Seeking advice - 12V battery likely dying as I write this

[hammick]

I've never gotten 10 years out of a 12V battery, ICE or EV. 5 year tops and I don't have any accessories, everything is stock. My 4Runner used to eat batteries if it wasn't driven enough.

Grocery getters and cars that sit for weeks or month without being driven will like need a new battery every 2-3 years. Idling a car for 30 minutes uses more battery capacity to start it than is returned charging at idle. I've tried to help friends and neighbors understand this when they complain to me about having to replace their battery but they usually don't take my battery tender advice. I guess it's too much of a hassle for them.

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[jimk]

I think getting someone to go there and charge it is your best bet. Do you belong to any Rivian Facebook groups in Montreal? Post on there and ask if someone can retrieve it and get it charged up for you...or maybe just move it to a charging station there at the airport. I can help locate someone if you'd like.

I'm pretty sure the ship has sailed on this idea, but thank you anyway. Battery was at 20% on Sunday and 14% on Monday so I'm not going to impose on the kindness of a stranger when it's more likely than not that the car is already bricked. It's a lot to ask of someone. And even if they got it onto a charger, and I drove it home on Monday it sounds pretty certain that the 12V needs replacing which is more easily/quickly done if it's towed to a service center in Montreal 10 miles from the airport and treated as a priority by Rivian because it's a tow-in. Home for me is more than a 100 miles from a SC and I need the truck for out of town trips next week and the week after so unlikely I'd get mobile service out soon enough.

 

[electruck]

What do you do to your batteries? I have a 2015 Toyota that I just changed the battery for the first time, a 2010 Chevy that never had a battery changed in the decade I had it, and a 2004 Honda that I've only changed the battery in twice. A ~10 year estimate seems realistic in my experience.

I live in Texas.

 

[ENVErider]

Longish story, but please bear with me ...

So I've got an 1st Gen R1T. Drove it from my home in Southern Vermont to Trudeau Airport in Montreal, QC on Saturday, parking it in the main parking garage at the airport. The garage has dozens of level 2 charging stations and normally I plug in there and leave it plugged in until I fly home (which the airport encourages). But there were no charging stations when I arrived, which is the first time that's happened to me there. I figured the 21% charge my car had when I parked on Saturday late afternoon would be sufficient for the one week when I would be away, even if it lost 1% per day. Lots of other chargers in the vicinity. I leave gear guard switched off but don't put it into shipping mode, which I should have done.

Anyway, Sunday morning I flew out of Montreal to Western Canada (which is where I am now). I checked the Rivian app Sunday evening and it had gone from 21% to 20% in 24 hours which seemed normal to me. But then yesterday I get a push alert from the app telling me my battery is low and I should plug in soon. I check the app and the charge level has gone from 20% to 14% in less than 24 hours.

I call Rivian support and get a bit of tsk-tsking from them for thinking I could leave the car for a week at 21%, which, ok, fair enough. But they agree that a 6% drop in 24 hours is abnormal. After confirming I have my fob with me, they urge me to delete the app from my phone, which I do. They say they can't remotely put it into shipping mode and that there's nothing they can do for me. They agreed that it is likely the truck will be bricked by the time I get back to Montreal on Saturday night. Assuming that's what happens, they said I will need to get it towed to Rivian Service Center in Montreal for replacement of the 12V battery, which will be at my expense. It also sounds like even if the abnormal draining is due to a 12v battery failure I'lll still be on the hook for the expense because the 12v battery is only under warranty for 36k mikes and my car has over 40k. Rivian rep also said that if the 12V died because i left it unplugged for an extended period, that's also considered customer responsibility. I did have the 12V replaced once already at around 25k at Rivian's initiative as part of a service campaign but I assume the 3k warranty date is from the day I bought the car, not the date of the most revent 12V replacement.

So I'm assuming my plan when I get back to Montreal will be - and this is where I'd love for you folks to tell me if I'm misunderstanding something or if there's something I haven't thought of ...

1. Try to unlock and start the truck with the fob and if it has any range at all, get it to the closest charging station I can as quickly as I can. If any of the charging stations in the garage are open, they are literally on the same level of the garage, so we are talking a couple hundred meters at most. Other closest options are within a mile away.
2. If I can't start or unlock with the fob, I'll get roadside assistance to try to jump the 12V. My understanding is that there is a chance that after a jump I will have enough range to get to a nearby charger. But it may just be that all the jump accomplishes is that the doors can be opened and the truck put in neutral for a tow.
3. If I can't put it into drive after the jump, I'll presumably need to have it to have it towed to the Montreal service center and they will have to replace both of the 12v batteries at a cost to me of US$700-1000. Does that sound correct?

Am I missing anything or getting anything wrong here? If you really need to tell me I'm an idiot and I should have parked it at a higher state of charge, get it out of your system if you must, but I am already aware and feeling plenty foolish as it is. Do I have any reason to hope the car will be drivable for a mile or so to a charger when I get back to Montreal?

Many thanks in advance for your advice ...

Out of Spec just released a related video...

 

[Simplejack]

What a beating just to get a new 80-110k vehicle running again.

 

[jimk]

Well this story had an unexpectedly happy ending. Arrived back at my truck Saturday evening and unlocked it with my fob. Screen indicated 3% battery remaining with 11 miles of range available. Fortunately there were a few open charging spots on the same level of the parking garage about 200 feet from where I was parked. When I backed out of the parking space battery capacity dropped to 1% with 3 miles of range. By the time I got to the charger, maybe 2 minutes later, it was showing 0/0. But I got it plugged in and charging and it all worked out in the end.

 

[mudito]

Well this story had an unexpectedly happy ending. Arrived back at my truck Saturday evening and unlocked it with my fob. Screen indicated 3% battery remaining with 11 miles of range available. Fortunately there were a few open charging spots on the same level of the parking garage about 200 feet from where I was parked. When I backed out of the parking space battery capacity dropped to 1% with 3 miles of range. By the time I got to the charger, maybe 2 minutes later, it was showing 0/0. But I got it plugged in and charging and it all worked out in the end.

That was definitely a Near-miss!

So happy you were able to get to the charger! I'm assuming you did L2 charging for a bit before heading to a DCFC nearby, right?

Also... Any 12V Battery warning displayed? If not, you might have got away with it and maybe it worth hooking a 12V battery tender to your Rivian for at least 24hrs straight to get it back up to 100% for a little whille.

cheers!

 

[jimk]

That was definitely a Near-miss!

So happy you were able to get to the charger! I'm assuming you did L2 charging for a bit before heading to a DCFC nearby, right?

Also... Any 12V Battery warning displayed? If not, you might have got away with it and maybe it worth hooking a 12V battery tender to your Rivian for at least 24hrs straight to get it back up to 100% for a little whille.

cheers!

Yeah, I left it on the L2 overnight, which got it to over 50% and then took it to a fast charger to take it to 80, which was enough to get me home, where I charged it to 100% on my home charger, and I'll keep it hooked up on the home charger for a couple of days. No 12V battery warning so far, but it could still happen.

 

[mudito]

Yeah, I left it on the L2 overnight, which got it to over 50% and then took it to a fast charger to take it to 80, which was enough to get me home, where I charged it to 100% on my home charger, and I'll keep it hooked up on the home charger for a couple of days. No 12V battery warning so far, but it could still happen.

Since you have a Gen1, consider purchasing a Battery Tender and connect it directly to the battery posts for a day or two.

I have 2x 5amp NOCO battery tenders and I hard-wired the connectors to both batteries (Mine is a dual-battery Gen1) so every now and then I let them work for a couple of days. The sleep time afterwards somehow shows how healthy the 12V Battery is (longer sleep times before waking up for a top-up).

 

[Luxus]

Glad to hear it worked out for you. Having it bricked would have been an expensive pain in the rear.

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