R1T - It was a good experiment but…

[Donald Stanfield]

Exact same thought here. I’m planning on jumping (potentially) into the RamCharger idea after they launch. I don’t have the same ‘trust’ in the legacy automakers (Ram, Ford, GM) that they will have the ingenuity and get out of their own way (think bureaucracy) to pull off the RamCharger. I’m not willing to take the same day 1 risk with Ram as I was with Rivian. Those legacy automakers need to show me the tech is there.

The 700 mile range plus the ability to just fill up the gas tank addresses my range concerns as well as cold winters in the midwest. Right now a long road trip to South Dakota to see aging parents just isn’t possible in my Rivian and I took one of my other cars. I’m in a fortunate position that I have other ICE vehicles to drive as a fall back.

On a completely different topic - someone posted about the Hummer being an option and that’s honestly the last option on the market that I’d consider. Give the kwh battery size vs my 240 charging at home, it would take way too long on a home charger to bring to a suitable SOC. (The battery is massive)

P.S. - I will say having wireless CarPlay back doesn’t suck though.

The two EV weak points are extreme cold and long travel through charging deserts. I don't blame you for wanting the RamCharger. Not too many people fit into the group that EVs don't work well for but it seems like you do. Hopefully the RamCharger has all the good of an EV with the ICE range you need. It would suck to have to go back to ICE after driving an EV for a few years.

Sponsored

 

[ja_kub_sz]

@KubotaTed the R1T is a niche vehicle and sadly all EV trucks kind of are. So far, none check all the boxes that ICE trucks do. Size, range, towing, etc. maybe the the RAM Charger, if that ever comes to be.

EV trucks are tough, but the R1T is more or less what a full size truck was in the 80's all teched up and turned on its head. Trucks of old are now modern day midsized trucks and basically the size of the R1T. HD trucks now half tons, and so on, but yes the metrics and segment has upsized over the years and the R1T is essentially an averaging of all the truck things 99% of consumer truck owners do and need. Few tow, fewer tow regularly, most don't drive far, family size is shrinking, most truck owners could get by with a midsize. Everyone appreciates speed, acceleration and not paying truck gas prices at the pump, and the in-between sized R1T checks a lot of boxes, more then most trucks for most people.

I'm a previous Ford F-150 quad cab 6½' bed owner, along with my Model S, and I've been able to get by with my R1T just fine. Yes the interior cab size is the part that I have the most gripes about considering all the space I had with my old truck, but it's workable. The towing, the bed, everything more or less has been able to meet my needs, while exceeding my expectations. I feel that you might be one of those people that falls into one of the various "exceptional" categories outside that 95% of normal use cases.

I too am on the verge of the exceptional case category considering my driving distance (30k miles per year), but my driving patterns allow me to drive long distances and charge, so my EV truck is an exponential cost savings to the tune of over a thousand a month in gas costs. So cabsize concessions can be made, If passenger comfort is a primary concern nothing beats a minivan, but yeah if you genuinely need a truck, a half ton or heavy duty is the way to go should you truly need one.

I bought an ICE truck because I felt like I would need it, while I owed an EV. After owning one, I realized I could get by with something different, but still a truck. You may very well be doing the opposite. But hey to each their own.

I should be getting my G² R1T³ this month and have the 21" aeros that I'm gonna put on for the colder months vs 22" sport wheels and will do a 70 mph range test here in Illinois as soon as I get it wrapped and tinted.

Fingers crossed and best of luck to you with your next vehicle.

 

[Jonger1150]

@KubotaTed the R1T is a niche vehicle and sadly all EV trucks kind of are. So far, none check all the boxes that ICE trucks do. Size, range, towing, etc. maybe the the RAM Charger, if that ever comes to be.

EV trucks are tough, but the R1T is more or less what a full size truck was in the 80's all teched up and turned on its head. Trucks of old are now modern day midsized trucks and basically the size of the R1T. HD trucks now half tons, and so on, but yes the metrics and segment has upsized over the years and the R1T is essentially an averaging of all the truck things 99% of consumer truck owners do and need. Few tow, fewer tow regularly, most don't drive far, family size is shrinking, most truck owners could get by with a midsize. Everyone appreciates speed, acceleration and not paying truck gas prices at the pump, and the in-between sized R1T checks a lot of boxes, more then most trucks for most people.

I'm a previous Ford F-150 quad cab 6½' bed owner, along with my Model S, and I've been able to get by with my R1T just fine. Yes the interior cab size is the part that I have the most gripes about considering all the space I had with my old truck, but it's workable. The towing, the bed, everything more or less has been able to meet my needs, while exceeding my expectations. I feel that you might be one of those people that falls into one of the various "exceptional" categories outside that 95% of normal use cases.

I too am on the verge of the exceptional case category considering my driving distance (30k miles per year), but my driving patterns allow me to drive long distances and charge, so my EV truck is an exponential cost savings to the tune of over a thousand a month in gas costs. So cabsize concessions can be made, If passenger comfort is a primary concern nothing beats a minivan, but yeah if you genuinely need a truck, a half ton or heavy duty is the way to go should you truly need one.

I bought an ICE truck because I felt like I would need it, while I owed an EV. After owning one, I realized I could get by with something different, but still a truck. You may very well be doing the opposite. But hey to each their own.

I should be getting my G² R1T³ this month and have the 21" aeros that I'm gonna put on for the colder months vs 22" sport wheels and will do a 70 mph range test here in Illinois as soon as I get it wrapped and tinted.

Fingers crossed and best of luck to you with your next vehicle.

Too many people buy a vehicle thinking of the rare occasional use instead of their typical use.

 

[Golfer04]

@KubotaTed the R1T is a niche vehicle and sadly all EV trucks kind of are. So far, none check all the boxes that ICE trucks do. Size, range, towing, etc. maybe the the RAM Charger, if that ever comes to be.

EV trucks are tough, but the R1T is more or less what a full size truck was in the 80's all teched up and turned on its head. Trucks of old are now modern day midsized trucks and basically the size of the R1T. HD trucks now half tons, and so on, but yes the metrics and segment has upsized over the years and the R1T is essentially an averaging of all the truck things 99% of consumer truck owners do and need. Few tow, fewer tow regularly, most don't drive far, family size is shrinking, most truck owners could get by with a midsize. Everyone appreciates speed, acceleration and not paying truck gas prices at the pump, and the in-between sized R1T checks a lot of boxes, more then most trucks for most people.

I'm a previous Ford F-150 quad cab 6½' bed owner, along with my Model S, and I've been able to get by with my R1T just fine. Yes the interior cab size is the part that I have the most gripes about considering all the space I had with my old truck, but it's workable. The towing, the bed, everything more or less has been able to meet my needs, while exceeding my expectations. I feel that you might be one of those people that falls into one of the various "exceptional" categories outside that 95% of normal use cases.

I too am on the verge of the exceptional case category considering my driving distance (30k miles per year), but my driving patterns allow me to drive long distances and charge, so my EV truck is an exponential cost savings to the tune of over a thousand a month in gas costs. So cabsize concessions can be made, If passenger comfort is a primary concern nothing beats a minivan, but yeah if you genuinely need a truck, a half ton or heavy duty is the way to go should you truly need one.

I bought an ICE truck because I felt like I would need it, while I owed an EV. After owning one, I realized I could get by with something different, but still a truck. You may very well be doing the opposite. But hey to each their own.

I should be getting my G² R1T³ this month and have the 21" aeros that I'm gonna put on for the colder months vs 22" sport wheels and will do a 70 mph range test here in Illinois as soon as I get it wrapped and tinted.

Fingers crossed and best of luck to you with your next vehicle.

Please post your range test. I'm considering same upgrade next March/April.

 

[KubotaTed]

Too many people buy a vehicle thinking of the rare occasional use instead of their typical use.

Kind of. Sometimes life circumstances change and what was occasion use now becomes the typical use.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Kind of. Sometimes life circumstances change and what was occasion use now becomes the typical use.

Yup. For me taking more trips out to my dads because he bought some jet skis at his lake house and my family likes playing on those, coupled with how far away he lives from me, means I have to bring our two big dogs along as they cannot be home by themselves that long.

Fortunately an EV still works as range there and back isn’t an issue but I cannot have the truck as I will not be putting dogs in the bed and it’s unsafe keeping my son and both dogs in the back of the cab. Long story to say I agree that circumstances can necessitate change and if I was in your shoes I’d likely make a similar decision even though I’m glad I don’t have to give up an EV.

 

[ja_kub_sz]

Please post your range test. I'm considering same upgrade next March/April.

Will do

 

[Thedude]

Too many people buy a vehicle thinking of the rare occasional use instead of their typical use.

Yes but if the rare occasional use is restricted by the vehicle you own and you can longer do what you want as a result, why have that vehicle? I’d love a lightweight, fast and nimble canyon carving convertible that also has a bed for hauling dirt/fish/game/wood and can haul 15k pounds but unfortunately that’s just not realistic. If you don’t want/have space for/able to afford multiple vehicles then you have to compromise somewhere.

 

[bfilippo]

I also think in reading threads like this one, having an EV truck is a difficult “first” EV for folks, since it’s carrying the load of so many kinds of expectations.

For me, while I can technically drive for 300+ miles without stopping, I don’t ever HAVE to do that, and so I got pretty accustomed to taking at least one charging break on a long trip with our Tesla MYLR.

But I also don’t drive a vehicle for my work, so the utility I enjoy and experience from our R1T is not linked to years of needing a specific type of vehicle like a full-size truck. I also don’t think rivian is trying to solve for that use case, like ford might be, but I could be wrong.

 

[ads75]

Too many people buy a vehicle thinking of the rare occasional use instead of their typical use.

Why buy something you can only use part time?

 

[Kaiju]

I don't know about you guys, but I would've jumped on Rivian a lot faster if they had an extended cab with a longer bed as an option vs the quad cab. That option is extinct in EVs and endangered in ICE offerings. I don't use the rear passenger seats enough to justify having them, except...not having them isn't an option.

I've come to understand that as much as I want it I don't think that would have been a marketing win though. Not neccessarily because that form has been dwindling since the 90s, but because the R1T in particular covers that use case of having an area in the cab unobstructed by seats for putting stuff. The frunk and the gear tunnel do the thing mostly. Except you also get more seats at the cost of some box space, with the engineering bonus of having a much stronger unibody.

I too came from a 'full size' truck to the Rivian. The fact the Rivian was smaller was a feature to me. The legacy makers vehicles had gotten too big without adding anything in terms of their function. I don't like the idea of having a quad-cab behemoth that would absolutely dwarf its 90's-era ancestor in all dimensions while having less space for cargo.

I'd actually argue that nobody needs a current-era full-sized truck, because the only thing they offer is more space for rear-seat passengers. If that's what you really need, then an SUV is almost always a more practical choice. If you want to make yourself sad, one day you'll be at a hardware store and having to borrow your parent's blazer to get some 12' boards home because an SUV with a roof rack is better at carrying lumber and plywood than an F-150 with a 5' box is.

 

[Golfer04]

I also think in reading threads like this one, having an EV truck is a difficult “first” EV for folks, since it’s carrying the load of so many kinds of expectations.

For me, while I can technically drive for 300+ miles without stopping, I don’t ever HAVE to do that, and so I got pretty accustomed to taking at least one charging break on a long trip with our Tesla MYLR.

But I also don’t drive a vehicle for my work, so the utility I enjoy and experience from our R1T is not linked to years of needing a specific type of vehicle like a full-size truck. I also don’t think rivian is trying to solve for that use case, like ford might be, but I could be wrong.

My biggest issue is travel of over 200 mile round trips. The entire midwest is essentially a charging desert. Yes there are a few DCFC, but not enough. They frequently are down and I end up having to stop with 50 percent of the battery left because of the distance between charges....which leads to slow charging. Annoying at best. Plus so many are located at Walmart or some shopping center not near the interstate.

 

[Jonger1150]

Why buy something you can only use part time?

We won't agree on this one no matter what. I personally think buying ICE in 2024 is irresponsible unless it's actually necessary.

 

[Jonger1150]

My biggest issue is travel of over 200 mile round trips. The entire midwest is essentially a charging desert. Yes there are a few DCFC, but not enough. They frequently are down and I end up having to stop with 50 percent of the battery left because of the distance between charges....which leads to slow charging. Annoying at best. Plus so many are located at Walmart or some shopping center not near the interstate.

With the Tesla adapter this isn't true at all. Just pull up a map from ABRP and enable Tesla.

 

[bfilippo]

My biggest issue is travel of over 200 mile round trips. The entire midwest is essentially a charging desert. Yes there are a few DCFC, but not enough. They frequently are down and I end up having to stop with 50 percent of the battery left because of the distance between charges....which leads to slow charging. Annoying at best. Plus so many are located at Walmart or some shopping center not near the interstate.

That is annoying and yes the charging infrastructure is not equal. Despite being in rural Maine, there are 3 superchargers within 35min of me and I can easily drive to Montreal (5.5 hours) or Burlington (6+) with just enough remote superchargers to make it work without any real stress.

RJ mentioned this is his NYTIMES interview that he totally misread the room on federal EV charging rollout and yeah that seems to me the biggest hangup - slow rollout plus inequity in locations. I’m hopeful in 2-3 more years this will be a non issue and we’re all joking about our dream for 600+ mile range cars being so silly and unneeded, but we’ll see.

Sponsored