Need Advice: Road Trip Take Rivian or Tesla?

[TexasBob]

Looking for some honest advice from more experienced Rivian owners: I need to do a 1,200 mile road trip this week (Houston to NW Arkansas round trip). My R1S has 600 miles on it and no issues, but between the endless stories about horrible charging networks and what appears to be (from reading these forums) a pretty high rate of early serious mechanical failures (infant mortality problems on components), I am wondering if this is a good idea. My wife has a new Model S so I could take that. It is about 90 minutes quicker (ABRP estimate) and I have taken this trip several times in my old Tesla using the SC network so I know it is robust.

I would like to drive my Rivian, but I am leaning toward borrowing her Tesla instead. It is a work trip, not a vacation jaunt. I have meetings and a schedule to keep. The ride needs to be reliable for the entire trip. Any honest advice appreciated especially from folks who have traveled along this route.

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[staples]

Rivian is an adventure vehicle. Go for the adventure of using Electrify America.

 

[emoore]

Rivian.

 

[Christopher]

1200 miles for business? I'd take neither and rent a car.

 

[TexasBob]

Question answered: I am taking the Tesla. TLDR Tried the local EA station, total fail, what a mess. Wife said she does not need to see me getting stuck in middle of nowhere. Will wait until the supercharger integration is done to road trip the Rivian.

Long version: went down to the closest EA station a few miles from my house to do a test charge. Had previously signed up for Pass+ (or whatever they call it), so I plugged in, used the Apple Wallet and checking, checking.... "there is no account associated with this phone." WTH? I can see it right there on the phone, shows the balance, vehicle is registered, money is on the account, credit card associated with it. Check, check check. Try again. Unplug, replug, tap phone, spinning icon, same error.

Call the 888 number. On hold. On hold. On hold. After 10 minutes I leave. After 15 minutes someone picks up. Blah, blah verification, "yes, I see the account is fine. Are you still at charger?" No, that was 15 minutes ago. "Sometimes that happens. You can call us and we can initiate a charge session." I really cannot sit around at chargers for 15 minutes waiting for someone to pickup phone, but okay I will give it one more try.

Finish errands. Head back. No spaces, Polestar blocking a charger but not charging, no one there. Same Bolt, F150, and Polestar that were there 30 minutes earlier are still there. Doesn't EA have idle fees? Three cars are waiting, a Leaf another PS2 and another Bolt. I am not queuing up for this.

I should not be surprised, I check plugshare and this is the only CCS charger on the I-10 Corridor anywhere near downtown Houston and it has a measly 6 fast ports and a 50kw space waster. There is nowhere near enough capacity for this location. (By contrast, across the parking lot Tesla has 35 supercharger stalls... In fact, from west of Houston to east of Houston on I 10 there are a grand total of 18 CCS fast chargers - all EA - of which three are down at the moment. Tesla has just under 100 SC plugs on the same route. It is a CCS desert.)

Looking more carefully at my ABRP route there are several low-capacity stations and a number of jokey 60kw stations where it plans to send me. I foresee bad queues in my future... (Side note to Electrify America: 150kw is not "ultrafast" it is a "medium," two generations ago charging speed from the V2 Supercharger era. Also, 50 kw is "slow charging" not fast charging.)

Anyway, my wife saw the issues with the test charge (it finally worked on visit #3) and said no way, no how. So I am driving the model s and will wait until Rivian gets the Supercharger integration done next spring before I roadtrip this. Until then I will stay within a couple of hundred miles and not venture beyond places where I know there is a RAN option (e.g. Dallas and San Antonio) in addition to the lousy public networks.

 

[SANZC02]

Question answered: I am taking the Tesla. TLDR Tried the local EA station, total fail, what a mess. Wife said she does not need to see me getting stuck in middle of nowhere. Will wait until the supercharger integration is done to road trip the Rivian.

Long version: went down to the closest EA station a few miles from my house to do a test charge. Had previously signed up for Pass+ (or whatever they call it), so I plugged in, used the Apple Wallet and checking, checking.... "there is no account associated with this phone." WTH? I can see it right there on the phone, shows the balance, vehicle is registered, money is on the account, credit card associated with it. Check, check check. Try again. Unplug, replug, tap phone, spinning icon, same error.

Call the 888 number. On hold. On hold. On hold. After 10 minutes I leave. After 15 minutes someone picks up. Blah, blah verification, "yes, I see the account is fine. Are you still at charger?" No, that was 15 minutes ago. "Sometimes that happens. You can call us and we can initiate a charge session." I really cannot sit around at chargers for 15 minutes waiting for someone to pickup phone, but okay I will give it one more try.

Finish errands. Head back. No spaces, Polestar blocking a charger but not charging, no one there. Same Bolt, F150, and Polestar that were there 30 minutes earlier are still there. Doesn't EA have idle fees? Three cars are waiting, a Leaf another PS2 and another Bolt. I am not queuing up for this.

I should not be surprised, I check plugshare and this is the only CCS charger on the I-10 Corridor anywhere near downtown Houston and it has a measly 6 fast ports and a 50kw space waster. There is nowhere near enough capacity for this location. (By contrast, across the parking lot Tesla has 35 supercharger stalls... In fact, from west of Houston to east of Houston on I 10 there are a grand total of 18 CCS fast chargers - all EA - of which three are down at the moment. Tesla has just under 100 SC plugs on the same route. It is a CCS desert.)

Looking more carefully at my ABRP route there are several low-capacity stations and a number of jokey 60kw stations where it plans to send me. I foresee bad queues in my future... (Side note to Electrify America: 150kw is not "ultrafast" it is a "medium," two generations ago charging speed from the V2 Supercharger era. Also, 50 kw is "slow charging" not fast charging.)

Anyway, my wife saw the issues with the test charge (it finally worked on visit #3) and said no way, no how. So I am driving the model s and will wait until Rivian gets the Supercharger integration done next spring before I roadtrip this. Until then I will stay within a couple of hundred miles and not venture beyond places where I know there is a RAN option (e.g. Dallas and San Antonio) in addition to the lousy public networks.

I would take the Rivian, I had no problems doing a 5100 mile trip in my Rivian.

We have had a Tesla for 7 years, that experience is probably what made me feel comfortable enough to do such a long trip on my maiden voyage with the Rivian.

 

[emoore]

Question answered: I am taking the Tesla. TLDR Tried the local EA station, total fail, what a mess. Wife said she does not need to see me getting stuck in middle of nowhere. Will wait until the supercharger integration is done to road trip the Rivian.

Long version: went down to the closest EA station a few miles from my house to do a test charge. Had previously signed up for Pass+ (or whatever they call it), so I plugged in, used the Apple Wallet and checking, checking.... "there is no account associated with this phone." WTH? I can see it right there on the phone, shows the balance, vehicle is registered, money is on the account, credit card associated with it. Check, check check. Try again. Unplug, replug, tap phone, spinning icon, same error.

Call the 888 number. On hold. On hold. On hold. After 10 minutes I leave. After 15 minutes someone picks up. Blah, blah verification, "yes, I see the account is fine. Are you still at charger?" No, that was 15 minutes ago. "Sometimes that happens. You can call us and we can initiate a charge session." I really cannot sit around at chargers for 15 minutes waiting for someone to pickup phone, but okay I will give it one more try.

Finish errands. Head back. No spaces, Polestar blocking a charger but not charging, no one there. Same Bolt, F150, and Polestar that were there 30 minutes earlier are still there. Doesn't EA have idle fees? Three cars are waiting, a Leaf another PS2 and another Bolt. I am not queuing up for this.

I should not be surprised, I check plugshare and this is the only CCS charger on the I-10 Corridor anywhere near downtown Houston and it has a measly 6 fast ports and a 50kw space waster. There is nowhere near enough capacity for this location. (By contrast, across the parking lot Tesla has 35 supercharger stalls... In fact, from west of Houston to east of Houston on I 10 there are a grand total of 18 CCS fast chargers - all EA - of which three are down at the moment. Tesla has just under 100 SC plugs on the same route. It is a CCS desert.)

Looking more carefully at my ABRP route there are several low-capacity stations and a number of jokey 60kw stations where it plans to send me. I foresee bad queues in my future... (Side note to Electrify America: 150kw is not "ultrafast" it is a "medium," two generations ago charging speed from the V2 Supercharger era. Also, 50 kw is "slow charging" not fast charging.)

Anyway, my wife saw the issues with the test charge (it finally worked on visit #3) and said no way, no how. So I am driving the model s and will wait until Rivian gets the Supercharger integration done next spring before I roadtrip this. Until then I will stay within a couple of hundred miles and not venture beyond places where I know there is a RAN option (e.g. Dallas and San Antonio) in addition to the lousy public networks.

Just use the app to start the charge. Pretty easy.

 

[RandomMcRandomFace]

No idea why you’d take the Rivian. For those suggesting that, unless they need a ton of space and/or the route takes them off-road, what possible advantage does the Rivian offer? Charging is worse on two fronts - the charging access and the charging speed (since the Tesla is far more efficient). Throw the Driver+ short comings in and what is the Rivian offering?

I say this as someone who gladly traded in a Model Y for the R1S, but until SC access, its the Tesla hands down.

 

[BigSkies]

Probably the right call as much as I hate to admit it.

I’m taking the Rivian over Tesla on an upcoming road trip, but it’s a road trip I have time built in for unforeseen circumstances. It’s also a route that will give me some backup options if any particular charger has issues.

I do recommend finding a few chargers from different brands and doing some local test charges with them. Just making sure you can initiate a session with EA/ChargePoint/EVGO/others makes a big difference for avoiding hassles on the go.

I’ve also had the most wildly divergent experiences at EA stations. I haven’t used too many of them, but one was nearly impossible, while another was completely flawless.

 

[Franksmartin]

1200 miles for business? I'd take neither and rent a car.

I take it you don’t own an EV?

 

[BrianR]

I take it you don’t own an EV?

I think that it's more why depreciate your car when the business can pay for a rental. You can rent an EV if you choose or available. Why stick your personal vehicle out on a long trip like that and possibly hold the bag if something goes wrong.

 

[shandel]

Work trip or not... you only live once. And Rivians are more fun.

 

[Kenmecca]

Just got off a 1600 mile trip from SF BayArea to Eastern Washington. Although I had RANs and good EAs in CA and OR , rural areas was a total fail and I hate to admit if I had a Tesla would have been fine. Granted this is my first EV but range anxiety was real. This was a test adventure and we had extra time. For a biz trip I'd say no way. For me if I go on a road trip it will have to be in populous areas only and I'll probably wait for Tesla SC access. Heading to OR this weekend and I'm sure can find some decent charging but we will be taking the wifeys 4xe. The R1S is a dream to drive especially on long road trips but dealing with all the charging networks like Shell (never worked) is not worth the hassle.

 

[iansriv]

I was about to say Tesla but looks like you made the decision. My reasoning is that the Rivian only has 600 miles on it. I'd give yourself a few more miles for the confidence to build in. This is my first EV and I'm staying local for about 1k miles just to make sure I don't have any major issues. I plan to take a trip to Austin in early October. Have a safe trip mate.

 

[JamboF4]

Looking for some honest advice from more experienced Rivian owners: I need to do a 1,200 mile road trip this week (Houston to NW Arkansas round trip). My R1S has 600 miles on it and no issues, but between the endless stories about horrible charging networks and what appears to be (from reading these forums) a pretty high rate of early serious mechanical failures (infant mortality problems on components), I am wondering if this is a good idea. My wife has a new Model S so I could take that. It is about 90 minutes quicker (ABRP estimate) and I have taken this trip several times in my old Tesla using the SC network so I know it is robust.

I would like to drive my Rivian, but I am leaning toward borrowing her Tesla instead. It is a work trip, not a vacation jaunt. I have meetings and a schedule to keep. The ride needs to be reliable for the entire trip. Any honest advice appreciated especially from folks who have traveled along this route.

Tesla, hands down….SuperCharger stations. Don’t hate on me

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