R1T 12v battery replacement every 2 years?!

[beatle]

And the cost of having to replace these batteries on vehicles under warranty.

And the cost of reengineering the original dual 12v setup.

And the cost of reengineering the 12v again to move it under the passenger seat so it doesn't take over an hour to replace.

Like the cheap packaging they used to ship three rear body panels to the body shop (because the first two were damaged in transit beyond repair), Rivian seems to excel at finding the most expensive way to save money. It's not like lithium car batteries were rare or new when the truck was in development.

They could should have changed to lithium when they saw 12v issues starting to flood the SCs, but they still don't use them even on R2. This is penny wise and pound foolish as the 12v failures will continue to bury the service centers that will already need relief from the tidal wave of R2s in the coming years.

Sponsored

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

A few owners have replaced the dual batteries themselves, performed a hard reboot, and cleared all codes successfully. As always, your mileage may vary.

I can say this, when my next battery failure happens, I’ll be handling it myself, whether Rivian is involved or not. If you go that route, grab a battery post relocator kit from s00nish. That solves the fitment issue when using a non-OEM battery and makes the install much cleaner.

 

[VSG]

When are they going to start using Li-ion 12v batteries like Tesla now uses? They used to have similar issues and started using Li-ion 12v batteries and solved all the issues.

What makes you think that will do anything to solve the problem? Are you aware of what the problem is? All this will do is put a much more expensive component under the hood, and a component that is more sensitive to the environment to boot.

If the problem is the battery management system, the 12V architecture (trying to do too much), the brackets which pinch the batteries, etc., then switching chemistry isn't going to solve the problem. Maybe it might reduce the problem if the chemistry can be drawn down more than an AGM, but it doesn't solve it. If the problem is bad batteries (it's not) then an alternative chemistry is also subject to that same failure. And you'll still have the problem of custom shape/size and being able to clear the codes when replacing.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

And every single rechargeable battery manufactured, if not made faulty, has a service life defined by a number of discharge/recharge cycles. All of them, from the AAA in your TV remote to the individual cells in your EV’s HV pack. If your 12V is failing prematurely, all possible causes have to be investigated… faulty 12V, or too much draw, or inadequate recharging of it. Simply having Li 12V doesn’t mean it will last forever. 12V failures aren’t unheard of among Teslas. Li 12V isn’t the magic solution you think it is.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Jinxing myself, but my truck is a Feb 23 build and I have yet to get the 12v warning 3 years in and 44k miles. Not sure what's different across the fleet. I do generally keep my truck plugged in if it's not being driven, but unclear if that makes any difference.

Our R1S built in the same timeframe hasn't needed a replacement yet either.

 

[d15b7]

Our R1S built in the same timeframe hasn't needed a replacement yet either.

‘22 R1T, approaching 55k miles, still on its original batteries. Mine lives outside year round in the extreme cold and summer heat. I do have Gear Guard disabled at home. Just another data point.

 

[beatle]

And every single rechargeable battery manufactured, if not made faulty, has a service life defined by a number of discharge/recharge cycles. All of them, from the AAA in your TV remote to the individual cells in your EV’s HV pack. If your 12V is failing prematurely, all possible causes have to be investigated… faulty 12V, or too much draw, or inadequate recharging of it. Simply having Li 12V doesn’t mean it will last forever. 12V failures aren’t unheard of among Teslas. Li 12V isn’t the magic solution you think it is.

Lithium typically carries a lifespan whose charge/discharge cycles are an order of magnitude greater than lead acid. Even if you get an early 12v failure at 18 months, that's 15 years for lithium.

LFP does need to be heated to properly charge it below freezing, and Tesla does actually heat their 12v (16v) battery, so it's not really a direct "easy" swap, but it naturally has a lot of advantages. That said, I think sodium ion will actually be the smartest 12v swap days as it performs well in all temperatures, it's more durable than LFP, less expensive than LFP, can be shipped at 0v, and its lower energy density isn't really a problem for 12v duty.

 

[eSUBA94]

Nah - you've got two 12V batteries.

rant
Sometime in '23 they "upgraded" the 12V battery...I think it was when they removed the 12V outlet from the frunk and the front cab (and the second horn). I'm guessing someone told them that if they removed those three huge 12V draws that they could get away with one smaller 12V to power the auxiliary systems. While I've never missed power in the frunk, the horn sucks and I've had to find ways to work around not having the 12V outlet in the front of the cab.
/rant

I don't have outlet in frunk (gen 1 december 2022) and have 2 AGMs

 

[dduffey]

We picked up our R1S in August '23 and have had the 12V replaced twice now by Rivian. The Service advisor said that the new one comes with a 2-year warranty. I don't know if that would help you, but if it's only been 18 months you might have some limited ground on which to stand.

This happened to me, first failure was under warranty and both batteries replaced. But that doesn't reset the warranty period (because it was not customer paid). Second set failed after 6 months and outside the original OEM warranty. Fortunately I didn't need a tow (only a warning).

They said I would have to pay for it since it's out of warranty, but then they good willed it, likely because it had just gone out of warranty and they just replaced it within 6 months.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Lithium typically carries a lifespan whose charge/discharge cycles are an order of magnitude greater than lead acid. Even if you get an early 12v failure at 18 months, that's 15 years for lithium.

LFP does need to be heated to properly charge it below freezing, and Tesla does actually heat their 12v (16v) battery, so it's not really a direct "easy" swap, but it naturally has a lot of advantages. That said, I think sodium ion will actually be the smartest 12v swap days as it performs well in all temperatures, it's more durable than LFP, less expensive than LFP, can be shipped at 0v, and its lower energy density isn't really a problem for 12v duty.

I've got 12V LFP in my camper, it's a fools errand trying to keep them above 32F to be able to charge them. I know 32F isn't a hard cutoff for LFP as long as you charge them exceptionally slow below that. But that also means you're either leaving your HV connected way longer than necessary, or heating the battery every time it starts to run low.

Rivian does not have low enough vampire drain to have a 12V LFP subsystem because of that. It might not matter if you live somewhere that doesn't see below freezing temps much, but this winter has been exceptionally bad for that here in Michigan.

 

[1stPlace]

I have a December '22 build R1S and I have not had a 12V replacement. However, I do get in and out of my car multiple times a day, and it is plugged in nightly. I would guess, if someone only charges their car once a week and drives it only a couple times in that week as a routine, they are more susceptible to this 12V battery drain issue. ABC = always be charging (or closing).

 

[Nixapatfan]

I have a December '22 build R1S and I have not had a 12V replacement. However, I do get in and out of my car multiple times a day, and it is plugged in nightly. I would guess, if someone only charges their car once a week and drives it only a couple times in that week as a routine, they are more susceptible to this 12V battery drain issue. ABC = always be charging (or closing).

The 12v isn't charged by plugging it in, it is charged by the inverter. Frequent use is probably what matters here with the HV always awake and keeping it topped up.

 

[1stPlace]

The 12v isn't charged by plugging it in, it is charged by the inverter. Frequent use is probably what matters here with the HV always awake and keeping it topped up.

Yes, but I would figure with the HV battery phantom drain, a plugged in Rivian will wake up to top up the HV battery at least once/day, which in turn will top up the 12V.

 

[NSRoamer]

Truck build date 3.13.23 - battery replaced “proactively” (according to Rivian) 3.17.25. I bought the truck 12.25. When I got in the truck today to install the update, the 12v battery icon showed up on the dash - in yellow. It disappeared after the update - which, of course, leaves me wondering.

I have the OBD connector, battery tender, and an EcoFlow River 2 to power the battery tender.

While searching for replacement batteries, I ran across this one - which looks very much like the one I saw (in one of the many other battery threads) that Rivian is now installing - just doesn’t have the Rivian name - and the terminals might be in a slightly different location. Easily fixed with adapters. Home Despot / Hopeless Depot has this one - at ~$60.00 way cheaper than a “Rivian” battery. I think I like the green one better.

Sponsored