Who would of thought, Rivian RT1 takes on Hell's Gate

[dondonbabyraptor]

Give me a Maverick FX4 with no liabilities and I’ll run that damn thing up as hard as I can with an experienced spotter. I say my chances are better than flipping a coin.

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[Markubis]

I like the look of the truck.

Until I get to the headlights...would have looked cool if they were round. These make it look like a smiley face emoji.

 

[staryoshi]

I like the look of the truck.

Until I get to the headlights...would have looked cool if they were round. These make it look like a smiley face emoji.

I can see that a bit. Kinda like the Mazda smile Once seen, can't be unseen. I still like it.

 

[rydfree]

I'd also bet this gets greater than 300 miles offroading since you're not really using much energy when crawling. Someone recently hyper-miled an electric vehicle and doubled the range but only drove at 25mph the whole way. And while you are using energy going up, you gain the energy going back down with regen breaking.

Uh , No way . There's a huge difference in driving 25mph down a hwy and constantly using torque in an off road type enviroment . You also don't gain the energy back during regen braking , you gain a little back .

I was hoping to put a deposit down on a Rivian when 1st revealed but could not get over the Ford Edsel front end . The rest of the truck is nice but that front end is butt ugly to me . There's a lot of cool tech going on there though . It would be a fun vehicle.

 

[DeathRanger]

Uh , No way . There's a huge difference in driving 25mph down a hwy and constantly using torque in an off road type enviroment . You also don't gain the energy back during regen braking , you gain a little back .

I was hoping to put a deposit down on a Rivian when 1st revealed but could not get over the Ford Edsel front end . The rest of the truck is nice but that front end is butt ugly to me . There's a lot of cool tech going on there though . It would be a fun vehicle.

This is extremely easy to calculate. all we need is watt/hours per minute. the thing is electric motors use no energy when not moving. so if you are only slowly spinning the tires your energy usage will be extremely low. therefor, trudging along and crawling at slow speeds would use very little energy. I'm not saying it will be double mileage like hypermiling, but it should be more than the highway rated range of 300 miles

You could start at top of hill with a low charge and then drive down the mountain and gain regen breaking to end at bottom with more charge than you started.

 

[JesseS]

This is extremely easy to calculate. all we need is watt/hours per minute. the thing is electric motors use no energy when not moving. so if you are only slowly spinning the tires your energy usage will be extremely low. therefor, trudging along and crawling at slow speeds would use very little energy. I'm not saying it will be double mileage like hypermiling, but it should be more than the highway rated range of 300 miles

You could start at top of hill with a low charge and then drive down the mountain and gain regen breaking to end at bottom with more charge than you started.

The regen braking gained depends on several factors, not the least of which is how much energy the system needs to 'stay alive', how steep and long the hill is, deceleration force, how efficient the regen system is, and the terrain. The Tesla has a regen of about 64%, which does not mean it recharges at 64% of capacity but you get back 64% of your expended energy, a different thing entirely. The range of regen energy capture for electric vehicles is 17-70%. But you will always use more power than you gain back by a large factor. And that loss ratio increses when climbing hills.

 

[JesseS]

Give me a Maverick FX4 with no liabilities and I’ll run that damn thing up as hard as I can with an experienced spotter. I say my chances are better than flipping a coin.

Seeing as how the Maverick does not have lockers, low range, or trail control I will bring the popcorn and a chair to watch.

 

[DeathRanger]

My example case is this. An electric dump truck that never plugs in to charge, it merely travels downhill with extra weight to recharge battery.

https://www.wired.com/story/this-huge-electric-dump-truck-never-needs-to-plug-in/

 

[rydfree]

This is extremely easy to calculate. all we need is watt/hours per minute. the thing is electric motors use no energy when not moving. so if you are only slowly spinning the tires your energy usage will be extremely low. therefor, trudging along and crawling at slow speeds would use very little energy. I'm not saying it will be double mileage like hypermiling, but it should be more than the highway rated range of 300 miles

You could start at top of hill with a low charge and then drive down the mountain and gain regen breaking to end at bottom with more charge than you started.

I believe it was TFL that tested a Wrangler 4XE on battery only and got less than half of the miles than it did on the hwy on just a light off road trail .

 

[D Fresh]

My example case is this. An electric dump truck that never plugs in to charge, it merely travels downhill with extra weight to recharge battery.

https://www.wired.com/story/this-huge-electric-dump-truck-never-needs-to-plug-in/

Key words...

"With added weight."

Your post said you get all the energy used going uphill back when going downhill.

@JesseS simply corrected you that no, in fact you get SOME of it back.

Your example is a unique situation. They are moving the rock downhill and returning uphill EMPTY.

Most likely you won't have an endless supply of rocks for your electric vehicle at the top of every hill. Or want to stop to load them.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Key words...

"With added weight."

Your post said you get all the energy used going uphill back when going downhill.

@JesseS simply corrected you that no, in fact you get SOME of it back.

Your example is a unique situation. They are moving the rock downhill and returning uphill EMPTY.

Most likely you won't have an endless supply of rocks for your electric vehicle at the top of every hill. Or want to stop to load them.

Geez Doug. Next thing you know, you’ll tell us there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine either. ?

 

[D Fresh]

Geez Doug. Next thing you know, you’ll tell us there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine either. ?

Have you ever flown through Denver International Airport? I used to work on the train system there. One section of the tunnel has 5280 tiny propellers that spin in the wind from the trains. I was riding a car around the system one morning checking it out after service. Overheard a gentleman tell his wife that those propellers generate all the electricity to run the train. When she asked me if that was true I said "yep, we've invented perpetual motion, don't tell the Chinese!" Her dumbass husband didn't even get it.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Have you ever flown through Denver International Airport? I used to work on the train system there. One section of the tunnel has 5280 tiny propellers that spin in the wind from the trains. I was riding a car around the system one morning checking it out after service. Overheard a gentleman tell his wife that those propellers generate all the electricity to run the train. When she asked me if that was true I said "yep, we've invented perpetual motion, don't tell the Chinese!" Her dumbass husband didn't even get it.

I‘ve been through there a zillion times - never noticed any propellers. 5,280? Is that a mile-high city thing?

 

[D Fresh]

I‘ve been through there a zillion times - never noticed any propellers. 5,280? Is that a mile-high city thing?

Yep, to represent the 5280 ft altitude. There are a few "art projects" in the tunnel. I know the propeller number is significantly lower now. Every mechanic I knew had at least one in their garage.

East tunnel, west side, around A concourse. After you board the train at terminal look left approaching and departing A concourse.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

This is extremely easy to calculate. all we need is watt/hours per minute. the thing is electric motors use no energy when not moving. so if you are only slowly spinning the tires your energy usage will be extremely low. therefor, trudging along and crawling at slow speeds would use very little energy. I'm not saying it will be double mileage like hypermiling, but it should be more than the highway rated range of 300 miles

You could start at top of hill with a low charge and then drive down the mountain and gain regen breaking to end at bottom with more charge than you started.

Sure - but this doesn't apply to off-road. Often-times you're not simply coasting to get down a trail from the top, it's not going to be full regen braking like you'll see on the highway.

Rivian's statement on mileage is as follows (based on the 135kWh large pack battery):
1) EPA estimate 314 miles of range when equipped with 21" wheels.
2) 20" all terrain or 22" sport wheels reduce the range by up to 15% (so from ~314 -> ~277 miles).
3) Off-roading or towing the maximum 11,000lb capacity can slash the range by up to 50% (so from ~277 -> ~133 miles).

It's very easy to go from the "rated" 300+ miles to around 150 miles of range. Depending on other factors this could easily be insufficient to last a single day on the trails without access to charging.

Note that Rivian has a 180-kWh "Max pack" coming next year pushing over 400 miles, for an extra $10k.

To say nothing of the fact that the smallest rim you can get is 20" - which most people are well aware makes it hard to get a solid off-road worthy tire wrapped around.

I'm all for electric trucks and I appreciate what Rivian has done. I hate the headlight design, but otherwise it's nice on the eyes, the way it manages storage under the bed is great. Though the cargo space is lacking.

The R1T measures 217.1 inches from the rooter to the tooter and is 81.8 inches wide. For scale, that footprint is a touch larger than the Ford Ranger, but a fair bit smaller than a Crew Cab F-150. However, the Rivian's 54-inch bed is about a half an inch shorter than even the compact Maverick's, so you'll need to drop the R1T's gooseneck-hinged tailgate to create a flat, uninterrupted 83.6-inch floor when hauling bulkier items.

Competition is only good for us consumers - and I hope that we keep seeing improvements to battery and electric tech that can make this a valid replacement for ICE technology.

Source: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2022-rivian-r1t-electric-truck-first-drive-review/

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