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Free data ride with Rivian is over. Connect+ being introduced today includes the Apple Music, ability to cast to the main screen for streaming, and the hotspot. Free 60 day trial then $15 a month or $150 a year. I'm already paying for premium connectivity on the Tesla so it's basically the same + $50 a year for the hotspot which isn't bad at all. It's helpful on longer trips so the kids can watch stuff on their ipads without having to download. Anyway, I'll be subbing after the trial is over in hopes that I can get my wife her R2
Was debating between the general EV thread or this one and opted for here. We drove the R1S out to Cambridge, MA for Thanksgiving and it was the longest trip we've done with it so far. We opt to fly more often than not but knew my wife's family would load up the kids with presents.
Quick Stats
Total Miles - 745
Charging Stops - 2 Tesla, 1 Rivian Adventure Network (RAN), & overnight @ the hotel
Total Charging Cost - $96.25 for 188.61 kWh (~$0.51 per kw)
Total Charging Time - 82 minutes
Temp Range - 30F - 42F
Average Trip Efficiency - ~1.95 mi/kWh
Overall, I was pretty happy with the Rivian as a roadtripper. R1S suspension has gotten a lot better over time and between the hotspot, charging ports, and space to stretch, everyone preferred it over the Ody which is our usual longer distance vehicle. With the free charging at the hotel, it ended up being cheaper for us to take the Rivian vs. the Ody. Gas price were ~$3 along our routes and it'd be a tank to get there, get back, and fill up once home. Without the hotel charging it would've favored the Ody. It was nice definitely nice to have the R1S preheated and ready to go each morning.
I will say though that I would not have done this trip if I didn't have access to the SC network. The Rivian nav typically routed me to Tesla chargers, but my wife looked into the EA and EVGo chargers along the way and they typically had a wait. I was able to get a spot at each of the DCFC locations we used without a wait which was nice. Plug and play compatibility at each spot helped too. Last time I used an EVGo it took me 3-4 minutes just to start the charge. I didn't need to stop at the RAN, but I thought it was cool to charge there and it let me get through CT without having to stop along the way.
There were some negatives though. Highway assist on the Gen 1 R1S still sucks. Bends in the highway were jerky enough for me to take over whenever I saw them coming up, driver monitoring is quick to cut off the assist if you don't have a hand on specific parts of the wheel, and a lot of roads just aren't mapped. Charging curve is still overly conservative in my eyes. I pulled into the first charger at 9% and opted to do deep charge because once I hit Cambridge the fast charging options would be limited. It took me 40 minutes to go from 9% - 82%. 9% - 50% was solid with a max of 200kW and a low of 180kW. It actually stayed at 200 longer than I expected. 50-60 was between 150-170kW before it dropped to ~100-120 to 80% and about 50kW after that.
I would definitely do this trip in the Rivian again and who knows maybe we'll try a few more drives instead of flights in the future
Was debating between the general EV thread or this one and opted for here. We drove the R1S out to Cambridge, MA for Thanksgiving and it was the longest trip we've done with it so far. We opt to fly more often than not but knew my wife's family would load up the kids with presents.
Quick Stats
Total Miles - 745
Charging Stops - 2 Tesla, 1 Rivian Adventure Network (RAN), & overnight @ the hotel
Total Charging Cost - $96.25 for 188.61 kWh (~$0.51 per kw)
Total Charging Time - 82 minutes
Temp Range - 30F - 42F
Average Trip Efficiency - ~1.95 mi/kWh
Overall, I was pretty happy with the Rivian as a roadtripper. R1S suspension has gotten a lot better over time and between the hotspot, charging ports, and space to stretch, everyone preferred it over the Ody which is our usual longer distance vehicle. With the free charging at the hotel, it ended up being cheaper for us to take the Rivian vs. the Ody. Gas price were ~$3 along our routes and it'd be a tank to get there, get back, and fill up once home. Without the hotel charging it would've favored the Ody. It was nice definitely nice to have the R1S preheated and ready to go each morning.
I will say though that I would not have done this trip if I didn't have access to the SC network. The Rivian nav typically routed me to Tesla chargers, but my wife looked into the EA and EVGo chargers along the way and they typically had a wait. I was able to get a spot at each of the DCFC locations we used without a wait which was nice. Plug and play compatibility at each spot helped too. Last time I used an EVGo it took me 3-4 minutes just to start the charge. I didn't need to stop at the RAN, but I thought it was cool to charge there and it let me get through CT without having to stop along the way.
There were some negatives though. Highway assist on the Gen 1 R1S still sucks. Bends in the highway were jerky enough for me to take over whenever I saw them coming up, driver monitoring is quick to cut off the assist if you don't have a hand on specific parts of the wheel, and a lot of roads just aren't mapped. Charging curve is still overly conservative in my eyes. I pulled into the first charger at 9% and opted to do deep charge because once I hit Cambridge the fast charging options would be limited. It took me 40 minutes to go from 9% - 82%. 9% - 50% was solid with a max of 200kW and a low of 180kW. It actually stayed at 200 longer than I expected. 50-60 was between 150-170kW before it dropped to ~100-120 to 80% and about 50kW after that.
I would definitely do this trip in the Rivian again and who knows maybe we'll try a few more drives instead of flights in the future
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's great that you have a combination of the Rivian charging network and Tesla Superchargers. No way on earth I would make a 700 plus mile trip without those networks. Now it seems that traveling in an EV that has access to the proper charging is a no brainer. They just need to bring the Super charging costs down, $0.51 cents per kWh is pretty high, but destination charging usually offsets. We are going to be doing some trips as well during the Xmas break, and with $500 in free charging, driving is going to cost me nothing . With gas here being above $4, taking a gas car is just insane!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's great that you have a combination of the Rivian charging network and Tesla Superchargers. No way on earth I would make a 700 plus mile trip without those networks. Now it seems that traveling in an EV that has access to the proper charging is a no brainer. They just need to bring the Super charging costs down, $0.51 cents per kWh is pretty high, but destination charging usually offsets. We are going to be doing some trips as well during the Xmas break, and with $500 in free charging, driving is going to cost me nothing . With gas here being above $4, taking a gas car is just insane!
I could've subscribed for a month to get Tesla rates on the non-Tesla charging, but the savings wouldn't have been that much. If I'm doing a longer trip without hotel charging, I'd pay that $13 without a second thought
The Rivian rate was $0.40 which wasn't too bad, but I didn't need much juice there anyway
I could've subscribed for a month to get Tesla rates on the non-Tesla charging, but the savings wouldn't have been that much. If I'm doing a longer trip without hotel charging, I'd pay that $13 without a second thought
The Rivian rate was $0.40 which wasn't too bad, but I didn't need much juice there anyway
On average this year I paid about 0.43 cents per kWh on trips supercharging, and due to the high efficiency, I still paid half of what it would cost taking the Sienna. And that's not even factoring maint costs
