Rivian R1T in World’s Toughest Towing Test on Ike Gauntlet [by TFL]

[Joints4Sale]

The DC charging speed is my biggest concern with Rivian. My Audi E-tron (2019) will hold 150kW all the way to 80%. It's battery is 83.5kWh, about 40% smaller than the Rivian. So the Audi charges at a higher speed and has less capacity to refill. There is no excuse for the Rivian to not hold at least 150kWh all the way to 80%. Even without towing, it will turn my 20 minute charging stop in the Audi to almost 40 minutes in the Rivian.

I agree, this truck does not charge the way it should. Being an early production employee version VIN 208, I bet the BMS is still being calibrated. The beauty is that this can be "updated" via software.

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[branden]

I wonder if there will be low rolling resistance tires on trailers for EVs to squeeze a few more miles. But it sounds like faster charging and tow friendly stations are the most important thing with the current battery tech.

Wind resistance is by far the largest factor.

 

[Joints4Sale]

Better than Sunday morning cartoons.

I wager that the lack of regen downhill was because the batteries were too hot, which would also explain the low charge rate once the batteries hit 40% SOC at the EA.

Cannot believe they left the trailer connected while charging and blocking most of a drive aisle. Sure the lot isn’t packed full, but it still seems inconsiderate. What if a few more EVs showed up to charge? This seems like glimpse into the near future when more people will be towing EV caravans for summer vacation but when the charging network still isn’t built out to properly accommodate trailering.

Inconsiderate? Maybe. People could still get by. EA and Walmart could help the situation by improving the way the chargers are located and traffic is routed around the area.

 

[branden]

I must say, I actually think it did pretty well. There isn't really a real world scenario worse than this for towing.

As for how they parked while charging, it looked to me that people can get by pretty easily and it's a one-way drive anyway.

 

[Lil'O Annie]

Many comments have been made about the lack of energy regained before this video came out. I also wondered why they didn't regain more energy via regen. It is mentioned that the brake pedal was not touched during the decent however the brake lights came on as they should when decelerating(most if not all EVs do this). I wonder if the trailer brakes are actually activating when this occurs. That could explain why they didn't recoup more energy along with possible thermal management of the battery.
@TFLtommy Did the trailer brake stay set at 5 for the entire test?

This is a really interesting point. Were the trailer brakes automatically coming on without touching the brake pedel? Rivian would know, but it would be fun to see if there's a difference between a brake setting at 5 vs 0.

 

[Forager]

Inconsiderate? Maybe. People could still get by. EA and Walmart could help the situation by improving the way the chargers are located and traffic is routed around the area.

I suspect we’ll hear that argument a lot. “It’s not my fault I’m blocking you, it’s the designer!”

To design these chargers as pull through spots which are sufficiently spaced to facilitate tow charging without blocking other charge stalls or drive aisles will result in loosing additional parking stalls. Businesses generally won’t like losing the parking, and city planning codes require a minimum number of stalls for businesses, so changing those codes will take approvals from Planning Departments and City Councils. And we aren’t just talking about 1-2 stalls per trailer charge stall, it’s more like 6-12 per stall because of the required turn radius and layout. This is significant.

This will be a problem for years. Best to get used to the idea of disconnecting trailers when charging in most scenarios.

 

[TFLtommy]

Many comments have been made about the lack of energy regained before this video came out. I also wondered why they didn't regain more energy via regen. It is mentioned that the brake pedal was not touched during the decent however the brake lights came on as they should when decelerating(most if not all EVs do this). I wonder if the trailer brakes are actually activating when this occurs. That could explain why they didn't recoup more energy along with possible thermal management of the battery. Paying attention to the charging, it appears that the BMS is certainly in its infancy.

@TFLtommy Did the trailer brake stay set at 5 for the entire test?

Yes gain set the same for the whole test. Of course there is a potential that as the truck slowed the trailer brakes activated, the only way to completely prevent this would be to set the gain to zero. That would be super reckless in practice as i’ve driven around some of those blind freeway turns and had to do very brisk and sudden stops, not something you want to do towing 8,000+ with trailer brakes disabled.

As for the charging people just aren’t going to unhitch to charge. To the average consumer hitching is one of the most stressful things about trailering and folks aren’t going to take the time, or risk (leaving your unhitched bailable toys/trailer in a parking area) while charging.

 

[branden]

I suspect we’ll hear that argument a lot. “It’s not my fault I’m blocking you, it’s the designer!”

To design these chargers as pull through spots which are sufficiently spaced to facilitate tow charging without blocking other charge stalls or drive aisles will result in loosing additional parking stalls. Businesses generally won’t like losing the parking, and city planning codes require a minimum number of stalls for businesses, so changing those codes will take approvals from Planning Departments and City Councils. And we aren’t just talking about 1-2 stalls per trailer charge stall, it’s more like 6-12 per stall because of the required turn radius and layout. This is significant.

This will be a problem for years. Best to get used to the idea of disconnecting trailers when charging in most scenarios.

Many of the major convenience store / gas station chains are getting into DCFC and I think that will be hugely beneficial for towing as the stations will likely be pull through.

 

[skyote]

I wonder if the trailer brakes are actually activating when this occurs. That could explain why they didn't recoup more energy along with possible thermal management of the battery.

Trailer brakes were definitely an issue with regen. There is no question they were on when the brake lights lit, but I'm curious if there was some amount of trailer brake applied even when non-brake light regen kicked in.

I would like to see the test with a lower trailer brake gain, and there is probably additional SW tuning that Rivian can do to make this better. They probably err on the side of caution/safety though.

 

[branden]

The difference between charged added displayed on the truck and on the station indicates to me that AC was running hard to cool the pack, as does the dip in charging speed and then gain in charging speed as cooling caught up

 

[skyote]

For the sake of comparison & science, I would have loved to see an unloaded (w/o trailer) test of the same IKE route to see efficiency & regen.

That could fairly well isolate the effect of the trailer and trailer brakes, and provide interesting efficiency statistics on its own.

 

[Lil'O Annie]

The Guess-o-meter result is a really good lesson to learn for new EV owners! NEVER solely depend on the GOM! Watch your % charge and learn how far you can typically go on 5-10% charge and use that as your GOM.
The lack of a trip meter is just plain bizzare. What the hell were they thinking? Would love to know why it's missing. Seems like such a standard feature couldn't have just been forgotten. Weird!

 

[skyote]

Hey Rivian, the trip meter should include both mileage & energy usage too, BTW.

Even better if the energy portion breaks down drivetrain, HVAC, & other accessory energy use.

 

[Grabs10]

Yes gain set the same for the whole test. Of course there is a potential that as the truck slowed the trailer brakes activated, the only way to completely prevent this would be to set the gain to zero. That would be super reckless in practice as i’ve driven around some of those blind freeway turns and had to do very brisk and sudden stops, not something you want to do towing 8,000+ with trailer brakes disabled.

As for the charging people just aren’t going to unhitch to charge. To the average consumer hitching is one of the most stressful things about trailering and folks aren’t going to take the time, or risk (leaving your unhitched bailable toys/trailer in a parking area) while charging.

What was the round trip mileage? 83 miles each way?

 

[mike22co]

This was a great test! Living in Colorado and hoping to replace a Yukon XL with the R1S, I am somewhat concerned about the ability to practically tow a 5000 GVWR travel trailer. That said, the Yukon has had issues going over Vail Pass and last time it overheated on the Ike Gauntlet to the point that the Yukon turned the A/C off. I still think the R1 will be the right choice, I just have to plan out trips better and infrastructure needs to be improved to support EV. Getting from Denver to Glenwood Springs with a camper sounds a bit daunting.

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