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Am I crazy?

sacramentoelectric

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almost 3 years out...kind of a hilarious concept when buying, you know, a car.
Three years? That's little league. Go preorder a Cybertruck and step up to a five year wait.
 

sacramentoelectric

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Am I crazy in either of these 2 ways...
I placed my order last month and I'm in no hurry...planning to drive my 2010 4runner until I get a pickup, whether that's a Rivian or whether I bail and get something else. But I'd like to have it by the end of 2022. Am I crazy to think that's plausible? I ordered an adventure package, Max pack, forest green.
So do y'all think I'll get that in 2022? Even if it were a few months into 2023, I'd probably stick with the order. Past 8/23 and I'd probably bail.

Second...
This will be my long trips into the mountains/desert truck from SW Colorado when I move there. I plan to get a travel trailer that would probably weigh 2000 lbs, so nothing gigantic. I'll have hills to climb but also descend. But with that kind of towing and the standard spread of long weekend camping gear, is my 400 miles going to be more like 250? Below that would likely be an issue. My hope is to charge when I have to stop to eat, and despite my voluminous appetite, that's only about once every 4 hours!

Just some musing. If it's not going to be a Rivian, it would probably be an ICE Ranger or a Colorado, but really hoping the Rivian will suit ALL of my needs, especially given the high price tag.
Very, very unlikely you will get a usable 250mi range with a Max Pack driving with a trailer in the mountains. Especially if you want the A/T tires. Rivian says expect a 50% range reduction while towing. 15% range reduction for A/T tires. So you're looking at more like a 170mi range but you probably won't want to drive below 10% battery so figure that in too. If you're charging while you tow, you won't want to wait to charge the last 20% of battery capacity as it takes forever compared to 20-80% so realistically, you're looking at maybe 125-150 miles between charging stops even with the Max Pack. Recently a Rivian employee took their R1T cross country towing a trailer. They found stopping every 80-100 miles to charge to be the fastest way to travel.
 
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jbronkoR1T

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Very, very unlikely you will get a usable 250mi range with a Max Pack driving with a trailer in the mountains. Especially if you want the A/T tires. Rivian says expect a 50% range reduction while towing. 15% range reduction for A/T tires. So you're looking at more like a 170mi range but you probably won't want to drive below 10% battery so figure that in too. If you're charging while you tow, you won't want to wait to charge the last 20% of battery capacity as it takes forever compared to 20-80% so realistically, you're looking at maybe 125-150 miles between charging stops even with the Max Pack. Recently a Rivian employee took their R1T cross country towing a trailer. They found stopping every 80-100 miles to charge to be the fastest way to travel.
This starts to look more and more like a hobby than a vehicle that I will actually want to use in my semi retirement exploring the southwest. And "semi-retirement" is also a bit antithetical to $90k truck that isn't my also my main explore vehicle.
That article you linked to is interesting and while it makes the point about aerodynamics vs. weight, what I would tow would be a lot less weight than a mustang. I'm thinking a Patriot x1 or x3, or Opus or Taxa tigermoth. But I would really hope to get 200 before having to charge. I guess I'll have plenty of things to read from real users by the time mine would be ready.
 

Trekkie

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Trailering anything creates drag and affects all vehicles, gas or EV.

What makes you panic about EV is the fixed charging points are a lot further apart.

Having driven EV exclusively since 2017 I can say that at first, range anxiety is a real thing and you obsess about it.

IF the trucks are as late as they seem to be, that time is one benefit to us, the EV charging infrastructure continues to grow.

Tesla has that supercharger network, and Tesla is slowly opening it up around the world. How that works in the US right now is anyones guess since the US has a different plug than the Rest of the World.

What i'm attempting to say (badly) is you can have faith that as GM, Ford, Rivian, Kia, etc bring more and more cars to market that need to have DC Fast charging you will see the 'can't find a charger' anxiety disappear over time.

Even in the two short years I've owned my Tesla it's improved greatly. There are four more locations in my city than there were when I got my car (only had 12 chargers in Raleigh NC). We take a roadtrip at least once a year of 1100 miles one direction. In 2019 planning that trip took some work and searching of things to make sure my light range X could make it (235 rated, I've gotten 180 at best cold or warm) between charging stops as the chargers were pretty far apart. in 2021 when I raced across the country to say goodbye to my Dad there were at least 10 new locations that weren't there before.

So while we twiddle our thumbs waiting for the R1Ts with regular or Max pack, more and more of those stations are going to come online from EA, or others, or Tesla may pull something and we can buy a little adapter and now charge at superchargers.

So I wouldn't angrily cancel an order based on todays infrastructure.

Plus, if you're hopping campgrounds, rent a 50A service spot and plug the truck in over night.
 
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jbronkoR1T

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Trailering anything creates drag and affects all vehicles, gas or EV.

What makes you panic about EV is the fixed charging points are a lot further apart.

Having driven EV exclusively since 2017 I can say that at first, range anxiety is a real thing and you obsess about it.

IF the trucks are as late as they seem to be, that time is one benefit to us, the EV charging infrastructure continues to grow.

Tesla has that supercharger network, and Tesla is slowly opening it up around the world. How that works in the US right now is anyones guess since the US has a different plug than the Rest of the World.

What i'm attempting to say (badly) is you can have faith that as GM, Ford, Rivian, Kia, etc bring more and more cars to market that need to have DC Fast charging you will see the 'can't find a charger' anxiety disappear over time.

Even in the two short years I've owned my Tesla it's improved greatly. There are four more locations in my city than there were when I got my car (only had 12 chargers in Raleigh NC). We take a roadtrip at least once a year of 1100 miles one direction. In 2019 planning that trip took some work and searching of things to make sure my light range X could make it (235 rated, I've gotten 180 at best cold or warm) between charging stops as the chargers were pretty far apart. in 2021 when I raced across the country to say goodbye to my Dad there were at least 10 new locations that weren't there before.

So while we twiddle our thumbs waiting for the R1Ts with regular or Max pack, more and more of those stations are going to come online from EA, or others, or Tesla may pull something and we can buy a little adapter and now charge at superchargers.

So I wouldn't angrily cancel an order based on todays infrastructure.

Plus, if you're hopping campgrounds, rent a 50A service spot and plug the truck in over night.
all very good points. I should have mentioned that I do expect things to improve dramatically, especially with the infrastructure bill funding. and given semi-retirement, am I really gonna be in that big a hurry?! Hopefully my 4runner holds out until my order is ready. Given I will have driven that 4runner for 13+ years, I frikkin deserve it!
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