business days. Depending on your bank, you may not be able to access the refunded amount for up to 7 days.

 

[orionexp]

Yep, I am in the same boat. I changed my config to the large pack and asked if they would reschedule the build date, basically if they told you 2023 it doesn't matter what you pick. I switched back to the max pack. I suppose if I had known that information earlier - I could have chosen the LE.

Very poor communication, but they are always upbeat and nice.

At this rate I have little confidence that that first half of 2023 means deliver before June 2023. That will put me a 3 years.

So your deposit timing seems to have little to do with the date, not sure how they selected people/vehicles.

At this point it will afford me to see what other vehicles are available at that time... it looks like Ford will beat the Max pack delivery timeframe.

Did a chat with them and told them I changed to Large, they indicated my delivery "date" would be updated sometime this month. If that's not true, I'm in the same boat as you. hoping for this year with the Large. we'll see...

 

[orionexp]

Yep, I am in the same boat. I changed my config to the large pack and asked if they would reschedule the build date, basically if they told you 2023 it doesn't matter what you pick. I switched back to the max pack. I suppose if I had known that information earlier - I could have chosen the LE.

Very poor communication, but they are always upbeat and nice.

At this rate I have little confidence that that first half of 2023 means deliver before June 2023. That will put me a 3 years.

So your deposit timing seems to have little to do with the date, not sure how they selected people/vehicles.

At this point it will afford me to see what other vehicles are available at that time... it looks like Ford will beat the Max pack delivery timeframe.

I'm no expert at all,, but it seems like if you have the Adventure package, and you're ok with large pack, you should change config to large and save it. then see what happens this month when they add delivery date to our accounts. if you're getting it this year, keep it. if not, then switch it back to Max. Just a thought and worth a try. as they always say, you don't lose your place in line.

 

[Riviot]

Please Note: You can cancel your preorder and receive a full refund at anytime

^most important part of that email, bud

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