While on vacation......

[life_w_vagabonds]

Just as a reference I planned a drive I've taken numerous times to see what time penalty I would take for driving a R1T, dual motor with all terrain tires. I realize other factors play in and might add some time but less than 4 hours of charge time (59 minutes being the longest stop, most are under 30 minutes) over 17 hours of driving is pretty acceptable to me, especially as I get older and can't drive non-stop for hours on end.

This is from the PNW to Denver:

View attachment 848587

Used to do Sacraments to Tucson a couple times a year in our 3. We usually find a place to camp and break it up in two days. We’ve driven to Seattle a few times in our old Ranger with the camper. I wouldn’t do either of those trips straight in any vehicle. Just not how I want to travel.

We’ve done a lot of cooking at SuperChargers, take a walk, get ice cream or something. I don’t run like a fugitive anymore. It’s really only a drag if it’s late and everything is closed. Of course by now we have chargers we prefer and sometimes we plan our stops for those.

Not sure if you’re aware of the best charging strategies, EVs have a charge curve and always charge faster at the bottom of the pack. Ideal to roll in at almost zero, charge for 10-15 minutes and rip it to the next one. Same strategy the cannon ball run nuts use. Once your charge speed tapers hit the road, unless you’re eating or something.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Yeah, but then ten hours later I can only drive my R1T another 20 miles and all my drinks are warm.

That’s not how the math works, but that’s ok. My point was if you really screw up and ignore what the trucks been telling you, there is a plug somewhere. More 110v outlets than gas pumps.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Cortez only has level 2 chargers so three hours isn’t too far off in order to get a decent charge.

Why would you stay there and charge more than it would take to get to a DCFC?

 

[crazysccrmd]

That’s not how the math works, but that’s ok. My point was if you really screw up and ignore what the trucks been telling you, there is a plug somewhere. More 110v outlets than gas pumps.

That’s exactly how the math worked with my truck based on many, many times charging with 110v outlets at work. I typically could pull 12 amps, or about 1.2-1.4kw, and averaged 1.5mi/kwh off-road.

In subzero temperatures I would actually lose range slowly when charging off 110v 15amp plugs but would see a huge increase in performance and efficiency by keeping the battery warm.

 

[crazysccrmd]

Why would you stay there and charge more than it would take to get to a DCFC?

Could be many reasons. It’s a much shorter drive than to Telluride or Durango so less time driving and more time enjoying the interrupted vacation. Maybe grab lunch, beer, groceries, etc while getting enough charge to make it home at the end of the trip.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

That’s exactly how the math worked with my truck based on many, many times charging with 110v outlets at work. I typically could pull 12 amps, or about 1.2-1.4kw, and averaged 1.5mi/kwh off-road.

In subzero temperatures I would actually lose range slowly when charging off 110v 15amp plugs but would see a huge increase in performance and efficiency by keeping the battery warm.

Yep, you’re right. I confused your comment with the one about the level 2 charger in Cortez.

My first EV, an i3 10 years ago I only charged on a 15 amp 110 outlet. About four miles an hour, much smaller car.

 

[tacollie]

I don’t think anyone cross shops a R1T and a Maverick. While they both have wheels and a bed that’s about where the similarities stop. The R1T is significantly more expensive but also comes with a significant bump in every performance and comfort metric across the board.

Ranger, Colorado, and Frontier will all have a lower cost of ownership simply because the are so much cheaper. I

The only person I know who had a R1T sold it and bought a Frontier. He liked the Rivian better but the Frontier can pull his camper twice as far. He works in construction. It was fun to see him roll up to a job site pulling a trailer with the Rivian.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

Ranger, Colorado, and Frontier will all have a lower cost of ownership simply because the are so much cheaper. I

The only person I know who had a R1T sold it and bought a Frontier. He liked the Rivian better but the Frontier can pull his camper twice as far. He works in construction. It was fun to see him roll up to a job site pulling a trailer with the Rivian.

Sold my Ranger and bought an R1T, completely worlds apart. Sure they are both trucks but the Rivian is more like a model S in terms of tech, performance and luxury. You could run down Porsches on Mulholand with a load of drywall. I didn’t need any of those things but there aren’t a lot of of EV truck options.

As for truck stuff, so far I prefer it to the Ranger. I can carry 4x8 sheet stock between the wheel wells, the bed is longer with the tailgate down. Tie downs are much more useful. It neals when you put it in park, easy to get in and out of. Plenty places to lock up stuff.

Lots of other well thought out stuff too, it’s a better work truck than I thought it would be. I restore old houses, I use it for work and everything. It’s our only vehicle, the wife and I share it. She did not like the Lightning, so I didn’t go the cheaper route, glad I didn’t.

I have towed with it a few times, it’s not how we travel though. Pulled a small sailboat from Chico to Sacramento and rented a few U-Haul trailers for materials, set of kitchen cabinets most recently. Once you plug in the trailer connector it changes range estimates and starts recalculating while your under way. You can name a particular trailer in the settings and it remembers that data to better estimate range. I haven’t needed to charge with a trailer yet.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

The news Rangers claim you can lay 4x8 sheets flat between wheels as well

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

The news Rangers claim you can lay 4x8 sheets flat between wheels as well

Hadn’t seen that mine certainly didn’t. I had built a jig to haul drywall on. Wasn't too sketchy

Edit: Of course you can haul plywood the other way on top of the bed rails but people get weird about it. You’re still narrower than a semi.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

Hadn’t seen that mine certainly didn’t. I had built a jig to haul drywall on. Wasn't too sketchy

Edit: Of course you can haul plywood the other way on top of the bed rails but people get weird about it. You’re still narrower than a semi.

It’s just on the 2024 models and up

 

[crazysccrmd]

I have towed with it a few times, it’s not how we travel though. Pulled a small sailboat from Chico to Sacramento and rented a few U-Haul trailers for materials, set of kitchen cabinets most recently. Once you plug in the trailer connector it changes range estimates and starts recalculating while your under way. You can name a particular trailer in the settings and it remembers that data to better estimate range. I haven’t needed to charge with a trailer yet.

From hanging around in the Rivian forum it seems like they’ve pretty well fixed the towing range calculations finally. When I first got the truck it would just have your range once a trailer was hooked up and then be reasonably accurate in adjusting as you drove with varying efficiency. The next update made it default to 635 miles and just give made up numbers for a couple months. The update after that was more accurate but still would think you had close to double the real world range and didn’t account for efficiency history at all. I’d be at 50% battery (60ish kWh and towing at 1mi/kwh for the last hour) and it would still think it could go another 100 miles.

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

From hanging around in the Rivian forum it seems like they’ve pretty well fixed the towing range calculations finally. When I first got the truck it would just have your range once a trailer was hooked up and then be reasonably accurate in adjusting as you drove with varying efficiency. The next update made it default to 635 miles and just give made up numbers for a couple months. The update after that was more accurate but still would think you had close to double the real world range and didn’t account for efficiency history at all. I’d be at 50% battery (60ish kWh and towing at 1mi/kwh for the last hour) and it would still think it could go another 100 miles.

The longest towing trip I did was about 200 miles round trip. I was pretty impressed with the guess-o-meter accuracy, considering all the possible variables. It was wildly off when I started out but after 20 miles or so it seemed to level out. It figures out weight and drag quickly.

As soon as I unplugged the trailer it went right back to normal. Guess it’s not hard to partition the data based on something being plugged in. Did it let you name and save a trailer when you had yours?

 

[crazysccrmd]

The longest towing trip I did was about 200 miles round trip. I was pretty impressed with the guess-o-meter accuracy, considering all the possible variables. It was wildly off when I started out but after 20 miles or so it seemed to level out. It figures out weight and drag quickly.

As soon as I unplugged the trailer it went right back to normal. Guess it’s not hard to partition the data based on something being plugged in. Did it let you name and save a trailer when you had yours?

No, tow mode back then was very basic with no way to name or save trailers, calculate weight or any of the cool features it has now. Pretty much just disabled rear back up sensors, adaptive cruise control and turned on the trailer brake controller.

 

[CyberTruckOne]

We saw 2 Rivians and a Tesla cyber truck on flatbed. Not sure if they broke down or just ran out of juice ? Not very encouraging either way. We were in Maine.

They may work for urbanites but not so much for rural folks.

You should watch Tucker Carlson Cybertruck video with his buddy in Maine.