Info on why max pack preorder holders "whine"

[jclicky]

if they bitch at you about you not needing the range, then bitch right back that they dont need the offroading capability. 90% of are never going to do more than mall crawl with our R1.

Ha! But seriously, I do wish it didn’t all have to become so tribal. Like I really don’t care if you want an SUV or Truck for pavement only, to each their own…

But it is strange to be accused of being “anxious” about range when it’s literally just a planning exercise: I need XXX miles to go certain places just like @MountainBikeDude said.

And all those situations he described can definitely happen. I’ve also been under similar circumstances in paved areas too for what it’s worth: historic floods in Yosemite Valley that stranded people, cut off electricity, 120 washed out, Tioga pass rockslides, it all can happen even if you restrict your travels to ON-ROAD only.

Shit can & sometimes does go sideways when you’re out, so yah, extra capacity + range for a tree/rockslide situation, bad weather, extreme cold, etc. - but ain’t none of that making the people who settled for large packs chumps or fools, that works just fine for them.

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[MountainBikeDude]

Heh. Good theory in regards to what the folks at Rivian may have meant at the time... But that's not what we were actually told. That said, I think while us Max Pack bag holders are frustrated, this isn't the first new high demand vehicle / EV rodeo for most of us.

I've been a Tesla owner for over 6 years. I'm a truck guy and also quite familiar with the R1T, a friend of mine took delivery of his early this year. I've driven it quite a bit. Initially he was telling me I should skip the Max Pack and just get the large pack. After several months, he says he will most likely be trading up to the max pack or other 400, 500, whatever mileage truck as soon they're available. Cold weather has a significant impact. Can't reach a lot of good trails and camp sites with the large pack. Those who are saying we can just plan our trips a bit better and make adjustments to our trip and charging plans, blah, blah, Max Pack isn't truly necessary, blah, blah... don't get it. Road trips are not my issue. Well, they are if I'm towing a long distance, but still do-able with the planning all the Max Pack naysayers keep pointing out. I want the 400+ mile truck to do the things my Tesla can't do, to go places it can't go. If I'm going to spend $85K on a truck it needs to be able to do truck stuff.

Rivian is selling an off-road adventure lifestyle truck... Too bad, our adventures can't be any further than 140 miles from the nearest charger. Half that if there's a chance of severe weather, sub-zero temperatures or we need to pull a camp trailer, climb trails, etc.. Way less than that if more than one of those factors are at play or we intend to camp. Another 75~100 miles of real-world range would open up another level of usability here. Us Max Pack people are not some edge case or fringe usage scenario. This is what many people do with trucks and off-road vehicles. Rivian has done a tremendous job marketing to our demographic, but they've fallen short on delivering the product.

So I'll just sit on my max pack reservation and see what happens. I'll have my 300-ish mile capable Lightning to be my personal truck in the mean time. If Rivian eventually builds the max pack, then great. If something else comes along in the form of Cybertruck, RAM, whatever that does even better, I'll give it a good look. If I decide I'd rather have a large pack R1T over the Lightning, seems like I can make that happen pretty easy on the 2nd hand market.

Ultimately the two things I'm most frustrated with is not the Max Pack delay itself, but that we had to give up the Launch Edition to select Max Pack. And that my other reservation, an LE reservation, I have I switched it from R1T to R1S a few months ago. But I'm being told the R1S -- even though it's an LE -- won't deliver until July~September of '23!!! I chatted with Rivian to ask what's up with that and they said my scheduling got pushed back in the queue when I switch from R1T to R1S. ...you know, the thing that even their web site says won't happen. Yeah. Best I got was a "we're sorry, but there's been lots of people switching to R1S and parts shortages are causing delays." I can switch back to R1T and probably take delivery early next year. But no, that one is going to stay R1S. My wife wants to trade her Model Y for the R1S. And she's even more all in on that now after we got to check out an R1S this past weekend.

Precisely on the use case.

Up here in Canada Eh! chargers are somewhat plentiful provided you stay close to the US border, as soon as you venture off the Trans Canada Highway, you're in a desert so to speak. Same is true when you go any further east than Calgary.

I like offroading, when I got my Xterra (no not a lesbian) first thing I did was grab my buddies, and went offroading. I've always been of the mindset to have a somewaht or as close to full tank prior to hitting any trail. You never know what will happen, especially in the winter.

All that said, there aren't too many trails that are 450km round trip I would ever likely do, let alone 640km. But as soon as you factor in the trip getting to and from the trail head, yer funked.

Plan ahead crowd would say, "oh but surely there are level 2 chargers in a small town on your way" Cool, but no thanks. most if there are any, are 6.5 kW chargers, and I shouldn't have to add a full day or two in rando town to charge up my truck so I can get to the trail I intended to hit, to then camp, drive back to rando town, stay there another night while I charge, then move on back home.

I look at the Max pack as an investment in time, which it will save me at every charge stop. I can charge to 80% (the max charge rate cut off) at a DCFC and go further than a large pack while still maintaining a high charge rate. Large is 240 @80%, while Max is 320 @80%. Yes I'll still spend technically more time at the charger to hit that 80% threshold, but not much longer given the higher charge rate. Add to that the additional 80 miles (130 Kms) that affords and the max pack is a no brainer especially on long trips.

 

[Riviandog]

I suspect the R1Ts of 2024 will have lots of updates, obvious and non-obvious. Winch, maybe updated front end design, tonneau, phone charger, door flashlight shouldn’t rattle any more, gear tunnel may actually pop open if lightly encrusted with snow, better batteries, better motors, maybe the front camera won’t be ultra-pixelated, etc. Lots of goof]d will come from the delay. "Lots of goof" was a typo but I think I’ll leave it, as it also applies, lol.

If you ordered when you were 35 years old, would you be ok to pick up your dream truck when you're 40? 41?42?... life changes, missed opportunities, for a few vaporware items?

 

[Kevlar]

Last 6months have left me feeling baited and switched. When my journey with Rivian started, they had an idea for an adventure vehicle, and I had a want for an adventure vehicle. I expressed early interest like so many others, in the form of a pre-order from a selection of configurations that Rivian gave me. Since May 2019, Rivian changed their end of the deal for good commercial reasons; they did that. I would buy the vehicle they proposed in 1H19, when I pre-ordered.


Rivian was valued, to some extent, by the number of pre-order holders they attached to the vision. Pre-order holders created momentum for this start up. It's not unfair to be critical of their whittling away at the core premise of the product for pre-order holders.

Their ideation, IPO, customer service and fulfillment has been a great case study. I bet it is hard to be a new automotive company through COVID and Inflation. I still think that materially changing the product is a mistake...don't mess with the early adopters.

Im selling my watercolor print...but holding on for an appropriated priced 400m EV truck, hopefully from Rivian.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

If you ordered when you were 35 years old, would you be ok to pick up your dream truck when you're 40? 41?42?... life changes, missed opportunities, for a few vaporware items?

I was honestly thinking everything was going to align for next year. Found out my wife was pregnant Labor day (Funny I know) with a due date of May the 4th 2023 (ha ha...) my 40th birthday May 17th 2023!

Rivian........ 2024. I literally ordered 2 weeks after I turned 35.

 

[Rivian_Hugh_III]

If you ordered when you were 35 years old, would you be ok to pick up your dream truck when you're 40? 41?42?... life changes, missed opportunities, for a few vaporware items?

It’s a financial stretch for me so I see a further delay as a further opportunity to save and plug away. But I take your point. I ordered 9/‘21. If I were 9/19 I might have a different attitude.

 

[Feetdry]

I would add that I too am legitimately tired of "you don't need the max pack" comments, as non max orders are of hearing us bitch.

Sure I may not need it all the time, but I do need it. Having waited this long, compromising seems like a waste of my time in getting here today. I could have gone LE in November 2020 if I was intent on going that route, but chose not to. I'd also have saved 10K on the lesser battery, but again, doesn't fit my needs.

It's also been frustrating to watch the can kicking a year down the road every time we get within a few months of deliveries commencing. As you pointed out, it adds to our frustration as future owners having waited this long.

I'm likening it to every time I have to take a ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, miss the ferry by a couple cars, only to find the subsequent ferry is cancelled, and now your stuck in a terminal waiting for the next ferry which arrives in 3+ hours. My brother put it well one day "Oh cool, ferries cancelled and I have to wait here for 5 hours for the next one, I'm real pissed, but I'm gonna sit here, wait and be pissed off in my car, cause what else am I gonna do!"

Ferries are "operating" the same way down here in Washington too.

Oh, and I am over a year and a half waiting for the max.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I was honestly thinking everything was going to align for next year. Found out my wife was pregnant Labor day (Funny I know) with a due date of May the 4th 2023 (ha ha...) my 40th birthday May 17th 2023!

Rivian........ 2024. I literally ordered 2 weeks after I turned 35.

I thought pre-orders opened at the end of 2018.

 

[elfordon]

I thought pre-orders opened at the end of 2018.

I think preorders started at the LA Auto Show near the end of Nov 2018. Not sure though.

 

[Riviandog]

I think preorders started at the LA Auto Show near the end of Nov 2018. Not sure though.

Correct.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

I thought pre-orders opened at the end of 2018.

Typo on my part. 36

Feels like longer some days.

 

[Birdowin]

I just wanted the truck so I gave up on the max pack and got my "large battery pack" last July. I have no regrets. At the same time I put in a new preorder for a max pack. Hope they still have a good resale value when the time comes. And of course I will be paying a lot more for it.

 

[Kaz]

I ordered my MAX pack R1T Jan 26th (before the price increase) and I currently have a delivery date set as freaking 2024..... That's just LAME A.F. I feel like Rivian is pushing these back farther and farther to hope people just cancel their orders altogether. So we can change the pack size without losing our spot? I never inquired about it.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I ordered my MAX pack R1T Jan 26th (before the price increase) and I currently have a delivery date set as freaking 2024..... That's just LAME A.F. I feel like Rivian is pushing these back farther and farther to hope people just cancel their orders altogether. So we can change the pack size without losing our spot? I never inquired about it.

No one is getting a max pack quad motor before 2024.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

No one is getting a max pack quad motor before 2024.

It appears you've mistyped 2025

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