Brand new R1S is DEAD

[Riv E In]

Just to confirm - the Service Center stated on Friday that "it's the HV battery" and that it needs to be replaced.

I asked what caused this and he said "there are no notes in the system". My understanding is that the Service Center has ordered a new HV battery and are waiting for it to arrive (supposed to be today) and they hope to have the R1S back to me "by mid-week".

I'm going to continue to gently push to get an explanation as to why this happened. I'm lucky I had my phone on me and was near my house.

Side note - I've been singing Rivian's praises and telling everyone how great the car is - now I have egg on my face when they ask about it.

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[azwcat]

Why would you assume he lied? Evidence? You've seen insider data? Tow truck driver may very well just be an anti-EV bigot. Without knowing actual failure rate out of total vehicles delivered today, no one can legitimately claim either way.

A) huge incentive to represent the brand and sugar coat the reality
aa) he also blew off my complaint about the AC compressor vibration and noise - not an issue and totally normal
aaa) I told him the loaner truck I got has a problem with the suspension bc the front drops to the ground overnight. He said that's totally normal, not evidence of a leak, and not an issue too.
B) many stories about Rivian battery failures online
C) not just the tow truck driver that I saw that day, but the tow truck driver that took my Rivian had multiple experiences with dead Rivians

Altogether, I suspect there are way more than 2 battery failures over 2 months servicing the entire state of Arizona.

 

[LeftMySoulinNM]

The same happened to me three weeks ago. Turned out the 400v battery had a bad cell and it killed my 12v. Rivian replaced both the 400v and 12v batteries under warranty. I requested and received a loaner R1S for the two weeks.

Us too! Our R1S was totally dead after a couple days while plugged in and garaged. Ended up towed and replacing 400V battery and 12V battery. They said there was a loose cell as well. We have 10K mi.

 

[R1Thor]

This sucks and it's not the experience you should be having. I'm sorry this happened to you but I'm confident Rivian will make this right.

The 12v batteries are pretty bad unfortunately. There have been a lot of reports of bricked trucks due to defective 12v batteries. The issue has lessened tremendously since the truck launched but still pops up unfortunately.

Rivian really needs to replace these 12v lead acid units with a lithium like Tesla puts in their vehicles. They have more energy density and a much longer service life

You know, given the fact that Optima has even sponsored the likes of the Rebelle Rally and similar events, and seem very familiar with Rivian, and *even have their own R1T*: https://www.optimabatteries.com/experience/blog/rivian-r1t-overlanding

you'd really hope they're developing a nice solid-state, dry-cell Yellow Top or something similar.

From what I can tell, it all comes down to the silly proprietary/custom form factor of the batteries is why we can't just 'drop in' an equivalent AGM from our friendly neighborhood auto parts store. Unless someone has information on how the input/output current/voltage/ conditioning might differ?

That said, as OP has mentioned, it seems like it's NOT the 12V batteries that killed the truck, but the HV battery killed the 12V as it failed. SO... even though this completely stinks, at least Rivian is finding and replacing dud batteries.

 

[TTedP]

Poll time? For the HV failures, are they all the Large/Max or newer Standard/+ packs? or both?

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

You know, given the fact that Optima has even sponsored the likes of the Rebelle Rally and similar events, and seem very familiar with Rivian, and *even have their own R1T*: https://www.optimabatteries.com/experience/blog/rivian-r1t-overlanding

you'd really hope they're developing a nice solid-state, dry-cell Yellow Top or something similar.

From what I can tell, it all comes down to the silly proprietary/custom form factor of the batteries is why we can't just 'drop in' an equivalent AGM from our friendly neighborhood auto parts store. Unless someone has information on how the input/output current/voltage/ conditioning might differ?

That said, as OP has mentioned, it seems like it's NOT the 12V batteries that killed the truck, but the HV battery killed the 12V as it failed. SO... even though this completely stinks, at least Rivian is finding and replacing dud batteries.

I have been always been a big fan of optima. May very well be the HV battery but I have seen errors stating that the HV was failing and it wasn't a HV failure but a faulty 12v causing all the ECUs to go crazy due to voltage drop.

Either way I'm sure Rivian will take care of OP. The large pack is still the most prevalent by far...standard and standard plus are likely large packs with one or two modules disabled by software. Max pack is the same exact design but the cells have a different chemistry.

PS I have also seen a loose wiring harness cause an error like this too. Hopefully OP comes back to let the group know the fix.

 

[Sacagawea]

Picked up my R1S less than two weeks ago. 205 miles on it now. Battery was at 70%. Parked it at kids baseball game tonight. Came back an hour later. It wakes, but when I get in a chime is sounding. The car won’t fully turn on and won’t drive. I get out and get back in. Same thing. Try a reset. Same thing. Then got a CRITICAL BATTERY ISSUE message pop up on the display. Called Rivian and left the car. They tell me I need to leave a key there, so I go back. Now my phone says Replace 12v Battery when I open the app and the car is completely dead. Can’t unlock it or anything. It’s supposedly getting towed tonight to the service center.

I can’t tell you how disappointed and frustrated I am with this happening with a brand new (and very expensive) vehicle.

I got my R1T after waiting 2yrs 9mth 26days. More than some less than others. About two weeks after delivery received notice of an update, my first. Seemed to go well so decided it was ok to continue with my planned trip. Was driving to see family about 350miles away. (Had driven it 100 miles to a charger and back home just to test things out the week before.) I took pictures of the screen when I started to keep track. About 200 miles into the trip I took another picture of the screen and things seemed fine. Then, 100 miles later the screen showed charge at 47%...still. 50miles to home and still at 47%. Next morning went to an appt and 30minutes later still said 47%. Checked on it a few hours later and now the screens (all screens) did not come on. R1T would move forward and back down the driveway but screens stayed black except in park and it still said 47%.
All that time waiting for delivery, only had it 2 weeks and it had to be towed to Service Center. Glitch in the update for my vehicle that wasn't caught before the mass download. Service Center had it for 10 days. Ugh. Now I wait a week after download to go further away from home.

 

[Riv E In]

FWIW I have the Standard+ battery.

Totally unrelated but I prefer my dual motor build to the loaner they gave me. It’s a 2023 Quad with Large pack. It makes a lot of little tick noises (I assume the suspension) and the ride is not as soft (I assume the wheel size). It’s solid black on black, though, which looks nice. All in all with the range difference I’m pleased I went with the dual motor, as I struggled deciding pre-purchase.

Edit: Also, my wireless charging pad works fine. The 2023 Quad doesn’t. Like, not at all. Could never get a charge.

For all the reasons above I highly recommend 24 DM over 23 QM for anyone on the fence.

 

[electruck]

If it makes anyone feel better, in the last 24 hrs, I've seen one Model Y and one Ioniq 5 being hauled away on flat beds.

 

[rpmichelson]

I'm pretty sure the root cause of your problem is the high voltage battery. The 12 volt battery going bad is just the result of the high voltage battery no longer being able to charge it.

However, I do think that using such a tiny 12-volt battery was a design mistake. It is also poor design decision to not have a lower power computer responsible for doors and other standby tasks.

Rivian should have designed the vehicle so that it can go several days or even months without topping off the 12-volt battery, like every ICE vehicle ever made. But that's not what we got. The 12 volt battery can't survive even a day without being topped off from the HV battery.

Can you expand on this? Maybe tell us how the 12V battery is charged from the vehicle batteries. Is the BMS involved? And why do you believe a higher voltage battery is unable to continue to charge a 12V battery? How much lower power computer should the R1 have? What unit of measure?

 

[Riv E In]

Update

So the Service Center told me there’s this great new feature Rivian just rolled out within their app where we can send service messages to one another. Well only problem is it doesn’t work. When I go to the messages in the app there’s no option to send anything and I’m not receiving any messages. I was told to try to uninstall and reinstall the app, but that I would lose the connection to the Rivian (i.e. PAAK). I don’t want to do this because I like checking in on my car - I can see where it is (out in the parking lot versus inside the service center shop), what windows/doors are open, etc. All that to say the bad news is I’m not receiving any updates. The good news, since I kept the iPhone app, is that I can see it was in the shop today and was charging. The battery error message was no longer in the app either. Within the service appointment was the screenshot below. So, all in all, even though I’m in the dark (I could call, I know…but then I’m on hold and they transfer me and the SC is annoyed…), it seems like there’s progress.

More to come…

 

[Riv E In]

UPDATE

The HV battery has been replaced. I’m told it was charged and test driven and everything is fine.

Importantly, when I pressed, I was given NO explanation as to why or how this could happen, nor if I could expect it to happen again. Pretty disconcerting.

On the positive side, I have a new battery and hopefully this was a one and done. The service was fast (tomorrow will be one week from it bricking and getting towed), and the loaner was nice.

Fingers crossed…

 

[Riv E In]

Closing the loop here. Hopefully my sharing this adventure here will help others in the future when it happens to them. Attaching the work order. Vehicle is back in my garage with new batteries. Let’s ride!

 

[NJDevFan30]

Closing the loop here. Hopefully my sharing this adventure here will help others in the future when it happens to them.

Thanks @Riv E In

I stumbled upon your thread as I got the system fault, battery issue, turtle mode errors back on the 7th. I haven't been able to speak with the service center (was abroad the 8th-15th) but got a VM that it was an issue with the contactors and the HV battery pack needed to be replaced. It's hopefully being installed next week as it was supposed to have arrived today.

Any issues since you got your new pack?

 

[Riv E In]

Thanks @Riv E In

I stumbled upon your thread as I got the system fault, battery issue, turtle mode errors back on the 7th. I haven't been able to speak with the service center (was abroad the 8th-15th) but got a VM that it was an issue with the contactors and the HV battery pack needed to be replaced. It's hopefully being installed next week as it was supposed to have arrived today.

Any issues since you got your new pack?

You’re welcome.

No issues at all. Perfect since then.

Oddly I feel better with the new one as it appears to be (bad) luck of the draw - and I assume lightning won’t strike the same place twice!

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