Sport Mode vs. AT Mode efficiency?

[PhiltheCasual]

Morning, all.

My commute is 90% highway and I'm playing with different ways to gain efficiency. I've seen the posts saying you shouldn't run in conservative mode all the time, because it shreds your front tires. But, one of the features conservative mode does that interests me is being able to bring your ride height all the way down to the lowest setting. My assumption is this reduces your wind profile, making you more efficient.

So, here's what I'm wondering: If you're just cruising on the highway, using cruise control, would you actually save more by being in Sport mode with the ride height all the way down, compared to AT mode? I get that Sport mode might use up more juice if you're heavy on the gas, but if you're just cruising at a steady speed and letting cruise control do its thing for speeding up or slowing down, wouldn't having the lowest ride height in Sport mode mean better efficiency?

I'm curious what you all think,
Phil

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[McMoo]

You might get slightly better efficiency but not more than a few percent and the ride quality is terrible and there will be much more negative camber in low or lowest so the inner part of the tires will wear much quicker. All purpose and normal height for everyday use.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Conserve is fine cruising on the freeway, it's slow speeds and stop and go where it's much worse for tires.

 

[240vPlug]

Conserve is fine cruising on the freeway, it's slow speeds and stop and go where it's much worse for tires.

This! I use conserve on all road trips where I will need to stop and charge unless of course I'm towing. If the weather is dicey I'll also go back to all purpose.

I don't lower the ride height on the highway. I leave it in standard. Low is a much less comfortable ride on anything other than completely smooth highway and the efficiency gain is minimal.

Lowest is only for the brave. I had it in there once or twice and it felt like I had no suspension and was riding on the bump stops.

Some folks who ride in low more often have reported additional wear on the inside edge of the tires.

 

[PhiltheCasual]

You know, I hadn't considered the negative camber effects, but that totally makes sense. I've just heard nightmares about people driving in conserve mode all the time, but literally 90% of my commute being on highway... it really takes a hit on the efficiency! I guess if I rotate my tires often enough it won't be too big of an issue, yeah?

 

[brancky3]

You know, I hadn't considered the negative camber effects, but that totally makes sense. I've just heard nightmares about people driving in conserve mode all the time, but literally 90% of my commute being on highway... it really takes a hit on the efficiency! I guess if I rotate my tires often enough it won't be too big of an issue, yeah?

Just rotate and it won’t be an issue. Also, try to avoid heavier braking on conserve mode - typically if I’m using it on the highway and see a slowdown ahead I will switch to AP mode for the more balanced regenerative braking

 

[diehlryan]

There is no need for conserve mode if your trip already requires you to stop and charge. Conserve, IMO is only to get you to the destination without charging if AT would require charging.

 

[R1Tom]

There is no need for conserve mode if your trip already requires you to stop and charge. Conserve, IMO is only to get you to the destination without charging if AT would require charging.

I agree. I typically only use conserve if I have concerns about making my trip without running out of charge.

 

[RDMD]

Conserve is fine cruising on the freeway, it's slow speeds and stop and go where it's much worse for tires.

Agree. Conserve mode for highway driving lowers the ride and improves efficiency. But the minute I see traffic or my off ramp, back to AP.

 

[ads75]

There is an automatic suspension mode. It lowers you to the low (not lowest) setting when you are at highway speeds, and then raises you back up when you are below freeway speeds. It will show an 'A' next to your ride level indicator. I usually keep it off though because I find the middle level most comfortable.

 

[SoCal Rob]

This! I use conserve on all road trips where I will need to stop and charge unless of course I'm towing. If the weather is dicey I'll also go back to all purpose.

I don't lower the ride height on the highway. I leave it in standard. Low is a much less comfortable ride on anything other than completely smooth highway and the efficiency gain is minimal.

Lowest is only for the brave. I had it in there once or twice and it felt like I had no suspension and was riding on the bump stops.

Some folks who ride in low more often have reported additional wear on the inside edge of the tires.

We do a 200+ mile highway drive almost every weekend and we do exactly what you wrote: Conserve mode with Standard height unless the weather is bad then we use All-Purpose with Standard height. Even with traffic slowdowns and speedups thrown in, after 13,000+ total miles we haven’t seen excessive tire wear on the fronts when rotating and no excessive side wear from non-standard camber at other heights.

Related to Conserve, I wish Rivian would give us the option of prompting the driver to enter Conserve at a user-selectable speed which automatically goes back to the previous mode when the vehicle goes to sleep. I’d set 65 mph as the speed and when we reach that speed it would pop up a garage door opener type dialog with options to Dismiss on the left button, Adjust prompt speed with the scroll wheel, and Conserve mode on the right button. With the auto-exit at sleep, it would prevent the issue of forgetting to manually exit Conserve when you’re not at highway speeds.

edit:typo

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Conserve is fine cruising on the freeway, it's slow speeds and stop and go where it's much worse for tires.

Stop and go, frequent acceleration and deceleration, plus frequent turning… yes. Slow speed not so much since you are just rolling more or less straight, like on highway, just at lower velocity. It’s all action that would cause rapid weight shifts and scrub material from the tires, made worse with suspension angles of low and lowest ride heights (above standard also, but since we’re focused on Conserve).

 

[PhiltheCasual]

We do a 200+ mile drive almost every weekend and we do exactly what you wrote: Conserve mode with Standard height unless the weather is bad then we use All-Purpose with Standard height. Even with traffic slowdowns and speedups thrown in, after 13,000+ total miles we haven’t seen excessive tire wear on the fronts when rotating and no excessive side wear from non-standard camber at other heights.

Related to Conserve, I wish Rivian would give us the option of prompting the driver to enter Conserve at a user-selectable speed which automatically goes back to the previous mode when the vehicle goes to sleep. I’d set 65 mph as the speed and when we reach that speed it would pop up a garage door opener type dialog with options to Dismiss on the left button, Adjust prompt speed with the scroll wheel, and Conserve mode on the right button. With the auto-exit at sleep, it would prevent the issue of forgetting to manually exiting Conserve when you’re not at highway speeds.

Oh I like your idea of auto-conserve when at speed. That'd be really handy.

 

[agentfive]

I have dual AWD and no conserve mode - is my main regular mode conserve mode because we don't have 4 motors?

 

[SoCal Rob]

Oh I like your idea of auto-conserve when at speed. That'd be really handy.

I don’t think it would cause any more cycles of the disconnects than the current manual setup. The benefit is that it would allow us to do with one button press and without looking away from the road what currently is looking down to tap to get to Drive modes screen, check view ahead, look down to tap to select Conserve, check view ahead, and look down to tap to go back to Navigation, Music, etc.

Unless Rivian creates an Enduro QM with similar disconnects and a dedicated Conserve mode, I don’t see them dedicating developer time to this since the Bosch QM population will start decreasing when they stop production of them while the Enduro (auto Conserve/disconnect) population will continue increasing for quite some time… and they don‘t need this.

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