Rivian All Electric Pickup and SUV

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Rivian All Electric Pickup and SUV

Lefty · Uber Guru

wonder what it will cost..

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Starts low $60k USD. The amount of storage space in the pickup is impressive. The "Frunk" offers a lot of extra storage.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

That's almost a low price for a pickup, by todays standards, you can get to that range on almost any pickup. 600KM range is also good for a gas pickup. Very interesting vehicle.

I get emails from VW, they plan on having 4 vehicles that are 100% electric in Canada by 2025, including a retro VW bus. Too bad these vehicles will be almost fully self driving by then, a few years of east coast winter road salt may make self driving an adventure. You may also have to sit waiting in the morning while your car's computer downloads a software updates.............

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

Where will the nearest Rivian dealer/repair facility be on Canada's east coast?

I always look at repair practicality when it comes to a vehicle (especially on PEI). Most mechanics here would be scratching their heads when it comes to to a "different" vehicle.

I always wonder where the Charlottetown owner of the Lotus Esprit I've seen several times takes his car for repairs.

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

I'm not sold on this vehicle.
Off the website:

Three battery pack variants will be offered for the vehicle. A 180 kWh battery that is expected to give 400+ miles of range per charge, a 135 kWh option that gives 300+ miles of range per charge, and a 105 kWh variant, which will give about 230+ miles of range per charge. Rivian plans to start manufacturing the R1T's higher-end options first, followed by the entry-level version, which starts at $69,000 U.S. within 12 months from the start of production. Production for the R1T is expected to begin in 2020.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

That's a big problem out here Darryl. I read an article where folks want to buy an electric car but none of the island dealers will get one. They usually go to Quebec to get them. This may change when the Hyundai Kona comes out later this year in electric. There's a dealer in Charlottetown. The Kona will have 258 mile range.

1320itt · Veteran Member

It is vaporware until it is actually produced.

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

Canadian Poncho wrote:
That's a big problem out here Darryl. I read an article where folks want to buy an electric car but none of the island dealers will get one. They usually go to Quebec to get them. This may change when the Hyundai Kona comes out later this year in electric. There's a dealer in Charlottetown. The Kona will have 258 mile range.

A lot of Charlottetown Hyundai service techs will be going in for E-vehicle training ...

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Yes. I was in Reliable this week (Chrysler) and they have installed a charging station as there is now a plug in Pacifica (it's still a gas/hybrid however-not pure electric). I asked if they have had any experience with this model. They sold one and had one come in on the tow truck with a blown motor. Tourists from out of province. The cause of the engine failure? Software glitch! Funny how software can now cause engines to fail. I've seen it with transmissions. Needless to say they installed the updated software on the one they sold.

JC2+2 · Poncho Master!

Whats the life span of the batteries? Ive heard horror stories of electric / hybrid cars. When the car is off warranty and batteries are toast the cost to replace them is more than the car is worth. Any truth to this?

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

No. There are still first gen Prius on the road with original batteries. Tesla for example has an 8 year unlimited mile warranty on the batteries.

66 Beau · Poncho Master!

14,000 newton-meters of torque = 10,325 lb-ft. WOW

The low US$60's sounds pretty good, but, by their own admission, they will only be making high-end, highly optioned versions, so likely you wouldn't ever see one for sale for less than US$100k.

180 kW-hrs storage. Equivalent to about 19 litres (or 4 Imperial gallons) of gasoline. You're not going to be towing 11,000 lbs for 400 miles on a single charge.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Interesting promo video.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

DonSSDD wrote:
That's almost a low price for a pickup, by todays standards, you can get to that range on almost any pickup. 600KM range is also good for a gas pickup. Very interesting vehicle.

I get emails from VW, they plan on having 4 vehicles that are 100% electric in Canada by 2025, including a retro VW bus. Too bad these vehicles will be almost fully self driving by then, a few years of east coast winter road salt may make self driving an adventure. You may also have to sit waiting in the morning while your car's computer downloads a software updates.............

Hey Don, I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if anyone can pull off a reliable, fool-proof self-driving vehicle that they can unleash to the motoring public in 6 years time. They are so far off that target at the moment. Even the 'driver assist' technologies out there now struggle to be 100% accurate. Maybe time will prove me wrong, but I just don't see it happening that quickly, despite what the supporters of the technology want us to think. I would say it's more like 15 - 20 years away... if it happens at all.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Pontiacanada wrote:
Where will the nearest Rivian dealer/repair facility be on Canada's east coast?
I always look at repair practicality when it comes to a vehicle (especially on PEI). Most mechanics here would be scratching their heads when it comes to to a "different" vehicle.
I always wonder where the Charlottetown owner of the Lotus Esprit I've seen several times takes his car for repairs.

The way the companies are moving now, most of the electronic issues of every car brand has to be taken to the dealer, as it's proprietary information only available through the company. So software downloads, etc. have to be done at the dealer anyhow.

As far as repair goes, electric vehicles don't have all those parts related to internal combustion engines, so no multitude of moving parts in the motor, no need for oil changes, no fuel system, no exhaust system. They will have to have a cooling system as the electric motors can become quite hot, but overall much more simplistic. Just different, for now, because most repair shops are geared towards internal combustion vehicles.

So, I don't think that would be a problem moving forward.

IMHO, the biggest issue is still battery technology, i.e. charge times. Tesla has made strides toward fast-charging, but getting a charge for a vehicle with a 600 km range limit will still be much longer than simply filling your tank with gas. That's the major stumbling point as I see it, currently.

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

JC2+2 wrote:
Whats the life span of the batteries? Ive heard horror stories of electric / hybrid cars. When the car is off warranty and batteries are toast the cost to replace them is more than the car is worth. Any truth to this?

I have a friend who is really into those early 2000s Honda Insights (all aluminum, 2 seater hatchback) - they were one of the first hybrids (Prius was first in Japan, but Insight was first in North America, if I'm remembering this right). Anyhow, he learned of a method to regenerate the batteries through one of the internet forums for the cars. So he has a couple of them that did not run because of the battery pack, that he now drives regularly through this process. I'm not intimately familiar with the detais, but he has driven the car long distances (from NS to Quebec, for example) since regenerating them.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

That's cool. You know what would solve the charging time issue? Designing cars with "quick release" battery packs. Have stations set up with full battery packs. When you are low you simply pull in, exchange battery packs and be on your way. Seems like a no brainer. Of course battery packs would need to be standardized across the board. That can't be too difficult. These stations would look after charging, swapping out warn out batteries etc. It'd be much like when you swap your empty propane tank for a new one.