Hit right in the charge port

[BooneRiv]

I was in an accident last week while traveling in Georgia. A Silverado failed to yield and hit us, crushing our front-left side right at the charge port. The other driver was very reasonable and has assumed all fault and liability.

I was advised by Rivian not to attempt to charge bc of the damage to the charge port. My R1T is sitting at the Atlanta service center waiting for an adjuster and a tow. It is down to 9% range with no charging resolution in sight. I don’t see any way the truck does not brick while waiting on repairs.

My understanding is that completely draining the high voltage battery will affect my range. Is it reasonable to ask for some sort of compensation or battery replacement bc of this?

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[DaveA]

Sorry this happened, but seriously doubt your battery will be affected by going down to 0% one time, so I wouldn't expect any compensation there.

 

[Riviot]

But seriously, ask them to put the 12v battery on a trickle charger and put the vehicle into shipping mode. These two things should preserve what little energy is left.

 

[COdogman]

As long as the physical integrity of the battery pack wasn’t affected, I don’t think it will damage your battery to sit at 0% while they repair it. They would probably have to disconnect the HV pack anyway… Sorry you have to deal with this at all??‍

 

[SwampNut]

My understanding is that completely draining the high voltage battery will affect my range.

That's incorrect.

 

[Trandall]

My understanding is that storing your HV battery at very low states of charge (0%) for any length of time is bad for the battery and does increase degradation. I would confirm this with Rivian and if true ask that the battery be replaced if it is stored for more than a few (like 2) days at 0%. Understand that battery replacement along with the damage likely results in a totaled truck.
If it doesn't end up totaled anyways I would at a minimum require diminished value claim.
Traffic accidents suck, hope nobody was injured.

 

[BooneRiv]

My understanding is that storing your HV battery at very low states of charge (0%) for any length of time is bad for the battery and does increase degradation. I would confirm this with Rivian and if true ask that the battery be replaced if it is stored for more than a few (like 2) days at 0%. Understand that battery replacement along with the damage likely results in a totaled truck.
If it doesn't end up totaled anyways I would at a minimum require diminished value claim.
Traffic accidents suck, hope nobody was injured.

Thanks for the input everyone. The Rivian approved body shop in my area expects a 1-2 month repair time. My expectation is that the vehicle would sit at 0% for most of this time. Shipping mode with a trickle charger seems like a good option (thanks Riviot!).

 

[Joe Hoffman]

Another option is to plug the car in if you can get a charging cord into it. I know Rivian says don’t do it, but I think it will be pretty obvious whether this is feasible, obviously monitor for a while to ensure nothing adverse happens. I doubt you could damage anything by attempting to charge, either it will work or it won’t.

 

[lefkonj]

Draining the battery down to 0 should have no impact, unless you do it daily. We had the 12v issue almost 2 years ago, drained the main battery as well not issues to report.

 

[KevinS]

How about request a tow-charge to bring the battery up? Worked in “Long Way Up”

 

[VSG]

"Hit right in the charge port" is going to be my new euphemism. For a lot of different things.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

My understanding, after watching the Engineering Explained videos on "how to ruin your battery," is that if your HV battery discharges so low that any of the cells drops to zero voltage, that cell may be irreparably damaged and this may stress other cells.

Hopefully all manufacturers have enough buffer at the bottom so this doesn't happen....

 

[BooneRiv]

My understanding, after watching the Engineering Explained videos on "how to ruin your battery," is that if your HV battery discharges so low that any of the cells drops to zero voltage, that cell may be irreparably damaged and this may stress other cells.

Hopefully all manufacturers have enough buffer at the bottom so this doesn't happen....

Thanks for the input everyone! This Engineering Explained video is what I was thinking about when considering damage to the hv battery if it sat at 0% for a month+.

Luckily for me, the collision center threw caution to the wind and tried charging on their charger yesterday, and it worked!

Although, they’re still not confident that the truck won’t be totaled bc of the number of panels, cameras, sensors, etc that were damaged.

 

[andyboo]

Thanks for the input everyone! This Engineering Explained video is what I was thinking about when considering damage to the hv battery if it sat at 0% for a month+.

Luckily for me, the collision center threw caution to the wind and tried charging on their charger yesterday, and it worked!

Although, they’re still not confident that the truck won’t be totaled bc of the number of panels, cameras, sensors, etc that were damaged.

What was the resolution on the damage and the long term health of the battery?

 

[BooneRiv]

What was the resolution on the damage and the long term health of the battery?

The insurance company ended up totaling the vehicle. I replaced it with a new TriMax. Luckily I had new car replacement on my insurance, so I didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket.

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