Need Advice: Road Trip Take Rivian or Tesla?

[Mark_AZR1T]

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

I did laugh! Any long road trip is less dramatic in your Tesla. You never have to think about charging as a challenge.

We own an R1T, R1S and a 23MY as my references. YMMV

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[NC-Rivian]

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.

I have a Rivian and a Tesla. I drive my Tesla on long distance, business trips. Take the Tesla, it’s a no-brainer for now. You do not want to be in a position to have to count on Electrify America charger.

 

[PeterSK]

I’ve had Teslas for ten years, R1S for six weeks. I’ve already waited on EA lines twice when testing locally. I’m looking forward to my first R1S road trip but it will have extra time baked in so I don’t need to worry - and will be 400 not 1200 miles.

Take the Tesla. And per one comment above, consider renting a Model 3 or Y from Hertz since it’s a business trip - why put so many miles on your wife’s car?

 

[EchoDelta]

If it’s a business trip and you don’t need the cargo space- I’d take the Tesla hands down. (Have R1S, Y and 3). I’m in love with our R1S but between the curse of electrify America and the differences in FSD, it’s a clear decision.

 

[JBo1828]

I think you answered your own question… what’s the advantage of taking the Rivian??? Worse charging network, you have done the trip before with the Tesla and took advantage of the supercharger network. They drive almost exactly the same (I have both, the Rivian drives like a big, heavy, fast Tesla), unless you need the cargo or passenger space of the Rivian, there is no logical reason to take it (especially at a penalty of 90 minutes more travel time).

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.

 

[Stack]

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.

as a Tesla and Rivian owner and the fact that I just got back from my first road-trip in the R1T - Take the Tesla. I have driven my Tesla all over the country without a single issue. My road-trip in the Rivian makes me kind of want to get rid of it. Charging is a mess. Almost every stop had a broken charger and were usually packed with uber bolt drivers sucking up the dispensers. The Navigation/Driver's + is crap (getting better but...) and getting routed 50 miles out of the way to go to a chargers 15 feet a ways is unacceptable. No auto lane change gets old quickly and the navigation is utterly unreliable. I love my Rivian as a daily, but it's not a good road-trip vehicle and the Tesla is far easier, less stressful, and just better overall. Charging also takes significantly longer as most Electrify America stations suck and restrict power (when they even work). The battery on the Rivian's are also bigger than the Tesla and take longer to charge. Results may vary, but sadly I'd take the Tesla for road-trips.

 

[mkg3]

Question answered: I am taking the Tesla...

The real question is why aren t you flying to the destination? If its a business trip, why spend all those hours on the road...

I completely agree with the decision to take the Tesla. My personal experience with EVgo, EA are both forgettable. The only decent DCFC experience I've had with my R1S so far is at Volta chargers. Volta is just plug in and start charging by checking in on the phone app.

Frankly, non Superchargers (I own a Tesla too) need a complete rethink and redo in my opinion. Haven't used RAN yet (I will next month when we are doing a long weekend from SoCal to Lake Tahoe in our Rivian), and hoping that experience is good enough to offset the crappy expectations of EA and other chargers I will have to use.

 

[Budman]

The EA learning curve is real. Practice a couple more times to get comfortable. I drove my R1T from Minneapolis to Arkansas and on another trip to Colorado. Mostly used EA and had no major issues. BUT, always have a backup plan, never plan a trip where a certain charging stop HAS to work.

 

[suprteck]

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.

I have both and it depends where I’m going. If I can charge at RAN stations then I take the Rivian. But I do miss enhanced auto pilot when in the Rivian

 

[CruxOp]

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.

this is the right call. The SC network is far better than the publicly available charging network, both in speed and reliability. We only take the Riv on a long trip if we need the space and can't fit everything in the 3. In a few months (years?) when the SC network is open to everyone that will be a different story.

 

[Robin]

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.

?

 

[TexasBob]

Completed the first 570 mile trip up today in the new Model S. As expected, no issues. Managed the entire journey in 9.25 hours including charging (Total charging time 40 min 3 stops, could have done in 2 but wanted to arrive with 50%, at a cost of $46). Got 3.4 miles per kwh which I am really happy with on an S. The FSD (which we ported over for free from our 2018 3) worked great and I had only one disengagement in the 570 miles (where there is a new stretch of road and a bunch of construction around the new Choctaw Casino).

I know I am going to miss having my Rivian this week but it was the right call. There are a couple of long legs and high speed travel. I need to get a better feel for the R1S real-world range and charging characteristics. Next time I may allow more time and do it.

BTW for those asking why drive: yes, I could fly but I enjoy driving from time to time (not always). Normally my cutoff on drive vs fly is Houston/Dallas (~250 miles each way) but even on this long trip, flying realistically saves maybe 4 hours when all is said and done between getting back and forth to the airport, getting rental cars, and the trip itself. The IRS reimbursement is 65.5 cents a mile so I am good with doing this trip for $750 - $800. Would not do it all the time, but a few times a year I prefer to travel by vehicle.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

If it was business travel and flying was not an option, I would rent a Tesla to avoid putting that much distance on my own vehicle.

That said, I have taken a few road trips in the R1T and it’s been a great road trip machine. How well charging goes seems to be inversely proportional to the number of EA stops along the way. Luckily my last couple of trips were devoid of EA stops.

 

[Spaceball1]

I’ve done road trips in my 2020 MYP and my Rivian R1T. I took the Rivian to n my last trip to have the extra cargo space as well as the better rode comfort. I wasn’t disappointed, but it certainly took longer.

comparing to a model S however, I’d take that over the Rivian On a road trip any day.

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