Question for those who drive / commute long distances

[VenturaLuke]

Should have my truck in the next week or so. In my use case, I commute about 310 miles round trip to work a 24hr shift, 2 days a week. Have a home charger and a charger at work that the company pays for. For those that do frequent long drives, what drive mode are you using most often. Conserve sounds ok but I have read some reports of increased front tire wear and I’d like to avoid that if possible. Trying to stay within the daily charge limit of 70%, the math I have is below assuming most people report with 20’s getting about 295mi in conserve or 270mi in All Purpose.

295x0.7= 206 -155mi commute = arrive at work/home with 50mi left.
270x0.7 = 189 - 155mi commute = arrive at work/home with 34 mi left.

Anyone see any issues with my plan here? My previous truck (Tacoma 4wd) I put 150k miles on in the 4 years I had it between normal work commuting plus trips to the mountains and general life. Thanks for any input!

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[CommodoreAmiga]

That would put you lower in the pack SoC than I'd want to regularly go. It'll work... But you may find you wear the battery more than the average driver.

 

[gorwell]

No reason to stay within the 70% arbitrary limit. Just charge to 80-90% and it'll be practically no different. Can save 70% for the rest of the week.

Just drive the truck.

Teslas with heavy abuse ((DC fast charging) after 100K miles only have ~10% degradation.

 

[doit82]

Going to 85% for these twice a week trips should have no effect on your battery longevity.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Conserve is fine for strictly highway driving. It's the starting and stopping that really make the front tires wear faster.

 

[NY_Rob]

Have you considered getting a helicopter? You can get an R22 for cheap down in Long Beach
155mi each way is a long-ass commute! In addition to fuel/energy costs you need to factor in a quarter of the cost of a new (ICE) vehicle every year and two full sets of tires/year as well.

I'd start in Conserve mode, log a few trips to get a baseline then try AP mode and note the differences. Also, get a digital tire depth gauge (available on Amazon) and keep accurate notes on tire wear so you can recognize/correct any alignment issues that could cause premature tire wear.

Not to question your decision to get/use a 8,000 lb truck for your commute... have you considered a vehicle like a Long Range Model 3 which is 2X more efficient than the R1T for your work commute?

 

[VenturaLuke]

Have you considered getting a helicopter? You can get an R22 for cheap down in Long Beach
155mi each way is a long-ass commute! In addition to fuel/energy costs you need to factor in a quarter of the cost of a new (ICE) vehicle every year and two full sets of tires/year as well.

I'd start in Conserve mode, log a few trips to get a baseline then try AP mode and note the differences. Also, get a digital tire depth gauge (available on Amazon) and keep accurate notes on tire wear so you can recognize/correct any alignment issues that could cause premature tire wear.

Not to question your decision to get/use a 8,000 lb truck for your commute... have you considered a vehicle like a Long Range Model 3 which is 2X more efficient than the R1T for your work commute?

Funny enough, I commute to work in a helicopter (flight nurse) but have no plans to ever get my pilot rating. Fair question about why choose the Rivian as a commuter. In the rest of my use case, I like to spend time in the backcountry, need a truck that can get me places off the beaten path, and dang it, I like the truck!

 

[NY_Rob]

^ hey, absolutely nothing wrong with liking what you like!

My kids have asked me why I want a truck, and other than the occasional HD run and replacing our Honda Pilot to tow the boat... I really don't "need" a truck. But I like it and that's that!

You know, in your position as a flight nurse... if you ever were interested in getting your Private License, chances are at least one or more of the pilots are CFI's and you could log free hours with them!! That time as PIC is worth the cost of your R1T right there

 

[zipzag]

The bottom voltage matters too. So if you are being ultra conservative you would stay between 20-80%.

There is certainly no issue with charging to 90% twice a week. If you are being picky finish the charge just before leaving. What you don't want to do is let an EV sit day after day at 90%.

 

[Birdowin]

There should be no issues with front tire wear if you rotate the tires every 5000 miles. The Rivian manual recommends conserve mode for all highway driving.

 

[kurtlikevonnegut]

Should have my truck in the next week or so. In my use case, I commute about 310 miles round trip to work a 24hr shift, 2 days a week. Have a home charger and a charger at work that the company pays for. For those that do frequent long drives, what drive mode are you using most often. Conserve sounds ok but I have read some reports of increased front tire wear and I’d like to avoid that if possible. Trying to stay within the daily charge limit of 70%, the math I have is below assuming most people report with 20’s getting about 295mi in conserve or 270mi in All Purpose.

295x0.7= 206 -155mi commute = arrive at work/home with 50mi left.
270x0.7 = 189 - 155mi commute = arrive at work/home with 34 mi left.

Anyone see any issues with my plan here? My previous truck (Tacoma 4wd) I put 150k miles on in the 4 years I had it between normal work commuting plus trips to the mountains and general life. Thanks for any input!

I put similar miles on my truck in the first 6 weeks of ownership and did some testing between Conserve and All Purpose. I drive AP on surface roads and highway drives of less than 50 miles but if I'm going to be on the highway for more than 50 miles I'll switch to conserve after I get to cruising speed before I turn on ACC (you can't switch drive modes with ACC on).

 

[NY_Rob]

There should be no issues with front tire wear if you rotate the tires every 5000 miles. The Rivian manual recommends conserve mode for all highway driving.

The OP put 150K on his current vehicle in 4yrs, that's 37.5K mi/yr or 5K mi every 48 days.
Rotating all 4 (or most likely 5 tires in this case) every 48 days would be a major chore. You have to know when to toss "the book".

At 38K mi/yr.. he may well be able to skip the tire rotations altogether if the alignment is good and wear is even because he's going to go through two sets of tires/year anyway.

 

[VenturaLuke]

The OP put 150K on his current vehicle in 4yrs, that's 37.5K mi/yr or 5K mi every 48 days.
Rotating all 4 (or most likely 5 tires in this case) every 48 days would be a major chore. You have to know when to toss "the book".

At 38K mi/yr.. he may well be able to skip the tire rotations altogether if the alignment is good and wear is even because he's going to go through two sets of tires/year anyway.

Hoping it’s not 2 sets a year but we’ll see! I have usually done rotations every 7k or so with oil changes. Will have to work out a new system with no oil to change!

 

[NY_Rob]

^ I hope not either.... that could really add up but the 20" have been reported to be wearing pretty quickly by some owners. In your case, if your alignment isn't perfect from the factory, get it dialed in ASAP for your own sake.

Fingers crossed for you bud!

 

[Birdowin]

The tire wear issue could be from that big smile on your face every time you hit the accelerator.

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