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Hi everyone,
Last summer we decided to move back to the Netherlands, after having lived in California for 7 years. We had just gotten our R1T and were definitely still in our honeymoon phase, going on multiple camping trips, so after some soul searching, we decided to bring the truck with us to Europe.
Rivian customer support, understandably, was nervous when I told them I would be putting the truck in a shipping container for 4-8 weeks to cross the globe to take it to a part of the world without Rivian service centers. They advised me to put the truck in shipping mode, and top off the battery so it might have a chance it would still have some juice on arrival. No guarantees (none expected).
I started reading on this forum and others that having a bricked truck might require a Rivian technician to bring it back to life, or worse, in one instance the 400V battery had to be replaced. So I urged the shipper to make sure to plug it in and check the battery was at 100% when they put it on the boat. They only had Tesla chargers, so they had to use the Rivian L1 charger which would take 3.5 days to fully charge. In the end they unplugged the truck several times over the course of a week or so, so it was at 85% SoC when they loaded it onto the ship. Not a good start. I then tracked the ship online hoping they would be able to keep the transit time short. Delays in Panama, delays in France (why would it need to go to France?), and finally, about 6 weeks later, my R1T arrived in the port of Rotterdam.
The importer called me with the good news - there was still about 100 miles 'in the tank' - my R1T had survived the trip! I was super relieved. For various reasons, the truck had to wait a couple months before it could clear customs, so the importer suggested to store the truck in their warehouse. I agreed and asked them to keep it charged. So far, so good.
Then the recall happened and I called the importer to ask if i could come by to torque the wheel fasteners, and to see my truck again and see how it had fared. He checks with his technicians, and calls me back saying the truck is dead. Merry Christmas! Turns out, they had not put the truck back in shipping mode while it was parked in their warehouse - which of course they denied - so the main 400V battery and the 12V batteries had fully drained.
I instructed them based on a call with Rivian customer support how to jump the 12V battery, but they did not follow my instructions, so could only get the truck to open, and have the screen come back to life, but it would not take a charge. I then decided to go there myself and try to bring it back to life.
The first thing I did is replace the jumpstarter with a ICE vehicle with running engine and jumpercables to charge the primary 12V battery, using the Rivian jumper cables that come out of the rear of the truck next to the hitch. After 30 mins or so, the lights on the left of the truck would come on, but not on the right side, and the main battery would still not be charged. With the help of the mechanic, we then used the ICE vehicle to jump start the primary 12V battery, and connecting the jumpstarter to the secondary 12V battery. After another 20 mins or so, both 12V batteries were fully charged. The lights on both side of the truck now came on. We checked the voltage of the priamry and secondary 12V batteries and both were sufficient, 12.5V and 14.4V. The truck's main battery still would not take a charge though. We switched the ICE vehicle to charge the secondary battery for 30 mins, and the jumpstarter to continue to charge the primary battery. It still would not take a charge - the chargeport shows a white light. I try to change drive mode and get an error message when I try to change from sport to conserve mode "service the air suspension".
So the hardware seems to be fine, and I decide to try resetting the vehicle software. First I did a 'soft' reset, using the 2 buttons on the steering wheel. I plug it in again...but again , it won't charge. I do the same reset again, anxiously wait, and plug it in again: nothing. I'm starting to run out of options. I then remember a Rivian technician telling me last summer that there are 2 kinds of resets, so I check the owner's guide and see that there is indeed another reset, which requires you to push and hold a button on the steering wheel and the hazard warning lights simultaneously for 15 seconds. Fingers crossed.....The screen goes black and shows a bar that's filling up as it's restarting - very similar to a laptop. I then plug in again, and: yes! it charges! Finally!
I'm incredibly relieved and scream it out which makes the others in the warehouse look at me like "what's with this guy?".....Fun fact - I walk away to their office and when I return 5 mins later, I see the charging has stopped. Euhmm......turns out, the reel we were using to supply the jumpstarter and the Rivian L1 charger had tripped. The importer tells me "sure we'll replace the reel shortly", but I insist they do it while I am there - they have a ways to go to rebuild their trust! we agree that they move the truck to their L2 charger which is a few hundred feet away, once the battery has 20 miles in it, and put the vehicle back in shipping mode after charging it, which they do.
All in all, a quite nerve racking experience, but I'm super happy to have been able to bring my R1T back to life!
Last summer we decided to move back to the Netherlands, after having lived in California for 7 years. We had just gotten our R1T and were definitely still in our honeymoon phase, going on multiple camping trips, so after some soul searching, we decided to bring the truck with us to Europe.
Rivian customer support, understandably, was nervous when I told them I would be putting the truck in a shipping container for 4-8 weeks to cross the globe to take it to a part of the world without Rivian service centers. They advised me to put the truck in shipping mode, and top off the battery so it might have a chance it would still have some juice on arrival. No guarantees (none expected).
I started reading on this forum and others that having a bricked truck might require a Rivian technician to bring it back to life, or worse, in one instance the 400V battery had to be replaced. So I urged the shipper to make sure to plug it in and check the battery was at 100% when they put it on the boat. They only had Tesla chargers, so they had to use the Rivian L1 charger which would take 3.5 days to fully charge. In the end they unplugged the truck several times over the course of a week or so, so it was at 85% SoC when they loaded it onto the ship. Not a good start. I then tracked the ship online hoping they would be able to keep the transit time short. Delays in Panama, delays in France (why would it need to go to France?), and finally, about 6 weeks later, my R1T arrived in the port of Rotterdam.
The importer called me with the good news - there was still about 100 miles 'in the tank' - my R1T had survived the trip! I was super relieved. For various reasons, the truck had to wait a couple months before it could clear customs, so the importer suggested to store the truck in their warehouse. I agreed and asked them to keep it charged. So far, so good.
Then the recall happened and I called the importer to ask if i could come by to torque the wheel fasteners, and to see my truck again and see how it had fared. He checks with his technicians, and calls me back saying the truck is dead. Merry Christmas! Turns out, they had not put the truck back in shipping mode while it was parked in their warehouse - which of course they denied - so the main 400V battery and the 12V batteries had fully drained.
I instructed them based on a call with Rivian customer support how to jump the 12V battery, but they did not follow my instructions, so could only get the truck to open, and have the screen come back to life, but it would not take a charge. I then decided to go there myself and try to bring it back to life.
The first thing I did is replace the jumpstarter with a ICE vehicle with running engine and jumpercables to charge the primary 12V battery, using the Rivian jumper cables that come out of the rear of the truck next to the hitch. After 30 mins or so, the lights on the left of the truck would come on, but not on the right side, and the main battery would still not be charged. With the help of the mechanic, we then used the ICE vehicle to jump start the primary 12V battery, and connecting the jumpstarter to the secondary 12V battery. After another 20 mins or so, both 12V batteries were fully charged. The lights on both side of the truck now came on. We checked the voltage of the priamry and secondary 12V batteries and both were sufficient, 12.5V and 14.4V. The truck's main battery still would not take a charge though. We switched the ICE vehicle to charge the secondary battery for 30 mins, and the jumpstarter to continue to charge the primary battery. It still would not take a charge - the chargeport shows a white light. I try to change drive mode and get an error message when I try to change from sport to conserve mode "service the air suspension".
So the hardware seems to be fine, and I decide to try resetting the vehicle software. First I did a 'soft' reset, using the 2 buttons on the steering wheel. I plug it in again...but again , it won't charge. I do the same reset again, anxiously wait, and plug it in again: nothing. I'm starting to run out of options. I then remember a Rivian technician telling me last summer that there are 2 kinds of resets, so I check the owner's guide and see that there is indeed another reset, which requires you to push and hold a button on the steering wheel and the hazard warning lights simultaneously for 15 seconds. Fingers crossed.....The screen goes black and shows a bar that's filling up as it's restarting - very similar to a laptop. I then plug in again, and: yes! it charges! Finally!
I'm incredibly relieved and scream it out which makes the others in the warehouse look at me like "what's with this guy?".....Fun fact - I walk away to their office and when I return 5 mins later, I see the charging has stopped. Euhmm......turns out, the reel we were using to supply the jumpstarter and the Rivian L1 charger had tripped. The importer tells me "sure we'll replace the reel shortly", but I insist they do it while I am there - they have a ways to go to rebuild their trust! we agree that they move the truck to their L2 charger which is a few hundred feet away, once the battery has 20 miles in it, and put the vehicle back in shipping mode after charging it, which they do.
All in all, a quite nerve racking experience, but I'm super happy to have been able to bring my R1T back to life!
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