Rivian R1T Tows a Sports Car Cross-Country

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Pretty interesting article:


Corresponding video expands on things a bit more than the article, but also can’t be skimmed:


Summary: a Rivian employee and their spouse drove a Rivian R1T 2500 miles one-way (so 5000 miles round trip) while towing a roughly 6000 pound load (combination of aluminum car trailer and a Mustang on it). The couple provided a scale ticket showing the entire rig, with them and their luggage in the truck, weighed over 14,000 pounds. TFL estimates they got roughly 100 miles per charge, running the battery between 16% and 80% which maximizes charging speed.

Charge time was variable because the chargers put out varying amounts of current. No numbers are provided for how long charge times were.

As a comparison to TFL’s previous pure electric towing test when they tried to tow a small (2000 pound) overland trailer to Oregon, they got 100 miles per charge with a Tesla Model X. So the R1T did significantly better given it was towing 3x the weight. It would be interesting to see what it’s range would be with a 2000 pound trailer instead for a more direct comparison.
 
It seems that trip likely took weeks instead of days. Possible yes. Too much time charging for sure.

I’m definitely not crapping on electric trucks. I was really interested in the lightning. However until they come out with an electric truck that can tow for at least 3/400 miles on a single charge I’m out.
 
It seems that trip likely took weeks instead of days. Possible yes. Too much time charging for sure.

I’m definitely not crapping on electric trucks. I was really interested in the lightning. However until they come out with an electric truck that can tow for at least 3/400 miles on a single charge I’m out.
Agreed. That's why I would be interested in the 2000 pound trailer range. Obviously not something folks on this forum would generally be interested in, but could still be a viable towing market depending on what that range works out to.

100 miles? LOL So an hour and 40 minutes of driving followed by
4 hours of whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear?
How romantic!

So basically 20 mph.
Assuming they were stopping at DC Fast Chargers (pretty safe assumption) that normally provide 150KW of power, that puts charge time at roughly an hour. I roughed that out in my head first, but this other article also guesses about an hour of charge time to reinforce that number: https://insideevs.com/news/552133/rivian-r1t-towed-2700miles/

Not saying that immediately fixes the problem and means towing 6000 pounds a long distance is viable with the R1T, but that's dramatically closer to feasible than your 4 hour statement and, again, has me wondering what range would be like with a lighter trailer as that may be practical for longer distances.

Additionally, for around town 100 miles of range is plenty. So if someone's towing needs are local then the R1T is pretty compelling.
 
So if my math is right 2500 mile trip. Divided by 100 mile range at an hour charge equals 25 hours of charging. That’s a lot of extra time on a 3/4 day trip. Not impossible but still. This is not including some of these charges will be meal stops and overnight stays.
 
So if my math is right 2500 mile trip. Divided by 100 mile range at an hour charge equals 25 hours of charging. That’s a lot of extra time on a 3/4 day trip. Not impossible but still. This is not including some of these charges will be meal stops and overnight stays.
Yep, that sounds about right to me. You could assume three of those stops each day are tied to something else (lunch, dinner, and an overnight stay). But that's still a lot of extra time spent charging.
 
I want to like the idea of a electric truck but technology just isn't there for towing. If I was just going to and from work it would be great but no way it's taking me and the family camping with our travel trailer. Maybe one day.
 
Additionally, for around town 100 miles of range is plenty. So if someone's towing needs are local then the R1T is pretty compelling.

I think that’s the bit that’s most people here overly discount.

The Tremor, for most members here, is a glorified RV. An aerodynamically unoptimized long-distance hauler.

That’s not a great use case for electric until very rapid battery charging or swapping is readily available. (*Clears throat…*)


But, the Super Duty — for the vast majority of buyers — is an in-town tow pig.

That’s a great use case for electric on a purely linear trajectory of the technology. (Yet this technology is currently advancing on an exponential trajectory.)

The only thing stopping an electric Super Duty at this point is the market:
- Demographics that are changing quickly (Gen Alpha isn’t playing around and doesn't care what the Millennials, Gen Xers, and late Boomers here believe)
- and Licensed Weight Restrictions limiting towing capacity for non-commercial drivers. But the energy-per-pound of battery is not static and is rapidly approaching the point where a feasible medium-duty truck at current towing capacities is realistic:

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Electric trucks are going to takeover quickly.

In a short 10-15 years, unless we’re deep in the throws of societal collapse, we’re going to be able to come back to these threads and laugh at the naïveté. While then 30-something Gen Alpha’s drive circles around us in their 4000 lb-ft Mega Duties cackling at us old guys who thought 1000 lb-ft was cool.
 
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4 hours of whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear?

So if my math is right 2500 mile trip. Divided by 100 mile range at an hour charge equals 25 hours of charging. That’s a lot of extra time on a 3/4 day trip. Not impossible but still. This is not including some of these charges will be meal stops and overnight stays.

Yep, that sounds about right to me. You could assume three of those stops each day are tied to something else (lunch, dinner, and an overnight stay). But that's still a lot of extra time spent charging.

The Rivian charge time from 10-80% is 30 minutes. Unless I missed something, the video says they stayed between 16%-80%. Implying sub-30 minute charge times.

A sub 30 minute stop every 100 miles doesn’t sound that bad. That’s like road-tripping with children.

Also noting, ~35% of range left on the table here if this was a more typical regional run from 100% to empty.
 
Makes me feel better about the expected towing range of my (hopefully soon to arrive) 7.3L Tremor!

Electric is awesome today for around town and offroading but battery density and charging will need to improve for serious consideration of towing as a use case.
 
The Rivian charge time from 10-80% is 30 minutes. Unless I missed something, the video says they stayed between 16%-80%. Implying sub-30 minute charge times.

A sub 30 minute stop every 100 miles doesn’t sound that bad. That’s like road-tripping with children.

Also noting, ~35% of range left on the table here if this was a more typical regional run from 100% to empty.
Ohhh it's that fast for 10-80%? Dang, that does start to get into a pretty practical range!
 
Totally impractical for 95% of all real commercial and recreational towing needs. Also keep in mind that these kind of tests are in new vehicles with new batteries. Put 150 charge cycles on that truck and than run the test again. Do the same at 250 cycles the practicality will fall off a cliff. At that point most of our truck will be well broke in and running in great form.
 
So if my math is right 2500 mile trip. Divided by 100 mile range at an hour charge equals 25 hours of charging. That’s a lot of extra time on a 3/4 day trip. Not impossible but still. This is not including some of these charges will be meal stops and overnight stays.

Other then rich old guys, who can afford the extra 25 hours on such a road trip, unless you are young and sleep in the truck you will end up with a extra hotel stay & hopefully the hotel has a charger

Plus, how many charging stations can you use without unhooking the trailer? I’ve yet to see any pull thru stations & they are all set up/sized for smaller cars

I’m also curious how they heat the interior of the truck and how much juice it takes, I’ve seen videos of winter crashes that block the roads and highway for hours and hours, now yes this can be a problem for a gas/diesel vehicle, but the question is how does the electrical vehicle heat the cab & how long will it last?

Idk, to me personally the Hybred plug in makes the most sense from all aspects at this point in time
 
The problem with road trips at the moment is when your not first in line to charge up.

Wonder if you can push them into a charging station when you run out of electricity?
 
Totally impractical for 95% of all real commercial and recreational towing needs. Also keep in mind that these kind of tests are in new vehicles with new batteries. Put 150 charge cycles on that truck and than run the test again. Do the same at 250 cycles the practicality will fall off a cliff. At that point most of our truck will be well broke in and running in great form.

I won't argue with re: 95% commercial and recreational towing needs. I made a similar point in another thread talking about the Ford Lightning. But for a weekend warrior type pulling a little pop-up camper or teardrop trailer to a campground a couple of times a year, I think this would be fine. Someone pulling a heavier trailer around town (for a 2-man landscaping crew, for instance) it would be more than adequate.

To address the "150 cycles, 250 cycles" thing...modern NCM chemistry batteries have much improved longevities to the point that they typically warrant their capacity at over 80% after 800-1000 cycles (a cycle meaning 100% to 0% and then back again to 100%). Given this test was 80%-16%, this test sequence would give over 1000 charges before the batteries had degraded to 80% capacity. Definitely not a "heavy duty" use case, but again..that's not who the Rivian is being marketed to.
 
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A guy I know did a detailed spreadsheet of his charging times and costs. He said that on the road it seems like half the chargers at any given time are out of order. Then he says you need multiple apps to pay for them and charging times vary wildly as does price. He concludes that he's been paying the equivalent of $3/gallon.
 
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