Fast Road Trips with Max Pack?

[mpshizzle]

That really helps. I didn't realize the batteries were that close in size. Doesn't really seem worth it. After looking in to it more though it seems like the better efficiency of the gen 2 dual motor might make it worth it over the gen 1 quad motor. It seems like the dual motor gets a decent better efficiency.

It does! Not a HUGE difference, but it's decent. I see you're in Utah so I'll get specific here based on what I see on my daily commute - in my '25 R1S dual performance max I get 2-2.5 on I-15 between Lehi and Sandy (over the point of the mountain). Doing the same stretch in a Gen 1 quad I have seen more like 1.8-2.2. (This is my following Utah's... uhm... fast flow of traffic)

Every couple of weeks I'll drive up to Brigham City and usually average 2.4 on that drive

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[mudito]

Excellent insight and I’m going to try this. On my Phx-SD trip I avoided one Tesla SC stop because it’s always a shit show there. I made it to Dateland with 10%. Not quite your balls of steel with 2% lol

I do mostly Tesla SC and had no issues. I normally have a 'plan b' mid way between my current location and charge destination. If while heading over, the wind picks up or something goes sideways I can always slow-down and make it to my destination or use that extra PlanB stop and carry on. I had to use my plan B only once because my right foot got heavier

But I did over 7k miles of road trips already in less than a year, So I got pretty good at calculating my range

One of many examples (and it was in the middle of nowhere)

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Thing is you won't be getting 410 miles of range at road trip speeds, so probably not worth an upgrade if all you're looking for is noticably better charge speeds and range. In the real world, your overall experience will likely not be too much different than what you already have.

 

[Lamp]

As others have said, it's a 10kwh difference.

I'd plan the routes you plan to take in A Better Route Planner. Plan the routes both with your G1 Large battery and the G2 Max Pack. I think you'll see that you'll have more or less the same stops and very similar charging times.

I did something similar when buying my G2 R1S. I was comparing standard pack and the new (smaller) large pack. For most of my planned road trips there was little to no difference in number of stops and times at each stop -- so I saved myself a lot of money and got the standard pack.

The advantage of having a larger battery benefits you the most for the initial leg of your trip.

I've found ABRP to be very accurate in its estimates.

Do you know if ABRP takes in to account the charging curves of vehicles or does it just assume a straight average charge time? It seems like it just uses an average charging speed regardless of whether you are charging from 10-60% or 10-90%.

 

[2kwik4u]

Also keeping in mind that charger placement is a big component - if you need to charge at 25% battery because that’s where charging is available, that larger pack is not going to make a significant difference.

This is a REALLY good point.

In theory, I can make the trip from Buffalo to Louisville (a trip I take often, and looked at heavily in my purchase planning) in a single stop. It's 533 mi, and I can get ~300mi from my G1 dual/large setup. HOWEVER, that takes me from 100-5% to get 300mi. SO, I would have to have a charging stop right at the edge of that distance, and a good destination charger. The truth of the matter though, is that 3 stops is faster. I stop in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Each time for just about 20-25min, then move along. If I try to push it, then I risk running to zero where there isn't a charger nearby AND then I would have to sit and wait for 60-75min to fully charge back up to 100% to make it there in a single final leg.

Charging just isn't ubiquitous enough yet to make those LONG legs likes that happen. There are a few EV's (like the Sierra/Silverado) that can do absurdly long legs, and then actually charge back at 300+kW to make a road trip work "like it used to", but in general, Rivians need to charger hop due to smaller batteries and slower charging in general.

 

[Budman]

Anyone have quick links to the charging curve differences between the G1 large packs and the G2 Max packs?

As best I can remember there is only a 10kWh difference between them (G1 Large = 131kWh, G2 Max = 141kWh). If that's the case I'm not sure how much time would be saved overall, however I can see the added sense of security being a nice benefit.

Plus getting a new vehicle is always fun.

I have owned both the Gen 1 large pack and the Gen 2 Max pack. They add equivalent amounts of energy in a given amount of time as the chart below shows.

i have kept detailed charging records on my road trips and can also say my experiences have been the same with electrify America and superchargers.

 

[PaythePiper]

I do mostly Tesla SC and had no issues. I normally have a 'plan b' mid way between my current location and charge destination. If while heading over, the wind picks up or something goes sideways I can always slow-down and make it to my destination or use that extra PlanB stop and carry on. I had to use my plan B only once because my right foot got heavier

But I did over 7k miles of road trips already in less than a year, So I got pretty good at calculating my range

One of many examples (and it was in the middle of nowhere)

We love the Tesla SCs as well. But that el centro one sucks so we skip it. On the last trip as we were passing it on the I-8, sure enough full and having a Rivian take 2 spots? No bueno.

 

[Megaman0025]

I have a gen 1 R1T with a large pack that I've owned for 2.5 years. We do alot of weekend road trips to go camping that are 3+ hours from home. The longer drive times with charging isn't terrible but is a little annoying. We also struggle with driving to remote places and will be anxious about having enough charge to last the weekend and get back to a charger. I'm considering upgrading to the Gen 2 Max pack R1T for that reason. Part of my logic is that road trips will be a decent amount quicker. On the way there we will probably trim our two charging stops down to one by leaving home with a 100% charge with the max battery. General road trip charging should be alot quicker too since a larger part of the battery will be charging in the faster charging range of 0-75% before the charging speed drops off. For example, I can charge quickly to 315 miles of range with the max pack(75% x 420) as opposed to 214 with the large pack (75% x 285).
Can you guys help check my logic on the faster road trip times?

Are you towing? I’m confused about why you need to charge twice on the way to camping for a 3 hour road trip?

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