Should I bail out or stick?

[23R1TFGFE]

#stick

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[defcon888]

Looking for advice from experienced owners, particularly in cold climates. I've got an RS1 on order, and took the test drive yesterday. Of course I liked it a lot. Here's my dilemma. This would be our going-to-our-mountain-place-in-Colorado-vehicle, replacing a 2007 4Runner. Round trip 180 miles. No worries about doing that range in summer. In winter, we park about 2 miles from our cabin, which is on a gnarly unplowed road, and we snowshoe in. So the car would sit out usually 2-3 days at a time, at 11,000 feet elevation. Cold. My worry is vampire drain of 2-3% a day, according to my guide on the test drive, and reduced winter range. Full range is only 270 miles, since we'd have to do 20 inch all terrain wheels and tires (guide says no winter tires available for the longer range 21-inch). Drive up there is no interstate, only about 1/4 of it at 65-70 mph, rest in the 50's to 60. Elevation gain from my house to the cabin is 4,000 feet. There's a charging station about halfway, but it's often not working. So I need to know I can do round trip without charging. One factor that says stick is I pre-ordered before the price increase, and would get both the $7,500 federal tax credit and the $5,000 Colorado tax credit. I've also got a pre-order in on the Volvo EX90, which will likely have a 300 mile range, will have a heat pump for more efficient cold weather driving, and based on my 2 plus years experience with my other car the Volvo electric XC40 Recharge, has no vampire drain. No federal tax credit, though. Advice anyone?

If you put it in "Transport mode" you would reduce the power drain from everything I have read. You could prep the Rivian when you start to snowshoe out so when you get there, it will be ready to go.

 

[Joe schmoe]

the immense toll heating and AC take - true for any EV. I watch my efficiency drop to 1.2-1.7 with AC blasting. I’m told heating has the same hit.

That doesn't sound right. On 20"AT tires, I typically see 1.8 for very short trips (my daily "commute" is under 2 miles) in 100+ degree temps, using the app to precool the cabin frequently.

With highway driving, I typically see 2.0-2.3 mi/kwh at 70 mph in 100 degree temps. I have limited experience with very cold temps in the Rivian, but with temps around 30 degrees F I was seeing better than 2 mi/kwh at 70 mph with significant headwinds when I picked the truck up and drove it 700 miles home in a winter storm.

With my previous EV (an early Model S, way before the heat pump) the signficant factors for range were speed (biggest hit by far, and includes headwinds), heavy rain, and very cold temps (resistive heating). AC had a modest impact even in a very hot climate. Lights, sound sytem, etc was negligible.

 

[jimmyb2]

Looking for advice from experienced owners, particularly in cold climates. I've got an RS1 on order, and took the test drive yesterday. Of course I liked it a lot. Here's my dilemma. This would be our going-to-our-mountain-place-in-Colorado-vehicle, replacing a 2007 4Runner. Round trip 180 miles. No worries about doing that range in summer. In winter, we park about 2 miles from our cabin, which is on a gnarly unplowed road, and we snowshoe in. So the car would sit out usually 2-3 days at a time, at 11,000 feet elevation. Cold. My worry is vampire drain of 2-3% a day, according to my guide on the test drive, and reduced winter range. Full range is only 270 miles, since we'd have to do 20 inch all terrain wheels and tires (guide says no winter tires available for the longer range 21-inch). Drive up there is no interstate, only about 1/4 of it at 65-70 mph, rest in the 50's to 60. Elevation gain from my house to the cabin is 4,000 feet. There's a charging station about halfway, but it's often not working. So I need to know I can do round trip without charging. One factor that says stick is I pre-ordered before the price increase, and would get both the $7,500 federal tax credit and the $5,000 Colorado tax credit. I've also got a pre-order in on the Volvo EX90, which will likely have a 300 mile range, will have a heat pump for more efficient cold weather driving, and based on my 2 plus years experience with my other car the Volvo electric XC40 Recharge, has no vampire drain. No federal tax credit, though. Advice anyone?

Are there utility electric lines along the road where you leave the vehicle when you “snowshoe in”? If so, it is possible the electric utility could provide (at a cost) a metered electric service point at that location.

Then you could install your own charger (EVSE) or just a 240 volt outlet in some sort of lockable cabinet at the location you leave your vehicle to keep your vehicle charged up while parked.

If you happen to own the land there then no problem. If not, you could work out some sort of agreement with the landowner for this installation.

 

[Si.LE.R1S]

@Joe schmoe

A little clarification. I do get about 2.11 mi/kWh on ATs. It’s the initial climate control toll that I was illustrating, not the sustained efficiency. My SOC can drop between 5% or more in the blink of an eye with max HVAC. But I am also using the back seat belt buckle to engage the rear compressor too.

I will definitely defer to @Joe schmoe and other users who have real world cold weather experience with the R1. I’ve lived in Michigan and dealt with my fair share of dead batteries issue in the cold, though.

I guess my overall point is that extremes of weather on both ends of the spectrum have significant “insensible losses” well beyond EPA. OPs use seems to be pretty extreme. i think the calculus would be entirely different if there was a garage and at least a trickle charge available.

 

[psx-dude]

Couple of suggestions:

You could try renting one this winter. Or if you have a config close to mine I might buy it from you for the pre-price increase price if it doesn't work out.

Another option is you could always buy and sell it here for that price as well and make a small profit.

 

[Dark-Fx]

. I watch my efficiency drop to 1.2

I was seeing about this at 110 mph in the winter time with snow tires on the truck

 

[AlanP]

Unless your cabin is sooo remote... Perhaps have a 240 outlet installed at a neighbors house and pay them for the electricity. Running out of charge is a nightmare. I've had an EV for 9 years and they aren't always predictable (R1S no exception). Last time I was about 2 miles from home and the range Guesstimator said 10 miles and I didn't make it. LOL

 

[Bristlecone]

Unless your cabin is sooo remote... Perhaps have a 240 outlet installed at a neighbors house and pay them for the electricity. Running out of charge is a nightmare. I've had an EV for 9 years and they aren't always predictable (R1S no exception). Last time I was about 2 miles from home and the range Guesstimator said 10 miles and I didn't make it. LOL

Thanks for that suggestion. Might work. We are pretty remote. Closest neighbors on a road that's plowed are Doomsday Preppers (had to capitalize that because it kept auto-correcting to doomsday prepares.)

 

[Joe schmoe]

Unless your cabin is sooo remote... Perhaps have a 240 outlet installed at a neighbors house and pay them for the electricity. Running out of charge is a nightmare. I've had an EV for 9 years and they aren't always predictable (R1S no exception). Last time I was about 2 miles from home and the range Guesstimator said 10 miles and I didn't make it. LOL

Another possibility is to just carry a small generator for an emergency. If you think the numbers are 95% likely to work and leave you with enough charge to get to a real charger after your stay, a small generator in the frunk could give you an emergency "get out of jail free" card.

It would be annoyingly slow to charge, but there are a number of 2.5kw range generators that would easily fit in the frunk. I'm pretty sure that would be cheaper.

 

[BigSkies]

I understand if you don’t want to share too much, but what highway is it closest to?

Pretty much all the highways in and out of Denver have some charger coverage now. I just stopped at the one in Conifer off 285.

If there’s nothing on your route now, there probably will be in a year.

Even a 10 minute stop 30 miles out of Denver coming and going would probably get you what you need.

 

[R1Thor]

Is it possible that you're snow-shoeing because no vehicles you've previously owned were capable of making the trek?
Maybe the R1S can make it all the way to the cabin, so you'll cut out those extra 2 miles (assuming there's gotta be SOME kind of roadway to have initially taken raw materials back to where the cabin is currently sitting, unless it was truly scratch-built, at which point there's no electricity there anyway, and the entire point is moot...). Just thinking aloud.

 

[usulio]

1) Don't bail until you have to. As others said, EV charging infrastructure will only improve. Hopefully that charger location you mentioned will get more reliable.

2) Doubt the real-world range on the Volvo will actually be better than the Rivian. Will need data.

3) I don't know yet what winter temps will do to range, but on that kind of trip in summer conditions, I'm seeing 300+ miles of range on a quad R1S on 20" ATs. So pretty optimistic about winter trips. I kind of doubt Rivian will get their phantom drain under control any time soon, though.

 

[agentfive]

Why not get a generator to charge when you are there?



What about having solar at the location and a set of ecoflow batteries to charge from or the like?

Does the cabin have no power at all?

 

[VikingMD]

Like the previous poster I was going to say, build a small shed with solar on top and batteries inside at your property entrance. It will be useful for any EV or even if you wanted to drive a camper up you could plug it

in.

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