If you have not watched Edmunds’s latest test with the Rivian R1T, it is one you should not miss. Not only because of the competent review Alistair Weaver and his team shares, but mainly due to what their test reveals: the Rivian R1T is the least efficient EV Edmunds has ever tested. Predictably, we must say.
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The electric pickup truck is a tall vehicle with a considerable frontal area. Beating air resistance with those characteristics is not an easy task. Above all, it is not something a pickup truck will manage to do without having a larger battery pack than most EVs to offer a good range. Aerodynamics and weight punish this electric pickup truck. More than that: they should give a hard time to all such vehicles about to be presented.

Think about the GMC Hummer, which will weigh precisely 9,046 pounds (4,103 kg). Being a Hummer forced it to be massive, with a larger frontal area than the R1T presents. The F-150 Lightning will be smaller than the GMC but still larger than Rivian’s pickup truck. We suspect the R1T will only be the least efficient EV Edmunds ever tested until these other contenders are put for sale.

Despite that, Edmunds put the R1T to the same range test that showed most Tesla vehicles do not meet their EPA ranges. In the Rivian electric pickup truck’s case, it ran 317 miles instead of the EPA number of 314 miles. That’s about 1% longer. Although it means the R1T can beat its official range, it is by so little that would consider that as within the test's margin of error.

As Weaver reminds his viewers, spending 48 kWh per 100 miles makes the R1T an electron-devourer. However, it is still a much cheaper vehicle to run than its combustion-engined counterparts. That’s not due solely to electricity being more affordable than gas or diesel, but also to electric cars being incredibly efficient machines – even large ones such as the Rivian R1T.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1458905811896446977
I hope they’re able to achieve high production & breakeven cash flow. That is the true test. There have been hundreds of automotive startups, both electric & combustion, but Tesla is only American carmaker to reach high volume production & positive cash flow in past 100 years.

The first electric pickup trucks are finally arriving, and the ones we've driven so far—the 2022 GMC Hummer EV and 2022 Rivian R1T—are darned good. But as eye-opening as they've been, one aspect of their performance remains unknown: How well do they handle towing, especially over long distances? That answer, according to one new Rivian owner pulling a car across the country, is pretty well—provided you don't mind stopping to charge for hours every day.

Instagram user and Rivian employee @gideontherivian has been chronicling their trip in an R1T from Detroit to Los Angeles. Along the way, they've heavily relied on DC fast-chargers, often Electrify America stations at Walmart and Sam's Club. They've been towing their Ford Shelby Mustang GT on a twin-axle trailer, which coupled with the truck itself pushes the Rivian's gross vehicle weight to 14,260 pounds. Despite all that mass, the owner reports commendable performance from their truck, saying it's quiet, comfortable, highly resistant to trailer sway, and plenty powerful. It does everything anyone could want of a tow pig—save for traveling long distances without needing to stop.

The owner says they've been tracking range and efficiency along their drive, though they've avoided addressing any questions thereon, only commenting that they marginally increased efficiency by upping tire pressure to their maximum rating of 80 psi. Even so, we think we know what kind of range they're getting between charges, and it probably isn't what you've come to expect from a gas or diesel pickup.

Rivian told us when we drove a (marvelous) pre-production R1T to expect towing to drag down the truck's estimated 314-mile range by 20 to 40 percent. According to the automaker, a trailer's weight is less consequential than its aerodynamic drag. As the owner says they're not charging far past 80 percent to hasten recharges (which slow above that mark) and preserve the battery, and taking it no lower than a 16 percent charge, that means they're using no more than 64 percent of its charge. Multiply those decimals together and they suggest the R1T with a trailer in tow is sustaining 121 to 161 miles per 64-percent charge. Maximum range with that trailer, then, would appear to top out between 188 and 251 miles.

The length of recharges varies widely, too, depending on the condition and layout of the charging station. Some chargers have been straightforward to access with a trailer, with stalls that can be pulled through, while others have required partially blocking traffic past or even unhooking the trailer entirely. Complicating things, not all chargers have worked as intended; some don't put out anywhere near peak wattage, while a fair number of them are out of order. We and our sister site Car Bibles encountered similar problems while testing the Polestar 2.

"On average, we find about one of four chargers at a station is non-functional," said @gideontherivian in an Instagram comment.

Even so, they report averaging 350 miles a day on their trip and traveling as far as 502 miles, though not by running the battery low. Instead, they're stopping every 80 to 100 miles for shorter charges, stating they "increased our [sic] miles per charging time by over 20 percent by driving shorter legs and charging more often."

Still, this long-haul capability isn't in the same league as that offered by internal combustion-engined trucks, which while less refined and more expensive to refuel don't need nearly as long to get back on the road. And if you're the kind of person that can afford a $70,000 pickup truck, it's probably not money that's tight, but time.

The Rivian R1T Is the 2022 MotorTrend Truck of the Year

Dec 13, 2021

"The most remarkable pickup truck we've ever driven." That's how we've previously described the 2022 Rivian R1T, and now it can claim even higher praise as the 2022 MotorTrend Truck of the Year.

Ever since Tesla redefined what an electric car could be with the Car of the Year-winning 2013 Model S, we've waited, wondering about the inevitable application of the EV formula to America's best-selling vehicle class four decades running: the pickup truck. Initially that was a question of time, but as of late, it's been a question of who. In the past few years, credible challengers have arisen, enough of them with sufficient financial backing and technical expertise that we realized we would soon have an answer to both questions.

The Rivian R1T would win praise if it were merely a credible pickup truck that is also an electric vehicle, but it's far more. Not content to simply mount an electric motor or two under the hood or box of a traditional pickup, Rivian used the opportunity to re-examine what a modern pickup truck could be.

Long gone are the days when pickups were simply tools. Today they are, and for the better part of this century have been, family cars, luxury vehicles, off-roaders, lifestyle vehicles, and performance cars of all stripes. Each of these new use cases challenged us to reconsider the definition of "pickup truck," but mostly in ways that broadened our understanding, not ones that fundamentally challenged it.

By rethinking how a pickup truck can be built, how it can be propelled, how it can drive, how its spaces might be used, how we could interact with it, and how to expand its target demographic, Rivian has forced both the industry and the market to reassess expectations. The R1T, however, is not just an intellectual exercise; it is at its core a good truck by traditional definitions, too. Being both is what makes it our 2022 Truck of the Year.


Advancement in Design

Proper proportions play a key role in balancing the R1T's innovative design with traditional sensibilities. Take away the de rigueur EV light bars front and rear, and the R1T looks like a pickup truck, not a science fiction movie prop. But with those bars and particularly its "stadium" headlights, it's immediately identifiable as both an EV and as a Rivian.

Rather than scream in your face, though, Rivian's designers chose simple elements—those lights—to telegraph everything you need to know about the truck. The result also skillfully demonstrates that enormous grilles aren't a necessary element of good truck design.

Inside, Rivian delicately balances the modern, minimalist EV aesthetic with the quality of materials its price demands and the functional requirements of a "true" pickup truck. Although we disagree on principle with the abdication of nearly all essential functions to a touchscreen interface, we recognize it's a popular trend. Rivian executed it well.

Entirely integrating the trailer brake controller into the screens and steering wheel buttons is a particularly clever bit of new thinking that doesn't impede functionality. Likewise for packaging a portable Bluetooth speaker and lantern without sacrificing essential interior cargo space and for providing access to the innovative gear tunnel via the cab.

Above it all is a thoroughly modern and measured use of color and texture on the dash, doors, and seats, which reveals refreshing attention to detail. Sitting inside an R1T feels like being in a $70,000 vehicle regardless of what powers it, who builds it, or what body style it has.


Engineering Excellence

The "skateboard" layout that locates the batteries and electric motors in the frame between the wheels was pioneered two decades ago, but the R1T is the first truck to seriously explore the possibilities such construction offers.

Effectively body-on-frame like traditional pickups, Rivian could've taken the easy way out and bolted a traditional cab and box on top. Instead, the company engineered a unitized cab and pickup box that opens up new design opportunities. Doing so allowed Rivian to incorporate clever storage solutions like the transverse gear tunnel and the integrated tonneau cover while giving up a relatively small amount of bed space. More than that, designers were able to incorporate both features while maintaining classic pickup proportions and still providing a convenient seat or step on either side of the truck with those small access doors.

Similarly, Rivian went further in exploring the technical possibilities offered by its electric drivetrain. Many companies have talked about individual motors for each wheel and the traction and stability advantages they could provide. But Rivian is the first production vehicle to bring the concept to market, and it knocked it out of the park.

Direct, granular control over each wheel allows the R1T to exploit every bit of friction available regardless of surface. On a winding road, the truck's instantaneous torque vectoring makes it handle better than any other pickup on the market and more like a high-performance luxury SUV. Off-road, it digs through sand, sloshes through mud, and climbs over rocks like a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, but with better ground clearance, breakover angle, and departure angle.

A fully independent suspension with air springs, active dampers, and novel cross-linked hydraulic anti-roll bars facilitates much of that capability. The fact it can vary all aspects of wheel travel in real time allows the R1T to go from handling like a Ranger Rover Sport SVR to crawling like a Jeep with the push of a digital button.

What's truly remarkable, though, is that although Rivian clearly designed the R1T for play, at no point did its engineers skimp on the truck's ability to work: 1,760 pounds of payload falls directly between the best midsize truck and entry-level full-size truck, just like the R1T's dimensions. Its 11,000-pound towing capacity, though, is on par with full-size trucks, and its stability, acceleration, and braking while towing up to 9,000 pounds in our testing (the most we asked of it) are unimpeachable.

None of this would matter, of course, if it didn't have the range to get the job done. Rivian's 135-kWh battery (133 usable) provides 314 miles of range, far more than enough for most road trips and off-road adventures. Its ability to charge at 190 kW now, the promised over-the-air upgrade to 300-kW charging, and Rivian's ongoing efforts to install chargers at trailheads, campsites, and parks mean range is no real concern.


Efficiency

Simply by virtue of being fully electric, the R1T is the most energy-efficient pickup truck on the market. Electric motors are simply better at translating electrical energy into work than the best combustion engines are in turning chemical energy (gasoline, diesel, natural gas) into the same. With the R1T's 74/66/70 mpg-e EPA rating, there isn't a gas, diesel, or hybrid truck that comes anywhere close.

Other electric vehicles are even more efficient, but it's important to consider what they are capable of. There isn't another EV on the market today that can tow or haul anywhere close to what the R1T can, nor does any other power as many motors or use those motors in the way this truck does. Doing more work requires more energy, and in this context, the R1T's range and efficiency impress across the board.


Performance of Intended Function

Building any new electric vehicle from the ground up is a monumental challenge, and building an EV pickup is even more so because of the broader range of intended functions. A sedan must get you to your destination mostly on paved roads in reasonable weather. A truck must do that while also allowing you to haul heavy, bulky loads; pull large, heavy trailers; and go far off the paved road. What's more, it must do all those things while offering the same range as an electric sedan. Given that, the R1T is indeed a remarkable achievement.

Although Rivian deliberately designed the R1T to appeal to a wealthier, active-lifestyle audience rather than the blue-collar crowd, the truck isn't limited by this decision. As evidence: It can haul hay bales and pull horse trailers, and it can conquer Moab's famous Hell's Revenge trail. As a truck, it nails its intended function.

Likewise, as a $74,075 luxury vehicle, the quality of materials and construction is commensurate with the price, as is the design applied to them. The technology, from entertainment to active safety features and over-the-air software updates, is equal to that offered in similarly expensive sedans and SUVs. The driving experience is better than any truck made and as good as many sporty luxury SUVs.

It's equally effective as the lifestyle vehicle Rivian markets it as. With the standard gear tunnel and power tonneau cover, it's ready for any camping trip, but buyers can upfit it further from the factory with a pull-out camp kitchen and bed-top tent. A built-in air compressor and the removable speaker/lantern make setting up your campsite all that much easier. And once you hose off the Rivian, it's ready to be valet-parked downtown, at the golf club, or at your favorite high-end restaurant.


Value

No matter how you compare it, the R1T's value stands up. Put it against the only other electric truck out there, the GMC Hummer EV pickup, and the Rivian hauls more, tows more, has a nicer interior, has more storage space, drives better, rides and handles better, is only slightly slower in a straight line, and costs tens of thousands of dollars less.

Stand it next to legacy pickup trucks at the same price point, and it's equally competitive. We'll belabor the point one more time: The quality of design, engineering, materials, and technology on offer are as good as or better than any other high-buck pickup truck you can buy today, not to mention the driving experience and the breadth of capability.


Safety

The R1T's list of active and passive safety equipment, grouped under Driver+ nomenclature, is impressive. Even more noteworthy, every bit of it is standard. Many trucks don't offer this amount of equipment at any price, and no others offer it all as standard.

With everything from the basics like forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking up to Autopilot-like highway driving assistance, the R1T will attempt to back you up at any speed, even while towing. The clear presentation of what the truck's computer "sees" in front, behind, and to the sides reassures the driver it's paying attention and prepared to assist. Rivian's decision to include a driver-facing camera to ensure responsible usage of these aides and future full autonomy is likewise commendable.


Truck of the Year

The long-standing philosophy to frame truck design in the context of commercial work has restricted the freedom to radically redesign the look and layout of such a vehicle. No prior attempt, be it a Chevrolet El Camino or a Honda Ridgeline, has seen the kind of commercial success enjoyed by the traditional pickup design, nor have the innovations introduced by those and similar vehicles seen widespread adoption by the standard-bearers. Although its price point won't support the former, the R1T is uniquely positioned to accomplish the latter in ways that will apply to every walk of truck.

Major truck makers were not prepared to mess with profit, reliability, and tradition to embrace these kinds of ideas on established gas- and diesel-powered, body-on-frame pickups. Easy to build, subject to fewer and less stringent regulations, and serving as massive profit centers, traditional pickups offered sufficient motivation to give the customer more profit-padding features but not to invest into any kind of costly rethink of how a truck is designed and built.

With so many automakers transitioning to skateboard-type EV platforms, though, the opportunity presents itself. Constraints on designers and engineers are suddenly different, granting freedom to try new things. Some won't, at least not at first. As we've already seen from GMC and Ford, they'll incorporate a frunk (front trunk) where the engine used to be and convert the rear suspension to independent, but otherwise it's still the same a body-on-frame contraption. Others, though, will take inspiration from the R1T, and so, too, may the initial holdouts. The skateboard is a blank canvas, and Rivian has demonstrated how to seize the opportunity it provides without offending historic truck-buyer sensibilities.

The 2022 Rivian R1T shows the world a new way to build a pickup and new ways to think about truck design, engineering, and use case. And it gives up almost nothing in capability in the process. It shows us pickups can be for people who never wanted one. It shows us they can be more than leather-lined tools, that commercial applications are not the exclusive starting point in envisioning a new truck. Most important, it shows us they can be electric vehicles—and be better for it.

A brand new Rivian R1T all-electric pickup, one of only about 1,000+ on the roads, crashed into a traffic pole.
According to County News TV, the unfortunate incident happened yesterday (February 9, 2022) in Irvine, California - "on Sand Canyon Avenue at the end of the southbound I-405 Freeway off ramp around 9:54 PM."The report explains that the driver lost control and crashed into a pole, causing the vehicle to catch fire (quickly extinguished by firefighters, which seems to indicate it was not a battery-related fire). It appears to be a total loss. The driver left the vehicle mostly unscathed.
"When authorities arrived on scene they located a grey Rivian R1T that had collided with a traffic pole causing the vehicle to catch fire.

At least one caller reported the vehicle was exiting the freeway at high speeds when it lost control and collided with the pole, according to a California Highway Patrol incident log.

Firefighters quickly doused the flames before they could spread but the vehicle appeared to be a total loss.

The driver of the vehicle, a male adult, declined medical treatment at the scene and appeared to be cooperating with law enforcement."



The cause of the crash might be high speeds, according to the report. Rivian R1T is one of the quickest electric vehicles on the market, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just around 3 seconds. Its top speed is 125 mph (200 km/h). That's a lot for a vehicle that weighs about 6,950 lbs (3,150 kg).

Well, it is probably the first serious crash of the Rivian R1T (customer vehicle) ever. In September, we heard about a R1T pre-production prototype, which crashed into two other parked cars.

When Jeff Wells placed a reservation for a Rivian R1T pickup in early 2019, he was one of the first in line for a truck from the Amazon.com Inc-backed electric vehicle startup that at the time promised to tap in to a niche not served by other automakers.

But Wells, an accountant from Southern California, has become increasingly frustrated as he sees others, who placed their order years after him, receive trucks while he keeps waiting.

"It's just annoying and it feels like there's no order to how they're doing things," he said of Rivian.

Wells is one of dozens of reservation holders who in recent weeks have complained about unreliable delivery timelines and delays in online groups and forums.

The complaints mounted after Rivian Automotive in late April said it was changing the production sequence of vehicles, prioritizing those with specific interior and exterior color and wheel options.

"Building in few build combinations reduces complexity with our suppliers and in the plant and allows us to build a greater number of vehicles," Rivian told customers in an email.

That meant many early reservation-holders sticking with their original color preferences had their orders delayed.

Rivian in a statement to Reuters said delivery dates are not just based on the timing of a preorder, and that it was exploring new ways for customers to expedite deliveries.

Rivian's delivery headaches have not drawn the same attention as the California company's slashed production plans or its messy communication of vehicle price increases, which it first announced across the board, but later scrapped for existing reservation holders following backlash.

But delivery woes could prove just as damaging.

While all automakers are struggling with global supply-chain snarls, including a semiconductor shortage and rising raw- materials costs, startups like Rivian have less room to get things right. Large investors, including Ford and Tiger Global Management, have offloaded Rivian stock after the post-IPO lockup period expired.

Rivian's supporters have largely remained loyal despite the company's chaotic pricing changes. Preorders have increased to 90,000 vehicles even after the price hikes, which now apply only to new reservations.

But delivery delays could prove costly as other automakers launch their own electric pickup trucks, including Ford's F-150 Lightning.

Rivian on May 11 said it was working on overhauling its order system to separate reservations from the configuration process, in an apparent attempt to tackle customer criticism over supply shortages in its order system.

Rivian in the statement said the change allowed for pricing and timing transparency.

'THE WORLD HAS CHANGED'

Rivian's struggles to overhaul its ordering system also reflect wider industry challenges. Inflation and supply-chain snarls have shredded financial forecasts and increased pressure on EV upstarts to reduce costs at a time when investors are closing their check books.

"The markets have closed to every company, good and bad. You have to hunker down and set your priorities, and do whatever it takes to get to the other side," said Daniel Ninivaggi, chief executive at EV startup Lordstown Motors Corp, which this month sold its plant to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn as cash reserves plummeted.

Rivian said it consistently monitored the capital markets and had been planning for an increasingly difficult environment by "optimizing its product roadmap and operating expenses."

At $16 billion, Rivian boasts significantly more cash than Lordstown and other small EV startups, such as Canoo, which this month issued a going-concern warning.

But Rivian burned around $1.2 million per vehicle it delivered in the first quarter and is estimated to spend a total of $7 billion in cash this year, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas.

"I definitely wouldn't put Rivian into the same basket as these other companies, but I think they have a high burden, and they need to show they can deliver," said Vitaly Golomb, a partner at investment bank Drake Star, who leads its EV and mobility practice and is also a Rivian investor and reservation holder.

While Rivian has told investors it had enough cash on hand to open its second U.S. plant for $5 billion in 2025, patience may be wearing thin.

"Since your IPO, the world has changed dramatically, investors just don't want to fund negative EBITDA growth companies in this environment," Jonas said on the company's most recent earnings call with investors, cutting off Rivian Chief Financial Officer Claire McDonough.

Chief Executive RJ Scaringe and McDonough said the company would bring costs under control by simplifying its vehicle lineup and minimizing expenses.

PRICING JOURNEY

Scaringe also said Rivian, like some automakers, believed the worst of the semiconductor shortage was behind it. However, other automakers have said the shortage could last into 2023.

Rivian has not said when it expects to manufacture vehicles at a profit margin. The price increases, which boost the sticker of its basic-level pickup from $67,500 to $79,500, are supposed to improve the economics and offset higher raw-materials costs. They apply to orders placed after March 1.

But industry competitors say making a profit even at that price will be challenging.

Peter Rawlinson, CEO of luxury EV maker Lucid Group and a former engineering executive at Tesla, estimated Rivian spends around $22,000 on its entry-level battery pack, and around $20,000 on drive trains supplied by Robert Bosch GmbH — requiring a vehicle sticker price of $95,000 to return a profit.

"The only way they could ever make that business model work is if they lose money on every truck they sell," he told Reuters in March.

Rivian said it was confident about its "pricing journey." It also said it is working on a lower-cost in-house motor and new battery designs.

For Rivian reservation holder Wells, profit margins matter less. He just wants to get his hands on a truck as soon as possible. While he said he prefers Rivian's R1T, Wells last year also placed a reservation for the F-150 Lightning made by Ford.

"At this point, if Ford comes through first, I think I'll go with them," Wells said.