Motortrend Article: The R1T Net-Zero Camping Trip (That Almost Wasn't)... phantom power drain, cold weather, and a charging desert nearly

[C.R. Rivian]

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2022-rivian-r1t-yearlong-review-update-2-net-zero-camping-trip/

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[Dark-Fx]

The fact that they had to do the reset to fix charging probably indicates they were having issues with the truck that caused the phantom drain. Had they reset the first night at the camp, their phantom usage should have dropped significantly. Not excusing Rivian here, just explaining.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

yeah, seemed a bit extreme...

 

[sevengroove]

The fact that they had to do the reset to fix charging probably indicates they were having issues with the truck that caused the phantom drain. Had they reset the first night at the camp, their phantom usage should have dropped significantly. Not excusing Rivian here, just explaining.

The journalist in this case just assumed the loss was due to low night-time temps - I'm sure there will be many others in the same boat making assumptions or not knowing something might be wrong. Rivian's OS needs to evolve to a point where it is able to say something like "X app is using significant battery power" so that the driver gets some sort of indication of something being the matter.

 

[linkwpc]

Would phantom drain still come into play if Rivian just added an on/off button?

 

[chrismc]

Would phantom drain still come into play if Rivian just added an on/off button?

I’m sure the cadre of engineers at Rivian have totally never thought of just adding an on/off button.

 

[linkwpc]

I’m sure the cadre of engineers at Rivian have totally never thought of just adding an on/off button.

The F150 has an on/off button and it does not have phantom drain.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

I find it to be a joke that the writer just happily accepted 30+ miles of energy loss a day as quirk of all EVs in the cold and that no real criticism was levied against Rivian. Their whole shtick is that people should go exploring with these and such extensive phantom drain could easily end up being dangerous for those lacking in common sense.

 

[Arky]

I’m sure the cadre of engineers at Rivian have totally never thought of just adding an on/off button.

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm because it really feels like it. Would solve a bunch of these problems it's not like it's some massive hassle to hit a button, and it's not worth 30-100kWh a month to not have to.

 

[Dark-Fx]

The F150 has an on/off button and it does not have phantom drain.

My Polestar 2 does not have an on/off button and it does not have phantom drain.

 

[MuskOxFamily]

Rivian really needs to get a handle on this vampire drain. Alex on Autos reported alarmingly high vampire drain over the course of a week in almost ideal 70s temps. He had an F-150 Lightning and Kia EV6 parked next to the Rivian, and they suffered close to zero drain. I don't care if it's an on/off button or a more hidden software fix, but vampire drain of this magnitude is unacceptable in any EV, especially an "adventure" EV.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

Would phantom drain still come into play if Rivian just added an on/off button?

It would since all contemporary vehicles, even ICE, have battery drain from always-on systems like security. When I wasn't driving much, I had to put a battery charger on my Subaru from time to time.

 

[mikehmb]

This MUST be addressed. I have an eGolf and an i3 and neither has noticeable drain. It‘s the one thing that has me keeping my Lightning reservation on hot-stand…

 

[Atlrivian]

At the risk of inviting more questions, my R1T on the latest firmware has very little to no drain. Maybe 3 miles range / 12hr period MAX. Usually 1-2.

 

[Hindley_Milner]

The journalist in this case just assumed the loss was due to low night-time temps - I'm sure there will be many others in the same boat making assumptions or not knowing something might be wrong. Rivian's OS needs to evolve to a point where it is able to say something like "X app is using significant battery power" so that the driver gets some sort of indication of something being the matter.

Agree, and if Rivian's OS sees that the truck is staying awake for too long without accessories on, without presence or GG or other mitigators it could defensively reset or at least notify the user. It's out of control.

It would since all contemporary vehicles, even ICE, have battery drain from always-on systems like security. When I wasn't driving much, I had to put a battery charger on my Subaru from time to time.

The same with many cars. But a 12V lead-acid battery is typically in the 600Wh range in good condition. A typical Rivian would blow through that entirely in just 8 hours, assuming 2.5kWh phantom drain per day, which is what I consistently measure (avg 104W of power consumption while doing nothing).

The truck in this MotorTrend article would blow through it in just a single hour! I'm assuming 30mi / 14kWh drain per day, so ~583W average drain.

That's not too dissimilar to a modern dual-GPU gaming PC running benchmarks all day. What is the truck doing?

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