Colorado Checking In

[waitingonanr1s]

I was going the opposite way back to Boulder. We have a place in Tabernash and was just trying to time when we should leave. That didn’t work out so well quite the epic drive didn’t get home until the next day. I have to say the R1S was amazing. I didn’t have to charge it was cold the cabin was warm the windows didn’t fog. Awesome car. I did slip a bit though in the stock AT 20’s compared to my Tesla S I had before this car. I might just look at getting some snow tires.

Yeah, I got lucky. Timed it before the wind got crazy. I had my first loss of traction today trying to pull out of the red light at the Fraser Safeway onto 40 - been super windy all day. No big deal, but definitely squirrely. Still haven't had any other traction loss events, but will take it easy on the way home with all the wind.

I have to be back in Denver by 2 tomorrow, and Berthoud is still closed, and another windy day predicted tomorrow. Think I'm going to leave here by 6 to try and get out there before traffic gets too crazy tomorrow.

Fun day today on the mountain - windy and temp fell from 15 at 8 to 0 by noon though. It dumped last night - got some nice knee deep turns in early. Spent 45 minutes after unburying the R1S and the driveway, lol. I'm exhausted.

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[Jayburgess89]

I ended up putting some snow tires on today. Going to sell the AT tires since I also recently bought some 21’s for the rest of the year. They are currently getting powder coated.

 

[Aardvark]

Yeah, I got lucky. Timed it before the wind got crazy. I had my first loss of traction today trying to pull out of the red light at the Fraser Safeway onto 40 - been super windy all day. No big deal, but definitely squirrely. Still haven't had any other traction loss events, but will take it easy on the way home with all the wind.

I have to be back in Denver by 2 tomorrow, and Berthoud is still closed, and another windy day predicted tomorrow. Think I'm going to leave here by 6 to try and get out there before traffic gets too crazy tomorrow.

Fun day today on the mountain - windy and temp fell from 15 at 8 to 0 by noon though. It dumped last night - got some nice knee deep turns in early. Spent 45 minutes after unburying the R1S and the driveway, lol. I'm exhausted.

After seeing your photos, I'd be interested in hearing how your drive back to Denver went. It looks like you're on the stock 20" ATs, correct?
Hope you had a safe and uneventful trip home.

 

[waitingonanr1s]

After seeing your photos, I'd be interested in hearing how your drive back to Denver went. It looks like you're on the stock 20" ATs, correct?
Hope you had a safe and uneventful trip home.

Smooth sailing, just lots of traffic. Lowest temp I saw was -24 just before Granby. Road from Granby to Kremmling was snowpacked, but very grippy and I had no issues. Stopped in Kremmling to charge - no issues with the supercharger at -20 degrees. Ramped up to 140ish kw quickly, topping out at 149 kw as normal for a supercharger.

9 from Kremmling to Silverthorne, also snowpacked, but looked as if it had taken wind. I had one tight descending corner where the back got a little squirrely - but traction control took care of it. Speeds were not fast though 20-50 mph the whole way in. I probably would have taken it 30-50, but definitely wasn't comfortable passing on the variable surface - would have wanted winter tires for that.

Up to the tunnel was just sloppy, but no issues with traction (only trucks without chains and passenger vehicles with inadequate tires were having issues, 99% were cruising along at an off and on 5-10 mph, lol). Then just off and on blowing snow areas from there to Genessee.

Took a total of 6.5 hours, including the half hour charging stop - 3 hrs from WP to Silverthorne, 1.5 hours from Silverhtorne to the tunnel, and then, 2 from there into Denver. Berthoud is still not open as of 2 pm.

I'm still very happy with the snow performance on the AT's. Best snow vehicle I've ever owned by far. It's really enjoyable to drive in anything but iced over snowpack, and still handles it fine with the AT's as long as you temper your speed expectations accordingly.

 

[DTown3011]

Smooth sailing, just lots of traffic. Lowest temp I saw was -24 just before Granby. Road from Granby to Kremmling was snowpacked, but very grippy and I had no issues. Stopped in Kremmling to charge - no issues with the supercharger at -20 degrees. Ramped up to 140ish kw quickly, topping out at 149 kw as normal for a supercharger.

9 from Kremmling to Silverthorne, also snowpacked, but looked as if it had taken wind. I had one tight descending corner where the back got a little squirrely - but traction control took care of it. Speeds were not fast though 20-50 mph the whole way in. I probably would have taken it 30-50, but definitely wasn't comfortable passing on the variable surface - would have wanted winter tires for that.

Up to the tunnel was just sloppy, but no issues with traction (only trucks without chains and passenger vehicles with inadequate tires were having issues, 99% were cruising along at an off and on 5-10 mph, lol). Then just off and on blowing snow areas from there to Genessee.

Took a total of 6.5 hours, including the half hour charging stop - 3 hrs from WP to Silverthorne, 1.5 hours from Silverhtorne to the tunnel, and then, 2 from there into Denver. Berthoud is still not open as of 2 pm.

I'm still very happy with the snow performance on the AT's. Best snow vehicle I've ever owned by far. It's really enjoyable to drive in anything but iced over snowpack, and still handles it fine with the AT's as long as you temper your speed expectations accordingly.

Wait until you put snow tires on it (if you ever do). I drive it like it's July and have had absolutely zero slipping, it gives me confidence like no other and Snow Mode really is great as it tempers the acceleration and regen brakes. This vehicle is by far the best in snow that I have driven - we also have a Ford Explorer on snow tires and it blows that out of the water.

 

[zefram47]

Wait until you put snow tires on it (if you ever do). I drive it like it's July and have had absolutely zero slipping, it gives me confidence like no other and Snow Mode really is great as it tempers the acceleration and regen brakes. This vehicle is by far the best in snow that I have driven - we also have a Ford Explorer on snow tires and it blows that out of the water.

Find a safe parking lot to play in and either snow mode with stability/traction off or play with Rally/Drift mode. Even on snow tires it's a donut machine (allegedly)! We may not have tank turn, but it's still quite good with the quad. In any case, I agree. As long as you don't drive like a gorilla the truck behaves very well on snow tires.

 

[DTown3011]

Find a safe parking lot to play in and either snow mode with stability/traction off or play with Rally/Drift mode. Even on snow tires it's a donut machine (allegedly)! We may not have tank turn, but it's still quite good with the quad. In any case, I agree. As long as you don't drive like a gorilla the truck behaves very well on snow tires.

I may or I may not have partaken in the Mary Jane parking lot....nobody saw anything....

 

[obababoy]

I made my first road trip in the R1T and first EV road trip during snowy MLK weekend. Our family went to Park City Utah for some skiiing. We took the R1t and our friends took their Tesla Y. Going out was a shit show.
Weather was not great leaving Friday and going over Eisenhower was a mess. We also opted to take 40 and by the time we got to rabbit ears pass visibility was about 15ft.
Mostly conserve mode the whole trip

TL;DR: Winter road trips without redundant charging infra is stressful. Rivian and potentially my driving exceeded estimates EVERY time regardless of mountain passes or temps. Charging station between Evanston and Rawlins needs to happen before I do hwy80 again (esp going west). Although the Tesla charged "faster" their range in this weather was always below estimate and we actually beat them home. R1T was a fantastic vehicle to drive for 10+ hours.

There:
1. 100% before we left Ken Caryl (SW littleton).
2. Steamboat Kum&Go: Charged without issue. Snowy roads and 20degrees
3. Dinosaur CO: One station dead and other only charging at 47kwh. After charging for an hour we got news that they closed 40 in utah at strawberry resevoir. so ~3hours just turned into 6.5.
4. Went from Dino to Green River and spent the night.
5. Springville UT(south provo): EA there was great, needed just 20 minutes to make it to park city.

And back again:
1. Charging in park city is ALL level 1, but several were free. I dropped off at park city hospital and charged over night. Snow was AMAZING but lots of closures due to avalanches.
2. Park City to Evanston WY: -1 outside! Originally said I would have 12 miles left but arrived with 35! (conserve mode and never broke speed limit).
3. Evanston to Rawlins: Holy cow was it initially super stressful. trip planner said we would arrive with 19 miles, but as we stayed around 70mph in the beginning I arrived with 55 miles left! Our buddies in the tesla said they would arrive with 110miles and they only had 25 when they arrived.
4. Rawlins WY to Wellington CO charger: CRAZY winds but the truck drove amazing and again I exceeded the estimate by a decent amount.

 

[zefram47]

Weather was not great leaving Friday and going over Eisenhower was a mess. We also opted to take 40 and by the time we got to rabbit ears pass visibility was about 15ft.
Mostly conserve mode the whole trip

Just in case you weren't aware...conserve mode is FWD only. Highly recommend snow mode in the snow, which will always be AWD/4WD.

 

[obababoy]

Just in case you weren't aware...conserve mode is FWD only. Highly recommend snow mode in the snow, which will always be AWD/4WD.

Thank you. Yes whenever there was snow on the road I was in snow mode.

 

[DTown3011]

Can anyone fill me in on the 10 chargers at A-Basin, especially weekend availability? I'm not so concerned about charging, but more parking in general and cost. It looks like you pay for charging, but parking is free - otherwise would be $20 on weekends without 3+ in the vehicle. Do they typically fill quickly on weekends? I assume they do - at Eldora, the spots are usually gone by 7:45am. Just wondering how much I can count on charging if we leave the Denver area by 5am-ish on a ski weekend day.

 

[DTown3011]

Can anyone fill me in on the 10 chargers at A-Basin, especially weekend availability? I'm not so concerned about charging, but more parking in general and cost. It looks like you pay for charging, but parking is free - otherwise would be $20 on weekends without 3+ in the vehicle. Do they typically fill quickly on weekends? I assume they do - at Eldora, the spots are usually gone by 7:45am. Just wondering how much I can count on charging if we leave the Denver area by 5am-ish on a ski weekend day.

Did some reseach - honestly, don't need the EV chargers at A-Basin. At $0.35/kwh + idle fees up to $30 I am better off charging at home for $0.15-0.19/kwh (TOU rates) with solar and parking somewhere else.

 

[hunterj]

i went to a basin two weeks ago on a weekday, arrived around 9am and had no issues finding a charger. no parking fees and iirc there were no charging fees either.

 

[DTown3011]

i went to a basin two weeks ago on a weekday, arrived around 9am and had no issues finding a charger. no parking fees and iirc there were no charging fees either.

Weekends work a bit different, it’s $20 for the early riser lot unless you have 3 people but free for EVs but you pay $0.35/kwh and then an overstay fee after 4 hours.

Electricity Usage Fee: $0.35/kWh. Overstay Fee: $5/hour after 4 hours. Total charges capped at $30. Weekend parking fee: Waived!

 

[Andystroh]

Weekends work a bit different, it’s $20 for the early riser lot unless you have 3 people but free for EVs but you pay $0.35/kwh and then an overstay fee after 4 hours.

Electricity Usage Fee: $0.35/kWh. Overstay Fee: $5/hour after 4 hours. Total charges capped at $30. Weekend parking fee: Waived!

I am pretty sure they will let you in to the early riser lot as an EV even if you don't charge, but they may have always assumed I was charging anyway.

Doesn't help if you are an Ikon passholder, but Arapahoe Basin passholders get charging for free, you can set it up in the chargepoint app/a basin account.

On the weekends they are often filling by 9:00AM in midseason.

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