my R1S charging nightmare

[DevSecOps]

That sucks…but that’s basically “owner ignorance” and nobody’s fault but your own. It’s well known at this point that Rivian loses approx 1-2% per day (assuming “normal”) and that you shouldn’t be draining your battery down to ~10% (unless you are a YouTuber conducting testing - with a backup plan).

Well known to who? The people who frequent the forums?

You assume everyone who owns a Rivian participates here? There's likely thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people who buy a Rivian and never come on the forums. How do you suppose they "know"? Ignorance is not a failure to participate on a forum, especially when the owners manual says that leaving it for "extended periods" will cause drain. This guy left it for 1 night...

It's quite evident by the OPs post count, and the fact that his previous EV didn't behave in the same manner, that it wasn't ignorance. He admitted that now, after posting, he knows not to do that again. He learned, but people shouldn't have to get stranded or frequent forums to learn. Rivian and other EV mfgs needs to do better.

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[sub]

Well known to who? The people who frequent the forums?

You assume everyone who owns a Rivian participates here? There's likely thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people who buy a Rivian and never come on the forums. How do you suppose they "know"? Ignorance is not a failure to participate on a forum, especially when the owners manual says that leaving it for "extended periods" will cause drain. This guy left it for 1 night...

It's quite evident by the OPs post count, and the fact that his previous EV didn't behave in the same manner, that it wasn't ignorance. He admitted that now, after posting, he knows not to do that again. He learned, but people shouldn't have to get stranded or frequent forums to learn. Rivian and other EV mfgs needs to do better.

It is well known to anyone who reads the error/warning messages on the dashboard.

When the battery is as low as the OP's was, as soon as you put it into park a message pops up on the screen warning that the vehicle needs to be plugged in ASAP or bad things will happen.

 

[DevSecOps]

It is well known to anyone who reads the error/warning messages on the dashboard.

When the battery is as low as the OP's was, as soon as you put it into park a message pops up on the screen warning that the vehicle needs to be plugged in ASAP or bad things will happen.

While I agree that there's a message, it doesn't imply anywhere, including the owners manual that leaving it over night will brick the truck. I think most people would assume it's just like a low fuel warning on an ice vehicle.

Why is everyone so opposed to manufacturers making their EVs better? I love my R1T but I'm not gonna defend bad strategies. They can do better. Put the truck to sleep and prevent drain in low SOC circumstances. Or change the message so it clearly states their truck will be bricked (unlikely).

Blaming the user for not visiting a forum is not a good look. It's not working out so well for 23 and Me.

 

[VSG]

No one's *opposed* to better user experience. But I for one am opposed to people blaming Rivian for their own mis-steps.

My Rivian gives me multiple warnings at various different levels when my battery gets low. It gets pretty annoying too.

With every ICE I've ever owned, I recognize that I don't initially know exactly what the low gas level warning light means - I realize I have to learn, so subsequently, when I'm in a new ICE and get the warning light I fill up RIGHT AWAY. But as time goes on I learn how far below the "empty" line I can go, and how many miles I can safely travel after I get the warning light.

It's the same with a new Rivian; when you get the warning, don't ignore it. If you think you know better, then you're the one to blame if it runs out of energy. In time you will learn how accurate the range estimate is and how low you can go without worrying about a charge. Still, if you push it and run out of charge, you only have yourself to blame.

I freely admit that I have run out of gas on two occasions in my life. The first was when I was a dumb teenager and didn't think to look at or pay attention to the gas gauge when I was driving my parent's car. The second time was thirty years later when I was trying to make it to the "cheap" gas station and ran out about a mile away. Both times were my fault - I didn't for one moment even think about blaming Toyota for my problems.

We all own cell phone don't we? Would you even think about leaving your cell phone on overnight with only ~3% charge then assuming you can use it in the morning?

No. We've all learned that if you want your cell phone to work, you will charge it when you can - ESPECIALLY overnight so that you will have 100% charge in the morning. I don't know what the plan was here -maybe visit a charger first thing in the morning and wait around for 45 minutes after leaving the marina? Why would you do that?

You have to think differently about fueling when driving an EV. A person who already owns an EV should know that. And a person who doesn't already own an EV shouldn't assume that they know everything.

Really, I can sympathize with the OP, because I DO NOT want that to happen to me. Which is why I take the time to learn and plan so I don't have to worry about that. And I am not so arrogant to assume that I know everything there is to know about EVs.

 

[supernu8]

This may have been avoidable and not a "true nightmare" for the OP, but this is definitely an issue Rivian should resolve. Rj has stated a large portion of R1 customers are new to EVs and new EV owners aren't always going to make the best decisions. If you run out of gas in an ICE you can recover by refilling it, a new EV customer may expect a similar response.

I would love to see them harden the systems so that a "recently dead" R1 can be plugged in (L2 minimum) to initiate charging and revive itself without requiring a trip to the service center. This is especially important with vampire drain - I would like to know that in an emergency if I have to leave my truck where it is without ability to plug in; It may be dead when I return but I could tow it to an outlet and plug it in to recharge.

 

[FooF]

This may have been avoidable and not a "true nightmare" for the OP, but this is definitely an issue Rivian should resolve. Rj has stated a large portion of R1 customers are new to EVs and new EV owners aren't always going to make the best decisions. If you run out of gas in an ICE you can recover by refilling it, a new EV customer may expect a similar response.

I would love to see them harden the systems so that a "recently dead" R1 can be plugged in (L2 minimum) to initiate charging and revive itself without requiring a trip to the service center. This is especially important with vampire drain - I would like to know that in an emergency if I have to leave my truck where it is without ability to plug in; It may be dead when I return but I could tow it to an outlet and plug it in to recharge.

Why L2 minimum? L1 takes a long time but is the only option sometimes and easier to find a regular outlet to use with mobile charger.

 

[supernu8]

Why L2 minimum? L1 takes a long time but is the only option sometimes and easier to find a regular outlet to use with mobile charger.

No particular reason. L1 would be good for flexibility so I'd welcome it as an option.

Although at L1 amperage it might take a full day to get enough to boot up the system. /s

 

[sub]

While I agree that there's a message, it doesn't imply anywhere, including the owners manual that leaving it over night will brick the truck. I think most people would assume it's just like a low fuel warning on an ice vehicle.

Why is everyone so opposed to manufacturers making their EVs better? I love my R1T but I'm not gonna defend bad strategies. They can do better. Put the truck to sleep and prevent drain in low SOC circumstances. Or change the message so it clearly states their truck will be bricked (unlikely).

Blaming the user for not visiting a forum is not a good look. It's not working out so well for 23 and Me.

I'm sticking to my assertion that Rivian provides adequate warning and that the OP has no one to blame but himself for waking up to a completely dead HV battery.

But I agree that Rivian should do better at dealing with an out of fuel situation. Recovering from an out of fuel situation should not require a Rivian certified mechanic.

The charge port door should automatically unlock/open when there is no 12 volt power, and the on board charger (L1 /L2) should be capable of powering itself from the charging cable so that even with a completely dead 12 volt and HV battery it can revive the vehicle.

There should also be an easy way to easily attach an external 12 volt power supply and doing so should fully restore all functions that do not require higher voltages to function.

And the vehicle should not completely drain 12 volt battery so quickly when the high voltage battery is dead. If increasing the 12v battery capacity enough that it can last several days without being topped off by the HV battery isn't feasible, Rivian should automatically go into a power conserve mode where all functions not essential to recovery are disabled when the HV battery is dead. Power down the computers, leave the doors unlocked, and reserve the remaining power for releasing the parking brake when it's time to tow and for keeping charging systems operational.

 

[Riviot]

it doesn't imply anywhere, including the owners manual that leaving it over night will brick the truck.

Ummm, yes it does...

For the record, I agree this SHOULDN'T be something owners have to do, and that a 12V jump and/or L2 charge should remedy easily without Rivian involvement.

What IS implied, however, is the OP's either intelligence to accrue enough wealth to afford a "My Rivian died at the marina whilst I enjoyed my yacht overnight" post, or the wealth to simply pay Rivian to deal with it.

 

[DevSecOps]

Ummm, yes it does...

For the record, I agree this SHOULDN'T be something owners have to do, and that a 12V jump and/or L2 charge should remedy easily without Rivian involvement.

What IS implied, however, is the OP's either intelligence to accrue enough wealth to afford a "My Rivian died at the marina whilst I enjoyed my yacht overnight" post, or the wealth to simply pay Rivian to deal with it.

I suggest you read what I said in various posts. I quoted that section of the owners manual myself but said that I don't know a single person on earth who thinks overnight = "extended time".

The OP left the vehicle overnight and it bricked. I'm also very opposed to judging someone's intelligence or wealth. That's none of my business and shouldn't even be part of the conversation.

 

[rpo]

Bolt = Dumb EV
Rivian/Tesla = Smart EV (which means a lot of electronics using power and keeping the car connected to wifi/LTE, running cameras, etc)

I have a Chevy Volt that runs absolutely nothing when the car is parked and therefore battery can go 6 months without apparently losing a mile (at least according to the screen).

That said, I had a 2023 Model X that sat waiting for a tow from Tesla for so long that the battery died along with the 12v. When Tesla sent a tech and tow truck out, the car would not respond even after the 12v leads were connected to a charger for an hour. It's definitely an issue with other brands too, and they all need a better solution with a manual unlock that is available once the 12v is dead, charging system that can be enabled with 12v leads, etc.

As others have said, never let an EV sit at a low state of charge just as you would not keep driving a gas car with the low fuel light on. Speaking of which, I did that in a 2010 Prius all the time, and it finally bit me when I ran out of gas on the freeway right as I passed an exit with a gas station. It turns out the Prius will let you limp along on just the battery for about 3 miles. Unlucky for me, the next exit was 3 miles away, and it shutdown on the offramp within distant sight of another gas station. Easy solution, you'd think, but nope. I got a gallon of gas and put it in the car, but it would not start because it did not register any fuel. I called Toyota and was told it won't turn on unless 3 gallons are added, so I made multiple trips to the gas station and eventually needed 4.5 gallons before the car started again. Ridiculous.

 

[Riviot]

I suggest you read what I said in various posts. I quoted that section of the owners manual myself but said that I don't know a single person on earth who thinks overnight = "extended time".

The OP left the vehicle overnight and it bricked. I'm also very opposed to judging someone's intelligence or wealth. That's none of my business and shouldn't even be part of the conversation.

Nah I'm good, I skim. If you quoted that section yourself, I suggest you read it. If your battery is low, very low, or ALMOST EMPTY, "find a damn charge and charge the thing!"

Also I'm not judging, I'm razzing. It's how we make each other better, point out room for improvement. But it's on that person to actually improve. You know how many dumb things I've done to my truck and posted on here? Self-deprecation is one of my favorite qualities ?

 

[manishie]

Alrighty all, here's the final update on my R1S. It took a few weeks before I'm getting it back tomorrow because of some other issues that were being looked at.

Thankfully, all that my stupidity destroyed was the 12v battery (about $500ish to replace). The high voltage batteries are fine. Pheeeeewwwwww.

Here's one additional thing I did to exacerbate the problem, which the technician pointed out to me. As so many others have done, I added in the Scosche OBD-II to USB Connector to power my dash-mounted MagSafe phone charger. Well, that thing never turns off, so it's constantly sucking a tiny amount of power. That, combined with me leaving my car with 10/20 miles of range, is what killed the 12v battery after one night.

So I'm going to replace that with the Garmin Constant Power Cable, which you can set to turn off 10 minutes after the car turns off. I'm also going to post separately in the forums here warning people about the installing Scosche adapter and leaving your battery close to empty.

Thanks all for the lively commentary, and reminding me of my dumb mistakes. ?

 

[sfvR1S]

Alrighty all, here's the final update on my R1S. It took a few weeks before I'm getting it back tomorrow because of some other issues that were being looked at.

Thankfully, all that my stupidity destroyed was the 12v battery (about $500ish to replace). The high voltage batteries are fine. Pheeeeewwwwww.

Here's one additional thing I did to exacerbate the problem, which the technician pointed out to me. As so many others have done, I added in the Scosche OBD-II to USB Connector to power my dash-mounted MagSafe phone charger. Well, that thing never turns off, so it's constantly sucking a tiny amount of power. That, combined with me leaving my car with 10/20 miles of range, is what killed the 12v battery after one night.

So I'm going to replace that with the Garmin Constant Power Cable, which you can set to turn off 10 minutes after the car turns off. I'm also going to post separately in the forums here warning people about the installing Scosche adapter and leaving your battery close to empty.

Thanks all for the lively commentary, and reminding me of my dumb mistakes. ?

Does that mean this was 100% user error and everyone who poo-poo'd Rivian needs to apologize?

 

[emoore]

Does that mean this was 100% user error and everyone who poo-poo'd Rivian needs to apologize?

#1 rule of the internet, no apologies.

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