No real AM or FM radio in the R2

[Dustyshades]

FM analog has better sound quality than iheartradio or tuned in. Add in their obnoxious ads and they're terrible. You can't compare pay to stream services because they are not free and require a paid data signal.

FM radio is mostly ads…. I’m not sure if you’ve actually thought through what you value and where the best place is to get that.

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[SteveInBend]

Another cool feature of streaming over the Internet vs FM radio is that you can listen to your favorite station from coast-to-coast.

 

[Bullwinkle]

I think that is a per vehicle cost. There is no reason to believe that developing an 800V would have been more expensive. If you are saying that it will be costly and difficult to rectify this mistake then 100% agree. But mark my words, when Tesla finally upgrades at the end of 2027 to stay competitive in China and Europe, the must-do time will arrive. And yes, I agree, Rivian put its money in proprietary Autonomy instead.

Right now, 800v gets you absolutely no time savings at 90% of charging stops, and R2 will charge faster than Volvo's best. Two years from now, pretty much the same--maybe 80%.

 

[Tony S]

just because there’s a lot of old people still driving who shouldn’t be anymore doesn’t mean it’s not obsole

How old are you, kid?

 

[Dustyshades]

How old are you, kid?

Old enough to have exclusively used radio when I started driving. Young enough to have switched to streaming cause I’m not stuck in my ways.

 

[RivianRocks25]

Yesterday example of why I'm 'stuck in my ways'. Coming home from visiting son, last 25 minutes, there is no cell service. We do travel from 1 major FM city zone into an other and have to switch the radio as 'loose one group of stations'. But there are other multiple choices we are getting closer to and have new ones to choose from the whole way. Have done this for the last 30 years.

So I'm not being a ludite. Not my fault the cell companies all too F'ing cheap to add towers into this area. Sure their maps says they have coverage, they don't. Rivians new, cheaper for Rivian, utopia literally DOESN'T WORK FOR US. I can't make Verizon or ATT or Tmobile put up towers.

Spending time to preload a podcast or music on phone is just a time consuming crutch. We have traveled this area with severe weather where listen to radio for locations of hail producing t-storms and tornados. Cell based (phone alerts and now FM replacement) fail and are such a step backward. There is a solution that works for the last 50 years, Rivian is choosing to ignore it because they want to save a buck.

And for those that save just buy a portable radio. Wow, it that convenient to use while driving at 55. Plus I have actually owned a couple of these back it the day, and the antennas/tuners were generally cheap and reception of distant stations sucked. So there is no guarantee they would even pickup anything in this example vs a car based, highly tuned radio.

 

[sparked]

I think that is a per vehicle cost. There is no reason to believe that developing an 800V would have been more expensive.

Your rebuttal here amounts to me taking your word and your reliance on a chatbot in coming up with this info. I've caught chatbots too many times in mistakes with complex topics to take that at face value. I am very unconvinced that a massive electrical architecture change from 400v to 800v would have cost zero. I'm not even convinced that your $400 extra cost per vehicle is accurate either.

Edit: Since there is no clear consensus or proven data on this, I think it might be better if you separated out this 400v vs 800v topic into its' own discussion and not mix it up with this AM/FM topic.

 

[Mos Eisley]

Your rebuttal here amounts to me taking your word and your reliance on a chatbot in coming up with this info. I've caught chatbots too many times in mistakes with complex topics to take that at face value. I am very unconvinced that a massive electrical architecture change from 400v to 800v would have cost zero. I'm not even convinced that your $400 extra cost per vehicle is accurate either.

Keep trying but you're wrong. First off, no change is ever free. TANSTAAFL.
Second, you can find many quotes/videos etc from RJ repeatedly answering this question and it's ALL about cost trade-offs, choosing energy density over charging speeds by choosing a lower cost battery pack design. Rivian is focused intensely on being vertically integrated - which is a very expensive approach early on. So redeveloping from ground up, a vehicle derived around an entirely different battery structure and chemistry with significantly more need for cooling and management tech is a NEW development cost that is well into the multiple millions of dollars.

To be sure, 800v is coming (or whatever the future iteration will be - see BYD) - maybe even in the eventual Redesign, but they ain't getting that for free.

 

[Husky]

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person bothered by this. I'm not concerned about the "emergency" cases... a portable radio can solve that, but I use the radio every single day for local stations, and I routinely go to places that have no cell service, but still am able to tune in the stations I like.
And I'm not one of the "CarPlay Crowd" because my car doesn't have CarPlay, so I haven't been spoiled by it. But FM...? I didn't think that was a "luxury".
We also don't want to add any subscription items. We only subscribe to Netflix and I've been looking for ways to cut that even. So that means no Apple Music, Sirius XM, Starlink, etc...
I'm still probably going to get the R2, but it's just a serious bummer. We are actually going to test drive the Trailseeker because of this, but that has to do way more than just have an FM radio... and I'm seriously doubting the Trailseeker is a better buy despite having a radio and being considerably more affordable.

I totally understand and agree. We have more than enough accounts, logins, passwords, subscriptions and forced advertising in our lives. I want to be able to hit a button and listen to the damn radio! That's one reason I've never liked the "free" (for now) Sirius radio that has come with some of my vehicles. It always has ads - for Sirius radio, and some dumb DJ yakking. Nevermind that when you listen to something like a Blues station, most of what you'll hear are songs you've never heard of from artists you've never heard of. Probably costs them less.
No FM was a bigger blow than learning that I can no longer use my thumb drive to play my music collection. Yes, I can put it on my phone, but maybe I don't want to use up 16G of my phone memory, and have to use some clunky audio player.
I've never used iHeart radio, but it sounds like just another source of advertising and/or paying for a subscription, login, blah, blah, blah.
I have a Pixel phone and saw an Android radio app. I thought "well, maybe this is an easy solution". Ha! I downloaded it and was Immediately hit with ads and screens trying to get me to pay for a subscription or click on some other bullshit ad. I deleted it immediately after trying.
I realize this is a tech-heavy/dependent vehicle, where you have to go to a screen to adjust your vents (dumb), but I can get past that. I'll probably get past the no-FM deal too, but at some point you'd like life to be a bit simpler, rather than more complicated. Now get off my lawn!

 

[Husky]

If that is the case Amazon needs to fire their AI team. I still can't get Alexa to add grocery items correct half the time.

Hey Alexa, add garbage bags to the shopping list...cabbage added to the shopping list! Or, Hey Alexa, cancel my second timer...Okay, which timer do you want cancelled. Is it the timer with one hour, seven mintues, thirty four seconds or is it....yes, it is that timer, I'm not showing a timer with one hour, seven minutes.... lol

Alexa sucks. I'm watching TV in another room, I haven't said a thing, and she randomly comes out with "I'm sorry, I can't help you with that"! Just awful.

 

[Husky]

Looks like they need to add FM to that bill.

Yeah. Otherwise it appeals mostly to just talk radio listeners.

 

[r2fb]

FM has a useful radius of 75ish miles. If you have plenty of FM station access, maybe you are not adventuring.

Where is my AM radio and satellite modem then?

 

[Husky]

just because there’s a lot of old people still driving who shouldn’t be anymore doesn’t mean it’s not obsole

Just because there's a lot of young people who shouldn't be driving while playing with their phones doesn't mean the tech is great.

 

[rfkxyz]

I'm just learning about Rivian's lack of onboard antenna/receiver for SiriusXM - seems like a miss for an "adventure" vehicle to leave out mainstream satellite tech. Others will miss AM/FM based on their own use cases, mine's more about satellite radio reception from remote locations.

I genuinely enjoy our Boy Scout campouts w/ no cellular connectivity available but I can still sneak into my emerging-tech Toyota and dial up news or a ball game. Perhaps the business case for such use cases may not be too strong?

I suppose an alternative could be an integrated satellite receiver like Scout has shown, but I don't think Rivian has ever teased such a thing?

 

[RandomMcRandomFace]

This thread is off the rails and I am not sure if I like that or not.

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