Hello there, Kunal here.
An is a key fob that unlocks this electric truck, which is the most impressive electric truck I’ve ever seen.
R1T Rivian
So it’s brand new, it just hit the streets, and I’m going to drive it for the next 24 hours.
I’m going to write about it every day, live with it, spend some time with it, and then attempt to answer all of the questions that people have had about it that I can.
Because this is such a hyped- up car, there are a lot of questions.
This is perhaps the most promising of the EVs emerging from start- ups.
Of course, we have all of the old automakers promising to electrify their lines, but there’s also a lot of pretty exciting stuff coming from the Teslas, Lucids, and Remixes of the world.
Because of their past with Amazon and Ford, I believe this is the most intriguing of all of them right now.
Rivian’s first consumer vehicle, then.
It’s a pickup truck, to be precise.
It’s known as the R1T.
So I’ve got it in this Pacific blue color, and the basic statistics are as follows: quad motors, one on each 21
inch al
l
–
terrain tire
,
314 miles of range, and 0
–
60
in three seconds flat, which is ridiculously fast for a pickup truck.
Then there’s the launch edition with the adventure package, which comes with a slew of high
–
end interior
features.
It comes with the off
–
road upgrad
e
and almost all of the options.
So it starts at little over $70,000 and quickly rises to the mid
–
eighties or
maybe the nineties.
So it’s clearly premium, but it comes with a lot of features that make it feel like it’s worth the money.
So, first and foremost, what’s wrong with this design, right?
Rivian is a new corporation with no history or design DNA, so they don’t have to worry about keeping specific shapes in mind when creating their car.
They could have made whatever they wanted in the end.
Finally, they decided on this shape for a short bed electric pickup truck.
Personally, I appreciate a lot of the design on this page.
It’s not absolutely out of this world, like a Cyber Truck, but it’s also not completely beneath the radar, like the F150 Lightning; it’s sort of in the middle.
It contains a lot of contemporary shapes and accents.
The bar tail light across the back, which I love, and the face, the bar plus headlights across the front, which takes some getting used to, but I think it’s fairly great, are the two most noticeable features.
The most powerful headlights are on each side, and that’s where the high beams and everything are, but the entire bar light is functioning.
And, if you’re driving it late at night like I was, you’ll quickly discover that.
I particularly like this blue color, which is one of several that they have that I think are very adventurous.
And I have to say, this truck attracts more attention than any other vehicle I’ve ever driven.
I think a lot of it has to do with the face, but more than any other electric car, any McLaren, any Tesla, people were approaching it all day, asking questions and pointing at it.
Right now, it certainly makes a statement.
And, according to someone on Twitter, this truck appears to be both 50 years old and from the future.
That, in my opinion, hits the nail on the head.
Okay, number two, how’s it going in there?
So it’s pretty good, and it doesn’t look like anything else, but if I had to describe it, it’s sort of like if someone mixed the layout of a Tesla with the wood, leather, and metal type finishes of a Volvo, and then put a bunch of extra amenities in it.
So this is the inside color of the Black Mountain.
As a result, the interior is virtually entirely matte black.
And it just gives me the idea that a lot of attention gone into many of the minor details.
Each one features a coat hook and a USB type C port, just as the backs of the seats.
Between the front seats is a wireless charger.
There are a number of hidden surprises in this interior as well, which I’ll explain in a moment.
However, it is still a compact pickup truck in terms of space.
Much smaller than a full
–
size F
–
150,
for example.
When you’re inside, the panoramic glass top makes it feel more roomy, and there’s lots of legroom in the second row, which is great, but I wouldn’t put three people in the center seat from left to right.
I believe there’s a video somewhere of three people riding in the back of a Rivian, and while it’s great and they all fit, I wouldn’t recommend it for a multi-hour road trip.
Okay, so question three, how’s the storage if it’s a small truck?
So here’s the deal: it’s small for a truck, but it’s an electric truck, so there’s no engine under the hood, no transmission running through the middle, and it maximizes inside space in every manner.
So it’s a tiny bed, four and a half feet with the tailgate up, which is plenty for me, but not as big as some other trucks.
There’s supposed to be a bed cover, but it wasn’t working on this early model I’m driving. That’ll give you roughly 29 cubic feet, which can be extended a little to a seven-foot length.
When you open the tailgate, this extra piece slips down between the bed and the gate to make room for larger goods.
There’s even space underneath the bed for an optional full-sized spare, which has a drain plug in case you wanted to use it as a chiller or something.
Then there’s a fully operated lift gate in front, which displays a large front trunk.
And, once again, this is a fantastic pickup truck.
The fact that it powers up and down like a regular trunk and even has this little button underneath the front headlights to open and close it to me, it’s so convenient that I kind of feel like I’d use this more than the back, like for covered locked storage, this is great, this is great for a pickup truck.
There is also a lot of storage within the vehicle.
It’s funny because there’s no typical place for a glove box.
It’s just leather paneling here, but this very deep center console has a ton of storage where you can clip documents and other items that would normally go in the glove box.
The doors have storage space.
There’s storage in a small pocket at the front of the front seats, which is a little strange yet cool.
In the centre between the front seats, there are actually pop
–
out cup holders
.
Of course, there’s storage in the rear seat, but there’s even more concealed storage behind the back seats.
Then there’s the gear tunnel, which is maybe the most recognizable extra area on the entire truck.
So, right between the rear wheel and the back seats, there’s this column gap with a cover on both sides.
It’s actually a lot of fun.
I’m not sure what you’d use this area for when it’s empty, but it might theoretically fit a whole set of golf clubs, or a couple of backpacks or something, and it can certainly fit some larger duffel bags.
It has the ability to accommodate a human body.
We have to try, you know.
On Twitter, several of you had inquired.
But it’s not simply the available space that’s beneficial.
On either side of the tunnel, there are power outlets.
Furthermore, the doors that open on both sides are powerful enough to support up to 300 pounds.
You can sit on it, and you can even use it as a step to climb over and into the truck’s bed, and there’s even more storage behind those doors.
And, if the cargo you’re transporting is valuable, you can access the gear tunnel from within the vehicle.
You may reach inside behind this cover into the middle of the gear tunnel to retrieve anything you have in here by pulling that arm rest down from between the backseats.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it in a vehicle.
And, yes, I enjoy it.
So, only based on the spec sheet, this tiny pickup truck has a total storage capacity of 68 cubic feet.
That’s enormous.
So, how does it drive, number four?
Although I understand that most people don’t buy pickup trucks for the way they drive, if you do, this is a really stunning truck to drive.
Now, as you can see, this one rides on 21
inch all
–
terrain wheels,
so it’s clearly not set up to drive like a sports car, but when you combine quad motors with 800+ horsepower and a world
–
class air suspension,
it doesn’t matter how much the truck weighs; it absolutely hauls.
It’s incredible to get from zero to sixty in three seconds flat.
After that, it slows down, but that is a ridiculously fast period for a truck, and it feels fast.
There are a few distinct driving modes to discuss as well.
You can leave it in all
–
purpose mode
most of the time and it will handle almost any daily driving circumstance.
For how much clearance and ride height you require, the air suspension has a huge range of adjustability.
There are a few possibilities as well.
You can choose between a hard or soft ride, as well as a low or high brake region, which I’ve maintained as high as possible while driving because it’s actually tuned for one pedal driving, which is fantastic, and stability on or off.
So, yeah, it’s insane on the road.
I know I said it before, but 0 to 60 in three seconds flat, and that’ll be in sport mode, where you can also have a firm ride.
And the suspension does really stiffen, which reduces roll.
I just had it for a day, so I couldn’t take it to a racetrack or anything, but it’s a pickup truck, and I’ve never had so much fun driving one.
As a result, it’s ideal for highway travel.
It also has a relatively small turning radius for a truck, thanks in part to the torque vector generated by having one motor at each wheel.
There’s now a preserve mode, which is useful for conserving battery life and optimizing range if you’re going on a road trip.
In sport and conservation modes, it really does hunker down the suspension for the optimum aerodynamic efficiency and hard ride.
But I’m sure the majority of people are more interested in the off
–
road
stuff, which comes in a variety of forms, including automatic, rock crawl, rally, and drift mode, as well as casual.
Now, in the couple of hours that I’ve been out here near the studio in New Jersey, I didn’t get to go really off
–
road,
but I did take it off on a dirt path that I would never take my vehicle on, and it handled it with ease with these tires, as you’d expect.
It was actually a pretty good demonstration of how the suspension can shift from very stiff to incredibly flexible and adaptable, absorbing all of the pebbles and terrain.
As a result, this truck is capable of much more off
–
roading than
I was able to give it.
Metal plating is used on the bottom, and there are even more aggressive off
–
road tire packages available.
On the JerryRigEverything channel, Zach has a nice video where he gets to put it through some rock crawling and the thing eats anything you throw at it.
That’s the thing: it does it in silence as well.
We all know EVs are quiet, but there’s something about driving over mud or pebbles in nature and not drowning out everything with the sound of the engine, but instead just hearing the tires.
Off
–
roading
was therefore unnaturally quiet, but in a nice way.
So, number five, what distinguishes the Rivian from other electric vehicles or trucks?
As a little pickup truck, the design factor is obviously interesting, but they’re also leaning heavily into the adventure theme.
This is designed to be more of an adventure vehicle than a regular truck.
And while that may appear cheesy at first, they’re throwing all they’ve got at it to live up to it.
They’re really throwing everything they’ve got at this.
So, look, in the driver’s side door, there’s a secret flashlight that clicks away, and it’s powered by one of the car’s batteries.
It even has one of those same cells inside, and it just sits here, charging wirelessly in case you need it, and it’s a true, super bright flashlight.
According to the tale, they accomplished this because there are 7,776 of these batteries in the bottom of the truck, and RJ, the founder, was just looking for a good number, thus the flashlight had to happen.
That’s a great small addition in any case.
Not only are there full outlets in the trunk, but there’s also an air compressor with a 150 PSI capacity and a 20
–
foot
hose that can reach all four tires, allowing you to practically pump your tires with the truck’s built
–
in
compressor or do whatever else you want with it.
It’s simply there whenever you need it.
And, if you look beneath the center armrest, you’ll notice a second Bluetooth speaker from the car sound system that basically lives there and wirelessly charges all the time.
It has a large battery, LEDs, and a USB
–
C c
onnection for charging your phone.
It can easily serve as the focal point of a camping trip or any other experience that takes place in the vicinity of this vehicle.
That’s a bit of a sick joke.
That’s fantastic.
Then there’s the gear tunnel, which is full of possibilities.
So it already has a full
–
siz
e
outlet and plenty of room inside, but there’s a $5,000 camp kitchen option on their site that expands to show a 1400 Watt stove top, a four gallon water tank, a countertop, and a 30 piece cutlery set, all while sitting in the back of your truck.
It’s just that the whole thing effortlessly fits back into the tube after you’re done with it, which is rather astounding.
There’s still more that can go back here, and I’m sure there will be more third
–
party
gear to slot into the gear tunnel in the future.
It’s fantastic.
The icing on the cake is that, instead of a horn, this adventure vehicle emits a natural
–
sounding
locking sound.
(sounds of a bird chirping)
So, number six, what’s the status of the charge situation?
It’s electric, as I mentioned, with a range of 314 miles, which is rather impressive.
For the time being, there’s simply public and home chargers, which it will happily lead you to on the map, which is good.
The spec sheet claims that it can charge at 200 kilowatts per second.
With around 35 percent power left, I came to a halt near the studio at an Electrify America station.
While the station claims to support 150 kilowatts, the automobile never reached that level and was said to take an hour to charge the remaining two
–
thirds of the battery.
So, with a lot of these EVs, this is part of the major early question.
They are currently unable to use the Tesla supercharging network.
And this is supposed to be the type of car you want to take on adventures in.
So you don’t want to think about how much range you have left; instead, you’d rather drive off into the woods and forget about it.
So, hopefully, the Rivian adventure network that they promise will begin to take shape soon.
Now, if you’re a day one client purchasing a truck today, that option isn’t available now, but Rivian plans to establish a network of fast charges in the most convenient spots for adventures, similar to Tesla’s supercharger network.
It charges quickly, and you can monitor it via the app, among other things.
We’ll see, it’s being constructed, and I’ll believe it when I see it.
The best part about charging the Rivian is that when you connect it in and turn it on, the front led bar light becomes green and starts pulsing.
On camera, it appears a little strange, but it’s fantastic.
I thought I noticed somewhere that it was supposed to operate like a progress bar and light up from left to right as the charge progressed, but it doesn’t.
Perhaps that would attract too much attention, or perhaps it will be added as part of a software update, but it does light up green.
But, you know what, when it comes to software, what is the software situation, number seven?
So this whole automobile, it has some screens inside, and Rivian created the entire UI in
–
house.
There’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto; it’s all Rivian software from the ground up.
I had high hopes that it would be fantastic.
It’s a California corporation, after all.
I’d say it’s quite useful, and I believe it’s actually planned out very well.
Similar to Tesla, you have a dock at the bottom for arranging items, although it isn’t as responsive.
And it feels like the map is super slow and laggy, especially when manipulating it, but thankfully, this is something that can be improved with future iterations, and yes, Rivian is one of the car companies that will be pushing over
–
the
–
air software updates
to all of their cars, which they can download using the built
–
in cell connection or wifi,
which is great to see.
Plus, it implies they can add new features later if they think of something amazing.
As of right now, it’s evident by the amount of activity on this 16
–
inch touchscreen
that they were greatly influenced by Tesla.
I’m sure many former Tesla employees now working at Rivian would agree, but it’s the dock at the bottom, as I indicated, and they have a security camera mode, not Century mode, called Gear Guard, and it’s a little more advanced since it can connect to a cable that comes with the car.
So if you tie anything down and someone comes along and tampers with the cable, it will automatically record and sound the alarm, but it already has that set up.
The air conditioning, as well as the way the vents move, are all controlled by software, exactly like Tesla.
The single scroll wheel and a pair of buttons on either side of the steering wheel are identical to those on the Tesla.
And, as Quinn pointed out in his video, the way you change the mirrors and steering wheel is identical to what we’ve been doing with Teslas for years.
So there’s a lot of inspiration in the software department, which is great, but I’m looking forward to it growing even better.
So, number eight, while we’re on the subject of Tesla software, Rivian has a driver assistance feature called Driver Plus.
What exactly is it?
What exactly does Driver Plus do?
So, based on my experience, it’s just a standard set of driver assistance features that I’ve seen in a variety of other vehicles.
It’s not advanced autopilot by any means, but it does adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, cross traffic warnings, emergency braking, and other safety features using the 11 cameras, radar, and ultrasonic sensors located throughout the vehicle.
On some highways, there is a full
–
on highway aid t
hat will do all the steering, braking, and accelerating for you.
You literally engage in the same way that a Tesla does.
You turn it on by pulling down on the drive stock all the way twice, and it should keep you in that lane and turn the wheel for you.
I was able to test it out a few times and observed that it was really finicky about when it engaged.
It would just notify me that driver assistance was unavailable, as it does on many routes with any turns.
It wouldn’t turn on sometimes, even on large highway straightaways, if I wasn’t in the middle of the lane on the straightaway, but once it did, it worked and kept me going.
It has the ability to make light turns.
It’s all right.
It does not assist you in changing lanes.
To be clear, you’ll have to disconnect it, change lanes manually, and then re
–
engage it
.
However, it’s possible that this can be adjusted with a software update.
Okay, number nine, how does that stack up against the other options?
You’re talking about the other electric pickup trucks, right?
That, I believe, is the logical question; after all, the Cyber Truck is coming, the F
–
150 Lightning is
on the way, and maybe the Hummer 2 is on the way.
So, the Cyber Vehicle is at least a year away, but if we give it the benefit of the doubt and they produce what they claim, it should surpass the Rivian at the same price, but it’s also a much bigger truck with a very, very different style.
At that price, it’ll be a cyber truck with three motors.
It can tow 14,000 pounds, while the Rivian can only tow 11,000 pounds.
Of course, Cyber Truck has the advantage of Tesla superchargers, a longer expected range, and much, much better software, but it also has the yoke and a crazily sparse cabin, so the F
–
150 Lightning could be a better analogy.
As a result, they’re nearly the same.
The range is also really similar, around the same, but that’ll be a considerably bigger truck, physically speaking, and the Hummer is the same way, it’s just absurdly huge.
I’m not sure whether anyone has a crush on that.
Personally, based on how much fun I’ve had with this, I’d go for the Rivian every time.
And for a variety of reasons, I believe it is the most promising.
Because of its size, range, and comfort, it is the most usable on a daily basis.
The powered front and gear tunnel are my favorites, and it’s a blast to drive.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the Rivian adventure network.
Except for this small plastic lock on the gear tunnel storage compartment, fit and quality were perfect almost elsewhere inside the truck.
It could have been metal or anything like that, but whatever.
And it appears that they will begin delivering very shortly.
I believe the first ones are already out in the wild.
Now for the big one: number ten.
Should you purchase it?
Well, this isn’t a thorough review because I’ve only had the truck for about 30 hours, but if you’ve had $70,000 to spare and need a pickup truck on a daily basis, I’d put this one on your shortlist.
It’s a lot of fun.
Rivian now offers an SUV, the R1S.
It has a shorter wheelbase, but it’s essentially the same adventure vehicle without the truck bed.
That should be interesting to see.
Overall, it’s fantastic to see real, genuine competition begin to fill the void.
Someone on Twitter seemed to wonder whether this was a Tesla killer or something.
aNo, not every electric vehicle that comes out needs to be a Tesla killer.
Even though the Tesla truck isn’t currently available, the arrival of high
–
quality
electric trucks will improve the industry as a whole.
As a result, they all encourage one another, which I adore.
As a result of this, the entire industry’s transition to electricity has sped up a little bit.
Rivian was kind enough to let me use this for a day.
I hope you enjoy this sneak peek.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in the next installment.
Peace.