I wish... Gen 1 get RAN charging for life

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After using EA I hope no manufacturers offer free charging again, unless it’s for about a month to new owners to give them time to get a charger installed at their homes.

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[SANZC02]

After using EA I hope no manufacturers offer free charging again, unless it’s for about a month to new owners to give them time to get a charger installed at their homes.

Biggest issue with EA is not really the free charging it is the small stations.

Even the small Tesla stations are 8 to 12 chargers so they can more easily handle the free charging that they occasionally offer.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

While it would be great to have free RAN charging, I generally frown on free charging offerings. It encourages folks to use public charging instead of home/work L2 charging. It also has folks there charging to 100%. With that said, I think your idea has some good value though. Maybe discount pricing would be something that would be a perk. I am not holding my breath though.

Also on Gen 2...I think we need to wait until they start hitting the roads. While Rivian is touting all these new features and such I still believe this refresh was primarily about reducing costs for them. The Driver + updates are about generating an additional revenue stream. I am fine with my Gen 1...it would be very foolish of Rivian to abandon its current owners.

The price points on the new ones for the same performance is much higher. For comparable performance to the gen 1 quad you are starting at six figures. I may lease one down the road but while my adventurous side wants to go for Tri or Quad my practical side will likely force me to go with dual motor.

 

[CrazyOne]

The moment something is free, there will be a bunch of vehicles hogging all spots. I am fine paying a reasonable amount. Keep it below than gas cost and I am fine. Right now, L3 charging in some/most locations costs more than gas for R1.

 

[thrill]

If OEMs wanted to offer a discounted charging Bennie without making it free (which does have downsides) then pricing it a few cents more than the local price of electrical power would be a good option.

 

[mkhuffman]

The moment something is free, there will be a bunch of vehicles hogging all spots. I am fine paying a reasonable amount. Keep it below than gas cost and I am fine. Right now, L3 charging in some/most locations costs more than gas for R1.

100%.

Free charging sucks. It makes public charging much worse, adding unnecessary congestion and reducing capacity. It is horrible. It should be illegal.

 

[runwithscissors]

100%.

Free charging sucks. It makes public charging much worse, adding unnecessary congestion and reducing capacity. It is horrible. It should be illegal.

It's why I dumped my EA membership and happy to pay Tesla for theirs which is cheaper and much better. EA is packed full of Kia's getting free charging and typically only offer 4 chargers and you're lucky if they are all working. Rivian is supposedly going to offer plug and charge with Tesla membership pricing by the end of the year.

 

[Shawnkaplan00]

What would have been cool was a free T-shirt or hat or something back in the pre-order days. (While we waited a few extra years and I had to drive my ICE Jeep.
I sure do love my Rivian R1T and wouldn’t trade it!

 

[Birdowin]

Rivian never offered autonomous driving on the Gen 1 vehicles. I specifically asked a number of Rivian guides this question and got a definite No on that.

Honestly the only thing that gen 1 owners deserve a response on is the misleading around autonomous capabilities. Now that we know the hardware is incompatible with their software and there’s no plans to adjust that, claims made about further improvements were absolutely false.

 

[WorldComposting]

I'm very mixed on this as a Gen 1 owner that did not get a discounted price. I don't believe Rivian owes us anything especially those who had discounted prices on a vehicle that should have cost $100,000.

Saying that I do feel Rivian should offer an olive branch to those that took the chance and purchased the first gen vehicles. I don't think free RAN is a good idea as some owners are not near chargers so they get zero benefit and others would clog up the chargers near their house.

What I really think they should do is continue the free connectivity service. Especially if the soon price includes autonomous driving features the Gen 1 vehicles won't get.

While there is some cost it is more of a known variable and as the Gen 1 vehicles leave service the cost will continue to drop. They could even make it more strict so it is only for the original owner and not valid if sold.

As I said Rivian doesn't owe us Gen 1 owners anything I think this would be a nice olive branch to those who took a chance and reward those who purchased a vehicle from an new company.

 

[WiredOne]

Since all us Gen1 owners won't be getting all the nice updates that the refresh is getting .. I wish Rivian would give gen1 owners free RAN charging for life. Kind of like what Tesla did with their early owners. I know it won't happen, but a man can dream!

If wishes were fishes... and yes, wouldn't it be nice?

 

[defcon888]

That would be nice. On my way to work I can use 2 of the RAN's (Sacramento and Manteca which I use many times when it was free). Haven't used them since not because I am angry....not at all, because I mainly charge at home or work and there is no need for me to charge at those stations...it was more convenient than anything else.

When we travel to SoCal, we will be using the RAN's on Interstate 5 (last time we traveled that highway, the one in Santa Nella dnd Buttonwillow weren't up).

 

[SwampNut]

it happened MUCH sooner than than anyone reasonably expected.

Eh, no, please don't assume that about all of us. Also, who the hell cares if it's yearly? I've been in tech all my life, much of it is outdates in four months. Whatever, having a new version doesn't make my version less good than when I bought it.

 

[zymolysis]

Since all us Gen1 owners won't be getting all the nice updates that the refresh is getting .. I wish Rivian would give gen1 owners free RAN charging for life. Kind of like what Tesla did with their early owners. I know it won't happen, but a man can dream!

Bad idea. Leads to bad habits and poor utilization of chargers.

 

[elatrickWheels]

RAN charging was free, network-wide, until sometime late last year. It felt like a thank-you from Rivian for waiting patiently for over two years for an early order to be delivered, and it was great while it lasted. It still seems to be free for a while in newly-opened RAN stations. It helps to view something like this as an unearned privilege that’s enjoyable while it lasts, and pleasant to look back on when it’s over.

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