Rivian to lay off 600+ workers / 4% workforce (Oct 23, 2025 report)

[Donald Stanfield]

I really think 500 miles of real range is needed for mass adoption. Not 500 miles of range driving 35 mph in perfect weather on perfectly flat roads. Real range. Charging speed improvements will help, but if you can do most of your charging at home, public charging speed won't matter much. I feel like 15-20 minute road trip charges are the sweet spot. It takes about that amount of time to pee and grab a drink.

Hard disagree. The max pack Rivian range and charging speed is more than enough for my road trip use. You stop every 3ish hours, charge for 20 mins (which is what it takes for everyone to pee and stretch their legs a bit anyway), and you're good for another 3ish hours. There are enough chargers wherever I go these days as well.

Charging isn't the issue it's made out to be. In just the three short years I've had an EV, things have gone from inconvenient at best to pretty good.

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[VandalSibs]

My brother carries a pee jug with him so he doesn't have to stop.

Does he work delivery for Amazon?

 

[strykerwsu]

Almost Every Rivian owner I know and its over 10 all have leased the R1. Rivian is going to have a huge problem with inventory of preowned cars they can't move in the next 10 months. Rivian really needs an extended warranty, or they are goanna be stuck. Who wants to touch a $55k preowned car that will need 4-8k in replacements less than 1 year into ownership. This will actually be a death sentence for the brand.

I and many of my coworkers will take a $60k vehicle that does all R1s do. Can’t wait to get a Gen 2 quad at that price.

Also, for other comments in thread. R1’s have plenty of range as is. People don’t like change, AI will make them have to accept it and layoffs are coming everywhere.

 

[Spaceball1]

Looking at EV6’s for a family member. Would you buy Kia again?

I have an EV6 we leased in 2023 and now an EV9 I got on a killer 2-year lease in August. It’s amazing how much they improved the 2026 software and options (PAAK finally!) and man is the ride great on both cars. Rides better than my R1T (and worlds better than our old Model Y performance). And…CarPlay!

I have an R2 on order but not sure if I’ll even get one now. Maybe when the EV6 lease is up next year.

 

[mkhuffman]

Hard disagree. The max pack Rivian range and charging speed is more than enough for my road trip use. You stop every 3ish hours, charge for 20 mins (which is what it takes for everyone to pee and stretch their legs a bit anyway), and you're good for another 3ish hours. There are enough chargers wherever I go these days as well.

Charging isn't the issue it's made out to be. In just the three short years I've had an EV, things have gone from inconvenient at best to pretty good.

I have personally experienced charging problems many, many times. Just a month or two ago I used a EA station next to my hotel that has new chargers. (I used it because it was convenient. Silly me.) The truck stopped charging after five minutes and I don't know why. It just stopped. No big deal, right? It is to me. It is to my wife (who luckily was not with me.) Those kind of things are why public charging still sucks.

I agree it has gotten better, mostly because now we can use the Tesla SC network and the RAN has expanded enough (in my area) to be my preferred stopping point on a trip. And I also agree a 20-minute charge is about as good as it needs to get. A one-hour charge, on the other hand, is totally unacceptable. I have had those on multiple occasions.

Better range means more flexibility. It appears you have had good luck with the stations that are on your route at the point when you need to charge. But if you have longer range, you can be more flexible where you stop. You could stop and recharge at 30% instead of 10%, because a fast 30-60% charge gets you more range than a 10-80% charge in a shorter-range vehicle. Longer range allows you to pick places you really want to stop at, rather than where you must stop.

I traded in my Mach-e for the R1T. One of the reasons was range. The difference has been freaking amazing. I can now do my office commute (145 miles one way) and home without needing to find a way to charge the truck. It has made my commute much less stressful.

That said, I have yet to see if I can do that in the winter. And if I need to drive around the area for events and meetings, which I usually do, I need to charge somewhere before coming home. If I had a longer range vehicle I could avoid that as well. It is certainly better, but I would love even more range so all I have to do is plug in at home. How amazing would that be?

Anyway, the range of today's electric vehicles are not even close to 500 miles of highway range, in the winter and in bad weather. I think for mass adoption we need a 20 minute charging stop to add 400 miles of highway range in the winter. Then we will have almost parity with ICEVs, and mass adoption will improve significantly.

IMO.

 

[mkhuffman]

not my experience at all. Last winter I drive my Max pack R1S from Boston to Syracuse during a really cold snap in December.

We left with 80ish percent and stopped when we wanted and only when we wanted, and for only as long as we needed to pee, eat, walk the dog, or whatever combination of them we wanted at the time. There were chargers every time and place we started to want to stop and we had options to find the one that was best. A rest area? Ok. A Dennys for a midnight snack? Sounds good!

Importantly we didn’t ever even think to try to fully charge. We just charged for as long as we were there at that stop. Ultimately I think we arrived with 10 or 15% left when we plugged in at the hotel.

If we were driving a dino burner we’d have filled up with gas once. But that would have meant a bunch of stops to pee without gassing up. And probably moving the car from a parking spot to the gas station or at least pump.

I see these people talking about needing to have the range to drive 400 or 500 miles in one go and think they’re crazy. You want to drive at 75 mph for 5 or more hours without stopping? Really?! I just don’t believe them.

Yeah I’m sure someone will say they do it all the time. But you, sir or madam, are weird.

While I don't carry a pee jug, I did a 4.5 hour drive without stopping back in early March. I took my wife's ICEV because I didn't have my R1T yet and my Mach-e could never have done that without stopping. I might have been able to do that in the T, but maybe not. It was cold and I probably would have arrived with a low charge. My destination did not have any charging options for miles around it.

Everyone travels differently. I do not want to stop as frequently as you do. Not at all. I want to get to my destination. The only stops I want to make are ones that involve eating or peeing. If I can hold it, I want to keep driving. That is me. (And my brother, but he is weirder than me.)

Longer range means I can decide where I stop instead of the truck deciding. The longer it gets, the more flexibility we have. I love flexibility.

 

[Great Gatsby]

I have personally experienced charging problems many, many times. Just a month or two ago I used a EA station next to my hotel that has new chargers. (I used it because it was convenient. Silly me.) The truck stopped charging after five minutes and I don't know why. It just stopped. No big deal, right? It is to me. It is to my wife (who luckily was not with me.) Those kind of things are why public charging still sucks.

I agree it has gotten better, mostly because now we can use the Tesla SC network and the RAN has expanded enough (in my area) to be my preferred stopping point on a trip. And I also agree a 20-minute charge is about as good as it needs to get. A one-hour charge, on the other hand, is totally unacceptable. I have had those on multiple occasions.

Better range means more flexibility. It appears you have had good luck with the stations that are on your route at the point when you need to charge. But if you have longer range, you can be more flexible where you stop. You could stop and recharge at 30% instead of 10%, because a fast 30-60% charge gets you more range than a 10-80% charge in a shorter-range vehicle. Longer range allows you to pick places you really want to stop at, rather than where you must stop.

I traded in my Mach-e for the R1T. One of the reasons was range. The difference has been freaking amazing. I can now do my office commute (145 miles one way) and home without needing to find a way to charge the truck. It has made my commute much less stressful.

That said, I have yet to see if I can do that in the winter. And if I need to drive around the area for events and meetings, which I usually do, I need to charge somewhere before coming home. If I had a longer range vehicle I could avoid that as well. It is certainly better, but I would love even more range so all I have to do is plug in at home. How amazing would that be?

Anyway, the range of today's electric vehicles are not even close to 500 miles of highway range, in the winter and in bad weather. I think for mass adoption we need a 20 minute charging stop to add 400 miles of highway range in the winter. Then we will have almost parity with ICEVs, and mass adoption will improve significantly.

IMO.

I see what you're saying, but I don't see absurd range figures inspiring more mass adaptation. It could help, but no a silver bullet.

The Lucid Air Pure is a steal on a lease and gets 400 miles of range. Shoot, they have a model with 500+ miles of range. They are selling ok, but not as much as you'd imagine given how much people hype up range. It's a sedan, which doesn't help either. The Gravity gets 450 miles of range advertised. Will probably sell well, but will still be outsold by ICE vehicles in that price point.

I'm with you, don't get me wrong, if we could get EVs to get 500-600 miles of range that would be great for some people. And that is coming with EREV (Scout and new Wagoneer) but the issue IMO still remains educating people on EVs. I'm a talker anytime anyone ask about my cars and still deal with the same old and tired FUD - You have to replace the battery, you have to charge for hours on a roadtrip, they are not better for the environment, the company will go out of business, they aren't fun to drive, they eat through tires, they destroy the roads, they catch on fire and burn forever, they are Chinese, the grid can't support, charging infrastructure is not there, etc. If the narrative started to turn, then maybe more people would be open to looking at EVs. For now though, I think most people are indifferent or have the aforementioned myths in mind. I have several coworkers interested in getting a Rivian but every time a new headline comes up (like Axios saying Rivian is cutting jobs due to end of tax credit ) I could see the hesitation persist. The media and traditional car websites and talking heads are doing the EV market no favors.

 

[Fmc]

https://www.wglt.org/local-news/202...n-now-wont-say-how-many-people-work-in-normal

WGLT is watching employment

 

[therealcmj]

I did a 4.5 hour drive without stopping back in early March.

5 hours averaging 65 mph is 325 miles. A Max pack starting at 100% charge should cover that trip even in the winter.

 

[mkhuffman]

5 hours averaging 65 mph is 325 miles. A Max pack starting at 100% charge should cover that trip even in the winter.

It definitely covers it in the summer. I arrive at the office with 57-58% charge remaining. So great. If I loose 20% of the range in the winter? It will be close, but you are right, I might be able to make it. Especially considering the truck will start warm in my garage.

... I'm a talker anytime anyone ask about my cars and still deal with the same old and tired FUD - You have to replace the battery, you have to charge for hours on a roadtrip, they are not better for the environment, the company will go out of business, they aren't fun to drive, they eat through tires, they destroy the roads, they catch on fire and burn forever, they are Chinese, the grid can't support, charging infrastructure is not there, etc.

The problem is there is some truth in all those concerns you listed. I agree many are blown out of proportion, but it is hard to argue with people about those when there is some support for their arguments.

I tell people there is nothing better for local driving. Nothing. You can refuel at home and you never need to change the oil or spark plugs. (Actually, there is a oil change interval, just not every 7,000 miles.) But I also tell people it isn't a great road trip option. That is the truth. I can deal with it, but people like my wife cannot. She has been with me for some pretty bad charging experiences. It is hard to get her past that.

We sat for an hour at Starbucks waiting for my Mach-e to get enough charge to make it to our destination. The dogs were restless and the coffee was cold. It was OK for the first 20-30 minutes. But then it sucked. And that is just one example. It alone would have been enough for her to never want a BEV for herself. Ever. (It was a busy EA station that was throttling the charge rate. That was after I spent 10 minutes trying to get the charge to start.)

 

[Jeff M]

How much does $7500 make a difference on a lease payment when at the R1 price points? Not saying it doesn't affect sales but just curious.

At the R1 price point the $7,500 didn't make a difference to me as I was comparing to a $120K Lucid Gravity offering the same. The selection came down to Lucid not having the next version of the Gravity available yet and the similar vehicle footprint to my current 2021 Audi ETron Prestige. We opted for the higher riding R1S Dual Performance Max. Then paid/bought out the lease for $97K tax included. and saved over $13.5K total. It was very tasty icing.

 

[therealcmj]

stop every 3ish hours, charge for 20 mins (which is what it takes for everyone to pee and stretch their legs a bit anyway), and you're good for another 3ish hours.

100%.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but...

When I talk to an ICE driver they say "I stop for 5 mins to gas up" but what they actually do is pull in to the rest area, park, walk to the bathroom, pee, pick out a drink and/or snack, walk to the register and pay, walk back to the car, drive to the pump, get out and stand in the cold/wind/rain for 5 mins to fill up, get back in the car, and then drive off. Total time from the moment they park to the time they're driving away is easily 15-20 mins. And more if you order hot (fast) food and actually sit down and eat it.

I can usually get people who are actually interested in learning to understand that with an EV that entire 15-20 mins would be charging. But often they pivot to "but what if all the chargers are taken?!" Which becomes a whole other conversation.

 

[ATLRivvy]

leasing is a bet/hedge against vehicle depreciation. It makes financial sense whenever you think the depreciation curve is steep enough that at the end of the lease the vehicle will be worth significantly less than the residual value.

As a 2nd time EV owner - I was pretty confident that between technology improvements, the switchover to NACS, the first wave of leases ending and increased competition in the EV market there is momentum for a very steep depreciation curve on the R1S in the next few years. Therefore I leased.

 

[DD4ST]

How much does $7500 make a difference on a lease payment when at the R1 price points? Not saying it doesn't affect sales but just curious.

I think for a lot of folks that leased EV’s that is the wrong question. Traditionally, leasing and financing were used to provide a path for those that could not afford cash. But when the $7500 tax incentive became tied to leasing only, folks started looking at the overall cost of the lease vs buying. In my case, my R1T is my first ever lease and I took it because it saved me $10K overall vs paying cash up front (which I could have done). The other factor that influenced me was what has been already covered in this thread about Rivian’s long term viability.

Additionally, I understand leasing wasn’t even an option for the earliest adopters, so a lot of folks never went through that analysis.

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