2025 R1S Battery Drain

[dfacto]

Tire pressure is supposed to be 48psi cold.

Good catch.

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[Rividiculous]

Tire pressure is supposed to be 48psi cold.

Yes, but even when it’s silly cold? If it’s 5 F out, and I fill to 48, when the temp jumps to 30 F the next week and I go for a long drive, will I end up with way over-inflated tires? Do I need to add or subtract air every time I get in my R1S?

Serious question. Thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

 

[CANCERDOC]

4psi does not explain the poor efficiency.

Cold temps can drop range by 50%. That’s probably the extreme. When you say you precondition does that mean you have it plugged in to preheat the car? Sometimes if the vehicle is plugged in and outside, it literally cannot draw enough juice from the wall to heat and charge the vehicle, esp if it’s not a 48A L2 charger

 

[NY_Rob]

Yes, but even when it’s silly cold? If it’s 5 F out, and I fill to 48, when the temp jumps to 30 F the next week and I go for a long drive, will I end up with way over-inflated tires? Do I need to add or subtract air every time I get in my R1S?

Serious question. Thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

Just look up the average for your area for the month and set tire pressure when you see that "average" temp outside. Don't worry about the over/under pressure if you set it by the monthly average.

 

[FooF]

No you don’t need to adjust pressure every time you drive. But if you want decent range and are going on a long drive the tires should be at least 50 psi when the tires have warmed up at highway speeds. I have had to let air out of the tires when driving in the desert because I had inflated to 48 psi when it was 65 degrees and 118 in the desert they went to 57 psi.

 

[HaveBlue]

AS an overall picture it's good to remember that ICE vehicles waste a lot of energy that isn't put to propulsion. This waste heat is great in the winter when some can be used to heat the cabin. They otherwise always get about the same efficiency hot or cold. EV's repurpose energy better by wasting less to heat. The side effect is that when you need heat, it has to come from the battery energy. At that point, a big three row EV brick is about as efficient as a big three row ICE brick. View it as physics and not as a defect (but there could be one with the OP). The opportunity for efficiency and money savings comes "sometimes" with an EV but not "always".

 

[Deacon]

Hi All- First time posting and first time owning an EV. Hoping to get some guidance.
Leased a 2025 R1S Dual Motor Large on Dec 6th 2024. From the first drive till now, the battery is draining about 40-50% faster than expected. As an example, if we charge to 300 miles, we typically will get about 160-170 miles from that charge. Again, that is typical every time we drive. Short of long distances. Within the first week, I was down to 8 miles, drove about .2 miles and was at 6 miles charge. As I continued driving another single mile (w/ no heat and extremely cautious), I was at 0 miles left and had to drive 4.5 miles to a charge. So I went about 1.25 miles and drained the full 8 miles. Road trips, local drives...doesn't matter.

I have spoken to Rivian and a service manager at the Brooklyn Dealer, Jeff, about a total of 15-20 times. Initially I was told by reps at the 800# that it seemed something was wrong and the battery should not be draining that quickly. A friend of mine had his Rivian in for service at the Brooklyn dealership and told me all the guys there knew who I was and my story. That there were 4-5 others w/ the same issue and they are fairly certain it's the battery and is a software issue. (this was before I had actually gotten a call back from the BK dealership and only had been able to speak to reps at the 800# and I was waiting for the rep to call me back.)

I ran into a Rivian rep at a Tesla charging station and told him the deal. He also said it should absolutely not be draining any where near that rate. I was in upstate VT and it was snowing while I was having this convo....so he knew it was cold outside.

Once I finally talked to the Jeff, the Field Service Manager at Brooklyn, he asked me to send trip details. I did that twice and both calls back went the same....

This is totally normal. They ran diagnostics on the vehicle and fully analyze each of the trips. The Rivian is operating as expected. He told me b/c the temperature was at certain degrees' 25 and 35 or so, it drains faster. B/c I was using the heater in the car, I accelerated (normally) 3 times, the tires needed to be warmed up, I drove up a hill at 1 point, we had suitcases in the trunk, etc, the battery drains faster and it's normal to expect getting only 50-60% battery life. Both trips they analyzed were w/ my kids in the car so I was not driving erratically at all. The 2nd trip, I had the interior heat temp set on 70 so they could not blame "using the heater excessively", as he focused on the 1st trip.

I fully understand with different factors in play, I will not get 300 miles out of a 300 mile charge. I would expect to get a 10-15...maybe 20% loss. But losing 40-50 every single time I drive it completely unacceptable. I have spoke to 2 buddies that have the same vehicle, earlier years. Live in my neighborhood (same temps) and they both said the battery drains quicker when cold but they were not experiencing anything near the drain that I am.

I love everything else about the R1S but I am now stuck dealing w/ this issue for 34 more months. Stopping 2-3 times on road trips that I should be stopping 1 time. Wasting time, with 3 kids and 2 dogs in the car. Plus spending a lot more on charging than I anticipated...I'd be getter off buying gas w/ what I'm paying charging at home or on trips.

Jeff attempted to get a buy back approved but it was denied b/c the vehicle is operating normally. I don't understand how they are selling vehicles ($90K!) that "operate normally" and will drain at these rates. I feel something is wrong w/ my vehicle, as did the initial reps at Rivian. I filed a claim w/ the BBB Auto Line hoping they can help.

Please let me know if this is actually normal or if it seems like I have a lemon. Thanks! Sorry for the long post.

Which wheels and tires do you have.?

 

[oobernabber]

As others have attested, the Rivian mileage estimator is questionable at best. My g2 R1t (dual/large/22") has 2100 miles on it, during which I've averaged about 2.1 mi/kWh, and it still tells me a full charge will take me ~336 miles. Simple math (108 kWh x 2.1) yields a more realistic range of 225-230 miles. Its particularly annoying when charging, where "Miles added" is emphasized over kWh or %charged on the charger(if Rivian owned), truck display, and phone app. I've turned off miles on the display and trained myself to ignore it elsewhere, but this is not intuitive for most drivers, and likely frustrating if this is their first EV.

2.1 mi/kWh, even in a PNW winter, seems a tad low, but I'm reserving judgement until I have a few more k's on the odometer and temps warm up. I believe it needs to be in 2.7 neighborhood to achieve EPA estimates. FWIW, highway/city efficiencies have not varied much for me so far.

That said, this is a minor quibble in an ocean of delight that has been my Rivian experience so far!

 

[rjbsloth]

thank you all! Seems like it's operating normally and just sucks in the cold. will take all advice. wish there was more transparency when buying or leasing about the cold issues for first time EV owners. Thanks!

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