Free charging is good.

[McBogey]

Replying to the free charging concept, nothing good ever happens to a free resource as individuals maximize their benefit over the benefit for all and exhaust the resource, a concept known as the tragedy of the commons.

You can see this real life by seeing how VW ID.4 owners who received two years of unlimited free EA charging are more than happy to charge to 100%, start a charge at 70% SoC, and otherwise ruin the experience for others wishing to access EA chargers.

Realizing the foolishness of this, the benefit was changed to unlimited 30 minute charging so now it is abused by unplugging and starting a new session. You can also see it at an L2 charger, someone plugs in all day, charging to 100% and/or not moving the EV when the charge is complete.

So while I would love to charge for free, I accept the need to pay for it in the longer term.

Replying to the free charging concept, nothing good ever happens to a free resource as individuals maximize their benefit over the benefit for all and exhaust the resource, a concept known as the tragedy of the commons.

You can see this real life by seeing how VW ID.4 owners who received two years of unlimited free EA charging are more than happy to charge to 100%, start a charge at 70% SoC, and otherwise ruin the experience for others wishing to access EA chargers.

Realizing the foolishness of this, the benefit was changed to unlimited 30 minute charging so now it is abused by unplugging and starting a new session. You can also see it at an L2 charger, someone plugs in all day, charging to 100% and/or not moving the EV when the charge is complete.

So while I would love to charge for free, I accept the need to pay for it in the longer term.

The Finger Lakes are great, summer and winter. Should put a few RAN stations at the head of each of them, as it’s a great area to adventure in.

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[Brookliner]

Rolled up to a few free Charge Point stations this last Sunday in downtown Boston. Four of six stations were available. Two of them were occupied by PHEVs both of which were indicated as Charge Complete. One had been plugged in for 65 hours and the other for 67 hours. When I went to get my car later that day. All the spots were in use and two cars were waiting. The PHEVs were still there going on 70 hours.

Everywhere I go that offers free charging has this problem. There’s no incentive to leave or cooperate.

Conversely, there’s a Green Spot in Newton Center, MA, that is basically free with a fee equal to the lot’s meter rate. However, if your vehicle’s charge speed slows to a trickle, the fee jumps to $19/hour, charged at the beginning of the hour. No one ever is just hanging out there.

 

[Bee]

So is Rivian going to make this up to us that we're missing all the promised free charging? No way in hell we get L3s in any kind of bulk to get any benefit at this point before they kill the entire thing.

(these are level 1s and 2s from the Rivian website showing RAN chargers)

 

[BCondrey]

It's always a question that I hear, " How much does it cost to "fill it"
1. Shouldn't be " filling it " on a regular basis...
2. From 5% to 70% its around 15-20 dollars at home, going to EA for example it's around 30ish plus dollars.
( roughly 210 miles, depending on how you drive, how many hills, etc. )
I'm sure others experience is different, depends on where you live and how much your power is, mine is 15 cents a KWH off peak, if I charge from 4pm to 9pm it's nearly 50 cents.
I live in Southern California

Ouch. The same charge costs me $9.70 in Virginia at home.

 

[Dark-Fx]

So is Rivian going to make this up to us that we're missing all the promised free charging? No way in hell we get L3s in any kind of bulk to get any benefit at this point before they kill the entire thing.

(these are level 1s and 2s from the Rivian website showing RAN chargers)

No soup for you

 

[WorldComposting]

The Finger Lakes are great, summer and winter. Should put a few RAN stations at the head of each of them, as it’s a great area to adventure in.

Adding some in Pennsylvania would be great as there are no fast chargers (over 100kw) going up 83 from MD to the finger lakes once you pass Harrisburg.

Rolled up to a few free Charge Point stations this last Sunday in downtown Boston. Four of six stations were available. Two of them were occupied by PHEVs both of which were indicated as Charge Complete. One had been plugged in for 65 hours and the other for 67 hours. When I went to get my car later that day. All the spots were in use and two cars were waiting. The PHEVs were still there going on 70 hours.

Everywhere I go that offers free charging has this problem. There’s no incentive to leave or cooperate.

Conversely, there’s a Green Spot in Newton Center, MA, that is basically free with a fee equal to the lot’s meter rate. However, if your vehicle’s charge speed slows to a trickle, the fee jumps to $19/hour, charged at the beginning of the hour. No one ever is just hanging out there.

They can have free charging but need to put high idle fees in place. This would stop a lot of this sitting while not charging!

So is Rivian going to make this up to us that we're missing all the promised free charging? No way in hell we get L3s in any kind of bulk to get any benefit at this point before they kill the entire thing.

(these are level 1s and 2s from the Rivian website showing RAN chargers)

I know and going from the NYC area to Albany there are few actual fast chargers in general. Coming from MD I can make it past NYC but then I might have to wait at the one of two charging areas available unless you want to take a 10+ mile detour just for charging that hopefully works.

 

[corndog]

So is Rivian going to make this up to us that we're missing all the promised free charging? No way in hell we get L3s in any kind of bulk to get any benefit at this point before they kill the entire thing.

(these are level 1s and 2s from the Rivian website showing RAN chargers)

Please post where you saw free charging was promised.
I'm curious.

 

[Brookliner]

So is Rivian going to make this up to us that we're missing all the promised free charging?

I spoke to customer service about this a while ago. She was empathetic but clear, they made no promise of free charging. They said that RAN would be free to Rivian owners for a few a years. Thereafter a charging fee would apply. If I wish to take advantage of this free charging, I’d have to just travel to a RAN charger. Again, she was polite but clear.

 

[Bee]

I spoke to customer service about this a while ago. She was empathetic but clear, they made no promise of free charging. They said that RAN would be free to Rivian owners for a few a years. Thereafter a charging fee would apply. If I wish to take advantage of this free charging, I’d have to just travel to a RAN charger. Again, she was polite but clear.

When do we say, "no, we actually deserve that"?

We've been sold a huge bill of goods where most of it didn't come to fruition. Arbitrarily losing out on the free charging times for being an early adopter because of choice of geographical roll out is peak BS.

They just need to come out and say at some point, "So, we lied and couldn't actually do all these membership things we said we were going to do" instead of just ignoring it and peeling each thing they promised back one by one. We're still suffering the IPO lies, but I guess keeping the old price is enough to not cause a mutiny.

Rivian is seeming more and more like a luxury automaker than a future blue chip similar to the big 3. The R1S isn't an electric Suburban poised to give birth to Tahoes, Blazer and Trax equivalents, they're going to be the American Range Rover. Am I wrong?

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