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Would you buy now (yes) or wait (no): Poll

Would you buy now or wait?


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    167

sacramentoelectric

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I've had my R1T for several months now and I love the truck for what it is. I love single pedal driving, the speed and handling, utility and attention this truck gets.

But after an insanely long trip home (for the distance traveled) I am looking at selling the truck and going back to ICE for my daily, towing and long trips. I have trouble justifying a 7k lb vehicle that is only convenient for around town driving.

With the current electric infrastructure and speed of charging for these trucks (they suck battery like crazy), it doesn't make sense to do long distances, tow or tow long distances in them. For those of you with nothing else going on that love hanging out in the paring lot of Walmart for 45 min to an hour after 2 1/2 hours of driving, good for you.

I spent two hours charging on a 320 mile one way trip this weekend. That does not include the 30 min wait for a charger to become available. The feeling of being trapped with no options is not something I want in a do everything adventure vehicle. Even charging at home is somewhat inconvenient. My charger is maxing out at 6mph, and can only charge between midnight and 6a, otherwise the cost of charging is WAY higher than fuel. It will take my truck 3 days of charging to get to the 70% limit I have set daily.

Do I love the power? Obviously! Do I love how it turns heads? Duh?! Do I love Rivian's design and mentality? YES! Am I willing to compromise my time for all that? That's a NO. If the network was better, it would be a yes across the board. But at the current moment, it's too early for me.

Forest Green R1T with 2k miles hitting an auction near you soon
I'm curious why it took so long. Were you using a dc fast charger when you were on the road or level 2? The latter isn't really suited for road trips. Your profile says you live in California. Our ev charging infrastructure is pretty well developed although there are certainly rural areas without dc fast charging. I've been road tripping EVs for years in CA and it's never taken me close to that long to travel.

No way I could own an ev if I didn't have at least a 40amp 220 plug at home. Not your fault if this is your first ev but someone should have told you that's a requirement. If you need to do a lot of towing, I wouldn't want an ev either.
 

SD R1T

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What amperage is your charger? I am able to get 24miles range each hour with a 48 amp charge setting and 60 amp breaker. I would imagine charging at 1/4 that would make me frustrated. That is part of the reason I spent extra up front to have the electrician run a wire that could support the full 48 amp charge rate.

I can understand if you are towing a lot and traveling long distances, an EV is not nearly as convenient as ICE at this point.
It's basically 30amp at this point, missing the last wire. I don't own the house and based on the placement of the old RV hookup, they'd have to run conduit around the side of the whole house, not a good look. Either way, the rate at which the truck can burn through battery is so much greater than an ICE at full throttle. Not to mention the mileage lost if it sits for a few days without being driven or charged.
 

mabowden

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If there way a buy it now button, i would've hit it months ago.
 

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SD R1T

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I'm curious why it took so long. Were you using a dc fast charger when you were on the road or level 2? The latter isn't really suited for road trips. Your profile says you live in California. Our ev charging infrastructure is pretty well developed although there are certainly rural areas without dc fast charging. I've been road tripping EVs for years in CA and it's never taken me close to that long to travel.

No way I could own an ev if I didn't have at least a 40amp 220 plug at home. Not your fault if this is your first ev but someone should have told you that's a requirement. If you need to do a lot of towing, I wouldn't want an ev either.
In the central coast (SLO area), the options passed LA are rough. And I drive quickly, with the cruise set at it's max (85mph), the battery suck is fast, especially with the wind. I have the wall charger, but I don't own the house and the owners didn't want conduit running all the way around it since they don't have an electric vehicle.
 

SD R1T

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I'm curious why it took so long. Were you using a dc fast charger when you were on the road or level 2? The latter isn't really suited for road trips. Your profile says you live in California. Our ev charging infrastructure is pretty well developed although there are certainly rural areas without dc fast charging. I've been road tripping EVs for years in CA and it's never taken me close to that long to travel.

No way I could own an ev if I didn't have at least a 40amp 220 plug at home. Not your fault if this is your first ev but someone should have told you that's a requirement. If you need to do a lot of towing, I wouldn't want an ev either.
They were fast chargers charging at between 160-260mph. The truck said it only needed 40 min charge at each, but they would get me home with 20 miles range. I've seen that vanish quickly, so the extra 20 min was for insurance. And I needed it, the truck estimated my range at arrival at 80 miles. When I pulled into my driveway, the range was 18 miles. With limited towing options, I am not taking chances with running out of juice on this thing.

Even if I charged the suggested time and went the limit, thats an extra 80 min on top of a 5 hour trip. Gas stops would have been 10 min tops
 

sacramentoelectric

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They were fast chargers charging at between 160-260mph. The truck said it only needed 40 min charge at each, but they would get me home with 20 miles range. I've seen that vanish quickly, so the extra 20 min was for insurance. And I needed it, the truck estimated my range at arrival at 80 miles. When I pulled into my driveway, the range was 18 miles. With limited towing options, I am not taking chances with running out of juice on this thing.

Even if I charged the suggested time and went the limit, thats an extra 80 min on top of a 5 hour trip. Gas stops would have been 10 min tops
Idk, maybe give it another try? If you are leaving with a full charge, you've got over three hours of driving at 85mph before you have to charge. If you're pulling into a dcfc with 20% battery or less, you should be able to get about 140 of range in 20 minutes. You shouldn't need to charge 80 minutes to drive five hours. That's not typical. But if you value speed over anything else, gas is still going to be faster. If you road trip again, you're better off not charging 40 minutes at a time. You'll be more efficient unplugging when your charge rate starts to drop and if you're trying to minimize your travel time, slowing down from 85 will actually get you to your destination faster. Have a look at what the ev cannonball guys pulled off. Their average speed was 64mph and they usually only charged from 10% to 50%.
 

SD R1T

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Idk, maybe give it another try? If you are leaving with a full charge, you've got over three hours of driving at 85mph before you have to charge. If you're pulling into a dcfc with 20% battery or less, you should be able to get about 140 of range in 20 minutes. You shouldn't need to charge 80 minutes to drive five hours. That's not typical. But if you value speed over anything else, gas is still going to be faster. If you road trip again, you're better off not charging 40 minutes at a time. You'll be more efficient unplugging when your charge rate starts to drop and if you're trying to minimize your travel time, slowing down from 85 will actually get you to your destination faster. Have a look at what the ev cannonball guys pulled off. Their average speed was 64mph and they usually only charged from 10% to 50%.
This was my return trip, the airBnB didn't a charger and there is only one charger in the town I left from. I decided to trust the map routing as opposed to just charging before getting on the road. I'll likely be replacing this with a Cayenne S, so towing distance increases and I get CarPlay back!
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