R2 / R3 event in Bloomington? (Update w/ Trib article)

[RivRyan]

We picked up a puppy in central IL today. Stopped to charge in Bloomington, and there were three Rivians ahead of us, and by the time we finished, 5 of the six in line were Rivians. I’d told my wife there are probably a lot since it’s hometown.

But then I spoke to someone who said no, they were mostly there for an event to show off the R2, R3 and RX (or is it R3X?). He had driven in from Iowa.

Did any one here know about it? I hadn’t seen anything.

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[RivRyan]

Also, Bloomington needs more chargers. The guy I spoke with didn’t believe there was (public) charging available at the factory.

 

[RivRyan]

Also an R1S and an R1T at the EA in Joliet, one of whom had brought his kids to the event. Lotta Rs on I-55 today.

 

[Wefty]

I got an email about it but couldn't make it.

There is no public charging at the factory.

That EA in Bloomington isn't bad but does get pretty crowded.

 

[devildog125]

I was there. It was pretty awesome. Speaking about chargers, after the event I went to the EA station and there were prolly 10 cars in line. I said nope and used my new A2Z adapter at the almost empty superchargers

 

[Meengr2]

I went to the event with my R1S...it was nice. However charging to head back home to Chicago was a nightmare. The Rivians used for demo were charging at EA! No way to charge at Tesla yet in Bloomington. Why couldn't they charge at the mother ship factory? Spent over 2 hrs waiting to charge so I can get home. Just doesn't make sense. Bad on Rivian.

 

[RivRyan]

We were lucky, I guess. Hit the Bloomington EA at about 11:30 with a short line but before the big queue formed.

 

[Michael Shoemaker]

I'm from Houston TX but visiting relatives near Paris Illinois and stumbled on the event notice Friday, so we drove our R1S up there yesterday to see the R2 and R3/3X in person. Enjoyable and great to see them in person! The R3X is an interesting vehicle, to be sure! The thing that jumped out at me was the size of the tires and the wide stance. Being 72, I don't think I would be a candidate for the interior or orange mirrors, but it looks like it would be a blast to drive! (My car prior to the R1S was a Porsche Boxster S that I owned for 23 years, so i may be old but still like driving!)

I was fortunate that I had charged to 100% at the home we are staying at so we didn't have to charge on the way back. We did stop at the Bloomington EA site but there was a line waiting so we took off. We stopped again in Champaign and there only half of the EA units were working and another line, so we took off and made it back with 26 miles left in the range! But we have access to 220v plug and the home has solar power that they produce more than they use, so another overnight charge and we're back in good health!

 

[RivRyan]

Spent over 2 hrs waiting to charge so I can get home.

This sounds like it was pretty close to creating another "Teslas died waiting for chargers in the cold" series of headlines, which could have been incredibly damaging to Rivian.

If they don't have Level 3 for visitors at the factory, they better figure something out before they host another event like this. It's a friggin' factory. There must be an enormous amount of electric power available. Figure out a way to push twenty 220V circuits to the parking lot and let people bring their L2 mobile chargers. That would at least give people 50 or 60 miles to get them out of Bloomington and to the next set of chargers.

Or something.

 

[R1Tom]

I love the interior on the R3X. Looks Singer inspired to me....

 

[R1Tims]

Just an FYI if you are ever driving to or from Bloomington, The EA chargers in Kankakee are great. All are the new type and 350kw. Nice area. It's north east about 80 mile and they are off of I 57. I usually hit them when heading to Michigan and able to avoid the Chicago traffic.

 

[RivRyan]

The Trib had a nice article about the event in Normal (not Bloomington, whoops):
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/08/rivian-r2-open-house-normal/

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