bac4uw
Well-Known Member
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- #1
It's been a hot minute since I've posted on this forum, despite being a regular lurker. I received my R1T in March of 2022 and have been enjoying it ever since. One of my hobbies is to self-guide multi-day river rafting trips. This hobby has been hindered by my R1T since I received it due to logistical constraints posed by the lack of charging stations nearby river put-ins and take-outs. With all of the charging network improvements, I decided this year to guide a group of 13 people down the Lower Deschutes River in Oregon and used my R1T for the first time to pull all (most) of our gear along for the trip.
Coming from the Seattle area to The Dalles, OR Rivian charging station was a breeze, even when towing a trailer of 1750 pounds and gear (averaged about 1.6MPKwh). All boats were broken down and not pumped up -- trying to keep wind drag to a minimum. We plugged in with no problem at The Dalles, got lunch, charged to 180 estimated miles and went off. We had to pick a fellow boater up at the Heritage Landing take-out near the Columbia River take-out - and I somehow underestimated the mileage that this would drain from my battery. Now picked up, we made it to the Buckhollow put-in with 114 miles left -- which *should* have been plenty given the 49-mile commute to the take-out + 16 miles back to the Rivian charging station at The Dalles. (I put it into camp mode to minimize drain)
Fast forward, we had an AMAZING three-day 43-mile trip down the river. I hired a company to drive my empty R1T + trailer to the take-out and didn't think about my truck once while on the river. We got to the take-out, truck was there, and I had 32 projected miles left of range (to go 16 miles to the charger). After 1.5 hours of breaking down our gear and packing up, we headed out and got to The Dalles Rivian charging station with 5 miles to spare. (eastbound winds along the Columbia River are nuts)
While I was pretty sure we would make it, we were sweating bullets. I could have made some changes to make range anxiety more comfortable (e.g. don't bring so much beer and crazy gear), but this is precisely why I've avoided doing this activity with my Rivian (where, ironically, "Riv" stands for river). I made it home, and I do now feel like highway travel is reasonable and comfortable on this sort of trip. Getting to a river put-in, take-out, and back to a charging station however was NOT comfortable.
This post is meant to celebrate the fact that I was able to do a hobby that I love with a truck that I love. I was recently invited to order an R2 and had considered it as a replacement for the R1T (because for most other parts of the year, the R1T is overkill and the R2 would be perfect). But, based upon initial observations I don't think the R2 would be a suitable replacement on this type of river trip. Feeling torn right now... but here are some pics. Cheers!
PS... we had kids in their teens, a Brit, an Aussie, two brothers in their 40s, and a bunch of noobs ranging from 22 to 46). Fun times... the Grasshopper Fire near Mt Hood was ever-present, but never affected our experience. We had a majestical view of the stars and of the Perseids meteor shower on the last night!
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Coming from the Seattle area to The Dalles, OR Rivian charging station was a breeze, even when towing a trailer of 1750 pounds and gear (averaged about 1.6MPKwh). All boats were broken down and not pumped up -- trying to keep wind drag to a minimum. We plugged in with no problem at The Dalles, got lunch, charged to 180 estimated miles and went off. We had to pick a fellow boater up at the Heritage Landing take-out near the Columbia River take-out - and I somehow underestimated the mileage that this would drain from my battery. Now picked up, we made it to the Buckhollow put-in with 114 miles left -- which *should* have been plenty given the 49-mile commute to the take-out + 16 miles back to the Rivian charging station at The Dalles. (I put it into camp mode to minimize drain)
Fast forward, we had an AMAZING three-day 43-mile trip down the river. I hired a company to drive my empty R1T + trailer to the take-out and didn't think about my truck once while on the river. We got to the take-out, truck was there, and I had 32 projected miles left of range (to go 16 miles to the charger). After 1.5 hours of breaking down our gear and packing up, we headed out and got to The Dalles Rivian charging station with 5 miles to spare. (eastbound winds along the Columbia River are nuts)
While I was pretty sure we would make it, we were sweating bullets. I could have made some changes to make range anxiety more comfortable (e.g. don't bring so much beer and crazy gear), but this is precisely why I've avoided doing this activity with my Rivian (where, ironically, "Riv" stands for river). I made it home, and I do now feel like highway travel is reasonable and comfortable on this sort of trip. Getting to a river put-in, take-out, and back to a charging station however was NOT comfortable.
This post is meant to celebrate the fact that I was able to do a hobby that I love with a truck that I love. I was recently invited to order an R2 and had considered it as a replacement for the R1T (because for most other parts of the year, the R1T is overkill and the R2 would be perfect). But, based upon initial observations I don't think the R2 would be a suitable replacement on this type of river trip. Feeling torn right now... but here are some pics. Cheers!
PS... we had kids in their teens, a Brit, an Aussie, two brothers in their 40s, and a bunch of noobs ranging from 22 to 46). Fun times... the Grasshopper Fire near Mt Hood was ever-present, but never affected our experience. We had a majestical view of the stars and of the Perseids meteor shower on the last night!
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