Rivian wall charger - disappointing

[SANZC02]

The professional electrician uses a process when torquing the lugs down. You Tube has video. I have my Rivian charger that has charges with 100+ degrees ambient temperature and charged 42 amps for 5 hours without tripping.

Curious, 100 degrees inside or outside? I do not use the Rivian charger but have another brand. When it is over 100 degrees inside my garage my charge rate drops to 7 kWh after about 20 minutes and hangs out around there for the rest of the session.

I’m not at that place a lot when that hot but has been consistent the couple of times I was. I’m actually thinking about putting a mini split in that garage to lower the temperature.

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[Greg Chick]

I think the breaker panel at the meter being directly on the outside of the wall behind the Rivian charger allows an 18" feed line to the charger. The charger has a 20' cord, total length is very short. As well I used 4 AWG wire the the charger thru the wall and used a torque method of connecting the wires. The heat location may also be a factor, the panel, or the charger, or the R1T. My garage gets over 100 degrees when it's over that outside. give or take a degree. I allow the R1T to select the Amp. setting. It normally drops to 42 if I set it at 48. I do not use an app to start or stoip the charging and do not pre-treat the batteries.
Do you pre condition the batteries?

 

[gj_washington]

Could the software update be a result of this incicent? https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/electrify-america-burns-a-rivian-down.15820/

There hasn't been any updates regarding the incident.

The fast charger incident reported probably involves CCS DC charging. The connections involved are different from the J1772 but I expect both need to be monitored.

 

[gj_washington]

I don't think it matters what charger you use. The throttling is on the truck side.

I use a Tesla charger and recently noticed that my charge rate was dropping to 7KW often . It's frustrating, but when I checked the plug ( a lectron adapter on an OG Tesla charger) it was pretty warm. I took it off and put it in the freezer for a minute to get it back to room temp, plugged it back in and I was charging at 11KW again.

Until it throttled to 7KW about 20 minutes later.....

Unfortunately, I think the bigger issue is the software throttling and Rivian maybe being overly cautious about heat. OR realizing that their charge port can't handle heat as well as those on other EVs?

Either way it's annoying.

Yes, it does seem like the throttling is on the truck side so the question is whether they are measuring ambient temperature or plug temperature. The display message suggests the latter. The structure and quality of the J1772 plug and socket could impact the temperature rise.

 

[ironpig]

Yes, it does seem like the throttling is on the truck side so the question is whether they are measuring ambient temperature or plug temperature. The display message suggests the latter. The structure and quality of the J1772 plug and socket could impact the temperature rise.

yeah and I’m using a lectron adapter with a Tesla charger so although it’s annoying - I guess I would like them to be a little conservative about heat build up.

On the other hand if you are using a Rivian charger on a 60amp breaker with your Rivian and they are throttling the charge rate significantly, I think there is reason to be annoyed and ask some questions about the design.

 

[Ripped]

I'll be watching this closely.

Zero issues with the aftermarket charger I have at home presently running off a 40 amp breaker. Since it's a lower-capacity charger, I have the Rivian version ordered when the max-pack arrives.

Seems like an important investment, putting a 60 amp circuit in, and buying the Rivian charger, only to have it underperform (potentially)

 

[Cosmacelf]

Same thing happened to me and with the aluminum wires used by my electrician Rivian would not warranty the charger. Luckily my electrician refunded me my 1200$ and I was able to get a new Rivian charger on EBay for 500$ new in box, and have new copper wires installed for 800$. I think Rivian needs to do better with letting customers know because I didn’t know the difference in wires but maybe I should have read the instructions and made sure he used copper. ? glad my house didn’t burn down.

I doubt you could find any EVSE that was certified to use both AL and CU. The electrician you originally used didn’t know what he was doing, but unfortunately that is all too common.

 

[electruck]

Rivian Wall Charger is not a reliable option for those looking for the fastest home charging rate.

On the other hand if you are using a Rivian charger on a 60amp breaker with your Rivian and they are throttling the charge rate significantly, I think there is reason to be annoyed and ask some questions about the design.

Seems like an important investment, putting a 60 amp circuit in, and buying the Rivian charger, only to have it underperform (potentially)

Guys, this isn't just a Rivian EVSE issue. Read these forums. Pretty much every major brand (ChargePoint Home Flex in my case) had been tripping off early due to thermal issues this summer. Rivian's software update to cut back on the rate wasn't done to compensate for some problem with their EVSE, it was done to compensate for a problem (real or perceived) with the vehicle. I don't have the data to determine if there is a legitimate concern or if they are being overly conservative. I would fully expect that they are leaving a very wide margin between what they allow and any actual danger - and that is a good thing. Until the weather cools a bit, I have dialed my R1S back from 48A to 40A and that generally seems to prevent the R1 from throttling all the way down to 32A.

 

[ironpig]

Guys, this isn't just a Rivian EVSE issue. Read these forums. Pretty much every major brand (ChargePoint Home Flex in my case) had been tripping off early due to thermal issues this summer. Rivian's software update to cut back on the rate wasn't done to compensate for some problem with their EVSE, it was done to compensate for a problem (real or perceived) with the vehicle. I don't have the data to determine if there is a legitimate concern or if they are being overly conservative. I would fully expect that they are leaving a very wide margin between what they allow and any actual danger - and that is a good thing. Until the weather cools a bit, I have dialed my R1S back from 48A to 40A and that generally seems to prevent the R1 from throttling all the way down to 32A.

Right - that’s the point. If the vehicle can’t handle charging at 48 amps in 90 degree whether it is fundamentally flawed. There is clearly a hardware issue.

Also - why does it not happen with the DC fast chargers in the same weather? I can charge at 150Kw at the local EA station in 90 degree weather but my home charger is throttled to 7KW?

I know the plug for DC is different, but it’s still odd that any throttling would need to take place on a home charged Rivian.

I could charge my 2014 Model S in 100 degree weather on the same home charger and it never skipped a beat.

 

[Zoidz]

...
The charger has a 20' cord, total length is very short.
...

Per the NEC, the maximum EVSE cord length is 25 feet unless it comes with a cable managment system (retractor, etc.) . So Rivian could have made it 5 feet longer, but nothing more.

 

[electruck]

Also - why does it not happen with the DC fast chargers in the same weather? I can charge at 150Kw at the local EA station in 90 degree weather but my home charger is throttled to 7KW?

I know the plug for DC is different, but it’s still odd that any throttling would need to take place on a home charged Rivian.

That is because AC and DC charging are fundamentally different circuits with different thermal characteristics that just happen to be in close proximity. For starters, they use separate power pins in the charge port which are spec'd for different amounts of current (of course, that's with today's CCS charge port and will change with the move to NACS in the future). Then, AC current must go through the on-board charger to be converted to DC before being fed to the battery. With DC charging, the current goes directly to the battery. The connector on the Tesla uses the same pins for both AC and DC and then manages the AC/DC complexities away from the "user interface". I won't even begin to speculate as to why Rivian is having to throttle L2 charging in summer heat but I do suspect there is at least some element of them being overly conservative. Other than being disappointing and not meeting expectations, having to drop the charge rate down to 40A hasn't prevented me from meeting my charging needs.

 

[ironpig]

That is because AC and DC charging are fundamentally different circuits with different thermal characteristics that just happen to be in close proximity. For starters, they use separate power pins in the charge port which are spec'd for different amounts of current (of course, that's with today's CCS charge port and will change with the move to NACS in the future). Then, AC current must go through the on-board charger to be converted to DC before being fed to the battery. With DC charging, the current goes directly to the battery. The connector on the Tesla uses the same pins for both AC and DC and then manages the AC/DC complexities away from the "user interface". I won't even begin to speculate as to why Rivian is having to throttle L2 charging in summer heat but I do suspect there is at least some element of them being overly conservative. Other than being disappointing and not meeting expectations, having to drop the charge rate down to 40A hasn't prevented me from meeting my charging needs.

thanks for that explanation. Makes sense on the DC charging, but does make me wonder if they are realizing they have an issue with their L2 connection hardware and I wish they would be more transparent.

has anyone heard of another EV that needed to throttle their L2 charging? I did a quick search but haven’t found anything.

 

[Frankiefiggs]

My Rivian wall charger has messed up a few times but so has every charger I've had. I try and plug it in before I start getting ready for bed. Then check to make sure it's still charging before I actually get in bed. Definitely frustrating when it has stopped charging a couple times. Had to reset it from the breaker and wait for it to start back up before it'd charge again. It's only happened twice in the last 6 months I'd say so isn't horrible.

The ChargePoint one I had barely lasted a year before the whole thing died. So far Rivian is winning. Have had this charger since May 22

 

[Aonach]

I have been overall very happy with my Rivian R1T and the way it is supported. Unfortunately I cannot say the same for the Rivian Wall Charger. I am sharing my experience so far in the hope that (a) Rivian is listening and (b) others considering the Rivian wall charger are suitably informed.
I installed the wall charger at around the same time as I took delivery of the Rivian in July 2022 using the direct-wired approach with a newly laid copper 60A capacity line and a matching breaker.
The installation and first six months of use of the Rivian Wall charger was flawless. I got consistent 11kw charging as specified. In March/April, I started seeing intermittent halts in the charging progress. This became extremely annoying when I had a long trip planned in the morning for which I would plug in the previous evening only to discover just before leaving that the charging had stopped at a level much below my target. It wasn't clear to me (and still isn't) if this was the result of a software update to the charger, to the truck or degradation of the charger cable.
My support calls to Rivian went unanswered for a while with promises to report the case to the wall charger team. I was asked to submit photographs of my wall charger installation.
I got an email after much delay saying that "
After reviewing the media you sent over, it appears that aluminum conductors were used in place of the copper that is required per the installation guide. We kindly ask that you work with your electrician to get the wall charger rewired with copper as soon as possible."
Except, this assertion is false as the electrician had used Copper, not Aluminum.

Finally in the July software update, Rivian truck software introduced a feature to lower the charging rate if the plug got too hot. This was a helpful mitigation as it reduced the severity of the problem to one where the overall charging time was just expanded as opposed to being unbounded. Indeed, the charging sessions after this update always ramp up to 11kw and then ramp down settling at something closer to 7kw with a warning on the display "Charging - slower due to warm plug".

This solves part of the mystery and I appreciate the 'fix' in the July update. However, it seems pretty clear to me that the Wall charger I have is not behaving to specification (48A, 11KW) and Rivian is dancing around to avoid admitting this.
In a recent support communication from the "Home Charging Team" the message is that what I am seeing is "normal behavior" and should no longer be an issue when the outside temperatures start to cool down.
As another datapoint, I have charged multiple times at a Chargepoint Wall charger and always got a consistent 9Kw (not 11kw because the Chargepoint is plugged into a NEMA 14-50 and not direct wired).
In summary, my perspective so far is that:
(a) Rivian Wall Charger is not a reliable option for those looking for the fastest home charging rate.
(b) Rivian Wall Charger support is not the same level as Rivian R1 support.

I have this exact same problem. Installed in July 2022 and lasted 1 year. I have not had the time to completely troubleshoot this yet. But this information and your same experience is helpful.

 

[Greg Chick]

Mine has done very well, I get over 20 MPH charge even in heat or cold, or in upper range of 70 to 90 % charging levels. I installed it myself and it meets code.

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