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| rivian.com |
So right now we are in the mountains of Colorado, and behind me I have a Rivian R1T - The world's first production electric truck. I will tell you everything you need to know about this Vehicle after we finish climbing this mountain. Let's get started.
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| rivian.com |
So full disclosure I have had a Rivian R1T on pre-order for about three years now. I've had my eyes on this truck for a very long time unfortunately this truck is not mine. Rivian invited us out here to test their trucks. And as you've seen, we have put them through a lot. Off-roading in an electric vehicle is a pretty crazy experience. Normally you would expect loud engine noises from a souped-up 4x4 or side by side. But on a 100% electric truck with electric motors on all four tires, this thing is absolutely silent. So normally I drive a Toyota Tacoma with the off-road package, a very capable machine. But even with the off-road package I would be nervous taking it on this road. Look at this! This is straight up with massive boulders. The nice thing about this electric truck is that there is no differential holding down to reduce my ground clearance.
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| rivian.com |
Right now we are off-roading through like this cavern thing, trying to keep these sides of the truck away from the rock walls This is cozy. Look at that. We are at like a 45 degree angle right now. Good thing we folded in the mirrors. You can see we've totally folded them in. I'm really glad that Zack is driving. There's the wall. I don't think mine could do this to be honest, and the crazy thing is like... it is so quiet. That is crazy you don't hear the engine revving up. that was crazy. Now we're leading your way.
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| rivian.com |
It's a little bit hard to keep momentum but... Sides of the car are still intact. It did not damage the truck….on this part of the trail. Good clarification. As we're off-roading you can tell this is not a normal trail, but there is a lot of protection for the components underneath. We have carbon protecting the motors and the suspension, as well as a metal protective cover for the battery. Which is super important because these boulders are massive. Combined the dual front motors have 413 pound-feet of torque, while the two rear motors have 495, for a combined over 900 pound-feet of torque. of rocks crunching under the tires, and a very soft high pitch electric motor The only things we are hearing is nature as well as the crunch of the rocks underneath our tires.
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| rivian.com |
The Rivian R1T does have a front trunk, you know, cargo space where the gas powered engine would normally be. And normally with a gas-powered vehicle, the hood being open would be a sign of distress. But here with Rivian, having the hood open just means you're having a good time and accessing the stuff you brought with you along the trip. So we're going down kind of a steeper stretch right now, and instead of like in a gas powered vehicle you would let the engine compression kind of slow you down instead of riding the brakes the whole way. But in this electric Rivian I'm able to use the regenerative braking to slow me down in the exact same way. So I'm not riding the brake and the regenerative braking is actually adding power back into my battery.
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| rivian.com |
The electric motors are acting like generators when we go downhill, so we will have more fuel or battery life at the bottom of the hill than we had when we started at the top. Using the weight and momentum of the truck to charge up the battery while going downhill basically gives us free energy. The Rivian has a range of 314 miles on a single charge which is good since there is currently no charger in sight. It has a zero to 60 mile per hour in just three seconds which is also pretty fantastic. Now instead of buying a sports car for a midlife crisis, we can get faster acceleration in a new electric truck, and then get right back to working with it for the next 50 years, because retiring is something only our parents get to do. All these Rivians are made right here in the USA.
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| rivian.com |
The Rivian has an independent four-wheel air suspension system which controls the ride height, while a hydraulic roll control and damper system helps control the body on and off road. And as you can see, it's doing a pretty good job. Very quietly. The entire system is electronically controlled with accumulators that act as remote reservoirs for the hard hits. While we're off-roading, obviously we raise the suspension up to clear the boulders, but if we're on the freeway or a regular road we could lower it down to be more aerodynamic. Being aerodynamic is really important when you're above like 35, 45 miles an hour. That's when it really starts to slow you down and eat up some of your battery life.
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| rivian.com |
And being lower to the ground decreases the wind, so it's nice to have both options. So right now we're about to go up a pretty steep incline, and we're going to turn on the front cameras, which are right here, so we can see what's going on right in front of the vehicle. So as we crest this hill we'll know what's on the other side. It's hard to tell on camera how steep this is, but seriously it is steep and rocky. Can’t even see the road in front of us. There we go, but now we can't… We can see the screen, but we can't see the road in front of us. It's so shaky. Okay there's a... yeah don't go up there. Yeah there's a cliff. Good thing we had the camera!
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| rivian.com |
If that clip makes the video, I have the best steady hands in the world. So I know I'm known for durability tests and this was not intentional at all, but we've been off-roading for about five hours or so through some pretty incredibly rough terrain, and it just so happened that my tire is the one that got sideswiped by a rock and went flat. We are in the middle of nowhere. Most electric vehicles do not have a spare tire in the back, but this one does. Lucky us. In order for us to get in tire changing mode we do have to raise the wheel height to max and then get into a special tire change mode after that, which raises the body away from the tire enough to give us room to work. The tire change mode as well keeps the vehicle from leveling itself while we're working on it because obviously we're going to jack up one corner.
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| rivian.com |
That's not a wimpy spare. This is a full-size, ready-to-rock off-roading spare tire. That's a nasty gash in the sidewall. Oh man. Double velcro straps, man this is more of a tour than we ever anticipated today. Wait don't need to jack it up first? No you have to break these lugs. This is why I'm changing the tire. So when changing your tire, if you jack the truck up first and then break the lugs, the tire will just spin. So leaving the tire on the ground while we change the lugs makes it a whole lot easier. This right here is part of what was capping the spare tire and it's very useful because the truck is so high off the ground that we can use it as a platform for the jack. And then down here we have to find a spot to mount to the frame, pop this piece of plastic out. It'll just dangle down.
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| rivian.com |
And set this and it's really nice because we're on a sandy road right now so it'll give it something to press on, as well as this block. So right here since we're changing the tire, this is the air canister for the suspension. It changes the ride height, that way to just get a close-up look at that while we release the last lug nut. And these are the front calipers for the Rivian R1T, and they are much larger than the rear calipers. Calipers on all four tires. There are six pistons inside of this caliper that compress against the rotor here to slow you down. Most of the stopping power is always done with the front of the vehicle. It also uses the regenerative braking to slow the vehicle down as well which puts energy back into the battery. With 835 horsepower, we need brakes this big. Line up the lug studs. So all the lugs are hand tight then we can drop her down. Final touch needs the center cap. Rivian logo right here.
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| rivian.com |
These are big old tires. Let's check out that rock. This edge is what got it right there. At least it was a big rock. If we did need to air up the spare tire, you know, after they've been around for a while they kind of air down. The Rivian R1T does have a built-in air compressor. Our tire is brand new so we don't need to fill it up, but this guy right here is the air compressor. Now it's back to driving.The Rivian is capable of fording water up to three feet deep. Obviously we don't have any three feet deep streams around here. The motor and batteries are sealed and protected it's nice knowing everything's watertight. Check this out, all these people right there it’s detecting everybody. It's like a little dance party with digital people.
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| rivian.com |
And now it's time to talk about the specifics of what the truck has and what the insides look like. Since this is an electric vehicle, I think it's only fair that we talk about power first. So obviously we have electric motors on all four tires and the battery right here in the center, which makes the whole truck have a super low center of gravity. But with all of that battery power we do have extra power outlets right here. We have two in the back, one right here in the gear tunnel which I'll talk more about in a second, and a third 110 volt right there underneath the center console in the back. Which is nice because Rivian has positioned this as an adventure vehicle, you know, a vehicle that you take on adventures. And having electricity is pretty cool.
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| rivian.com |
While we're back here at this storage tunnel, this opens up to allow a bunch more cargo space inside, and actually opens all the way through the vehicle to the other side. Put something in one end, come out the other. And we've actually stuck Dan... Dan actually went through the tunnel by himself. And you can also stand on top of it, like, I'm pretty heavy and it's strong enough for you to get on here to actually reach up to your racks or whatever stuff you have on top of here. So this is a really cool feature. Rivian's not messing around with durability. And I know you're dying to see the inside of the truck, but I'm not done with the outside yet. So the truck bed is four and a half feet with a tailgate up, and when the tailgate's folded down, there is a ton more room for full size sheets of plywood. But one little interesting tidbit is that the Rivian logo is inlaid as the texture to the bed liner.
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| rivian.com |
Hopefully you can see that on camera, but all of those little designs are Rivian logos. So as the tailgate comes down, this flap lays flat so that you can slide things in without hitting that big crevice in the middle. And as you saw earlier, very conveniently there is a spare tire underneath the bed. And I'll talk more about these in a minute, but there is also pre-installed cargo rack mounting points that can go on either the truck bed or the roof. And that'll be good for holding bikes or even like a rooftop tent. I know when I installed the roof rack on my Tacoma it took me hours and was very permanent drilling through the top of the roof. So it's nice that Rivian has made everything detachable and modular. And underneath here where we'd expect the engine to be, there's a little button, it opens up. No engine, just a whole bunch of storage space.
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| rivian.com |
Right here is an emergency exit button as well as some 12 volt power. And underneath here we have some more storage for, like, the charging cable and some uh locks. The iconic headlights are also here in front. We have the low beams and the high beams hidden right inside of here, along with a really bright LED bar that kind of mimics what's going on in the back. Back here we have the same aesthetic with the huge LED beam across the tailgate. And of course, as I mentioned earlier we have the air compressor, as well as different tie down points around the edge of the bed. Rivian knows that there's no point in making an electric truck unless it's super capable. The Rivian R1T is slightly larger than my Tacoma, but can tow 11,000 pounds with the included tow hitch.
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| rivian.com |
For reference, my Tacoma can tow about 6,000 and that was before I put the lift on it. Now it's much less than that. And what I found with towing when using other electric vehicles, using that full capacity does decrease your range by about half. So when you load it up just something to plan on. The charging port is located right here. It is using the J1772 and also the CCS for the super fast charging right here. And like I mentioned previously, I'm also using the J1772 on my own electric vehicle build because they are the most common throughout the United States. Most people are always just going to charge at home, you know, park it in the garage, plug it in overnight, and you get a full charge ready to go the next morning.
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| rivian.com |
Like having a gas station in your garage. But if you're doing road trips there are DC fast-charging stations all across the United States. If you're using one of those DC fast chargers you can get up to 140 miles of range in 20 minutes. But 99 or 95% of the time most people will be charging at home in their garage. Rivian is installing their own charging network as well that'll use those same plugs called the Rivian Adventure Network. And they're going to position it around national parks and outdoor places, because if you haven't noticed, this is an adventure vehicle. Time for inside the vehicle. I've been waiting for this for about three years so I'm pretty excited. The interior of this is called the Ocean Coast and it might look white but it's actually a gray color, which I'm actually… it's growing on me a lot. The front seats are also ventilated for heating as well as cooling.
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| rivian.com |
We have the two displays - one for the driver and then more infotainment over here. You can see it better from the back. Here we have three more seats - two full-size seats and a center seat, along with three mounting points for car seats, which is something I will have to be using fairly soon. We have the Rivian badging along the seats here. We have usb-c ports, as well as some coat hooks, along with some aesthetic designs, little pockets for seats back here, air conditioning control for the rear seats along with that 110 outlet below. The first thing I noticed getting inside is the massive glass roof. Since Rivian is positioning this as an outdoor adventure vehicle, you know, something you take to national parks, having a 360 degree view all around the vehicle is pretty important. There's also a total of 18 speakers around the vehicle including a subwoofer underneath the back seat.
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| rivian.com |
All of the adventure models have ash wood in the dashboard, and like I said earlier this is Ocean Coast. There is also Forest Edge which kind of has a green color to it, and Black Mountain, which as you guessed it is mostly black. So I'm sitting here in the back seat with plenty of legroom. It is a full-size cab. And one thing I really like about Rivian is that they have a whole sustainability mantra about them. This microfiber material up here in the ceiling is 100% recycled, and all of the seats in here are made from vegan leather. So with this totally electric vehicle Rivian's going green in more ways than one. Let me show you the different driving modes. Jumping in here to the driver's seat. Like I mentioned earlier this is just slightly larger than my Toyota Tacoma, but smaller than a full-sized truck like the Ford F-150 which is just the size I'm looking for.
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| rivian.com |
Over here we have the windshield wipers and headlights. We have selector knobs over here, little rolly gizmos along with more wood in the steering wheel. And plenty of different driving modes. We have all-purpose, sport, conserve, off-road, which we've been using most today, and towing. The cool thing about all of these modes though is the ride height. And like I mentioned earlier, changing the ride height isn't just for off-roading, it also helps with aerodynamics. This is how much clearance we have in the lowest mode. Set you right here for a second. Let's bump up that suspension the Rivian R1T can go as low as 9.5 inches, all the way up to 15. Almost a six inch difference with the ride height between the lowest and tallest. And now with the vehicle totally raised up there is so much more room. That's insane! It's like installing a lift on your vehicle in a minute instead of an entire day.
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| rivian.com |
I get everything I wanted with my Toyota Tacoma that took me a long time to install and modify from day one with the Rivian. And there's two more little easter eggs that I want to show you. If you're not convinced yet, these will probably do it. So obviously we have the keys right here. There's a fob, a key card and there's also an adventure bracelet. But down here there is a bluetooth speaker that comes with the truck. An adventure vehicle with adventure tunes. As a side note, every time you lock and unlock the vehicle it makes a little bird chirping noise. Talk about going back to nature. And last but not least, there are seven thousand seven hundred and seventy six battery cylindrical cells underneath this Rivian.
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| rivian.com |
The 7,777th is right here in this flashlight with 1,000 lumens. Incredibly bright and useful. And there we have it, the Rivian R1T. I've been in a lot of electric trucks, the CyberTruck, the new electric hummer, and if I had to pick one electric truck that was my absolute favorite it would be this one. The size is right, the specs are right, and the off-road capabilities are very impressive. There are a couple things that I wish it did have though. One, the vehicle-to-grid technology that we're gonna see in the Ford F-150, as well as vehicle-to-vehicle charging. I think those two things are a game changer. The nice thing though about electric vehicles is that a lot of that stuff can be done with updates over time. Of course that's never necessarily a guarantee with this, but I know that they are implementing something called Tank Turn which turns all four tires.
source: JerryRigEverything & Rivian