Report: Overlanding Trip North of the Border With Rivian R1T

[jjswan33]

Hey All. Just got back from a trip north of the border into Canada. I enjoyed some camping, hiking, beautiful scenery, overlanding and the adventure of taking the Rivi international. A few pointers right at the top and then in the map below I outlined some points of interest in my trip; charging stops, camping spots, etc.

Pointers:

- Most Canadian charging networks are not on the Rivian NAV examples include Electrify Canada, Petro Canada, BC Hydro etc. As far as I could tell only Flo chargers which are in the Chargepoint database are available. Plugshare was very useful without this info.
- The Flo chargers would activate from the Chargepoint app, the Flo App or with some card. Tapping your phone using Chargepoint did not work. Took me a while to figure it out right after crossing the border. In the end I used the Rivian hotspot and the Chargepoint app when needed to start charges for the rest of the trip.
- Rivian doesn’t convert to metric, at least in 2022.27.2 but from the chatter on another thread that is coming soon
- Electrify Canada 350kW chargers do not give more than 150kW
- Driver+ was basically non-existent. Only for a small section on 97C and on some of 5 near Abbotsford


Map Legend - POIs

1. Charging at EA in Hood River
2. Charging at EA in Yakima
3. Camping spot at BLM campground in Yakima River Canyon, nothing fancy and a warm windy night
4. Charging at EA in Leavenworth
5. Spot for a hike and a great camping spot near a lake - we enjoyed the hike but skipping camping and continued north towards the border
6. First Canadian charging stop in Osooyoos, BC - Flo station 80kW. As stated above took a minute to figure out how to activate, and got errors the first couple times as I figured it out.
7. Camping spot at a place called Marshal Lake Recreation site, near some small ski resort
8. Charging at a Flo Station in Christina Lake - 80kW
9. Ferne, BC - Just because it’s nice. My friend went Mountain biking
10. Camping north of Ferne, bumpy road but no problem for the Rivi. Hartley Lake Recreation Site
11. My friend went toward Calgary to meet some friends but I continued north overland towards Canal Flats. Wonderful drive with glorious views of mountains all around. A bridge out meant a mandatory water crossing, my first in the Rivian but it was no issue. Turned out to be several more small crossings.
12. Then to the adventure after the adventure, I had punctured a tire, and this after a not mentioned previous flat a day previous due to a nail that I couldn’t get repaired on a Sunday. Luckily a nice fellow came buy and gave me a repair kit and I was able to plug it enough to get to a tire shop and get both tires repaired. ? Exhausted from the adventure I just got a camping spot in Kootenay National Park for the night
13. Stopped at a 50kW BC Hydro station in Radium Springs. Had to use the Flo app to activate this one. Also had a Tesla driver ask me about the charger, no sorry lady you can’t charge your car here without an adapter you’ll have to deal with that L2 station.
14. EC charging stop in Golden
15. EC charging stop in Revelstoke
16. EC charging stop in Kolowna
17. Beautiful lake side camping spot. Elkhart Lake Recreation site
18. EC charging stop in Merritt
19. EC charging stop in Abbotsford
20. EA charging stop in Tacoma, WA to finish up the trip and head home.

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[MountainBikeDude]

Your friend that continued on to Calgary didn't have a blue T with California plates did they? My wife and I were almost in Banff, driving from Vancouver, and one pulled up behind us and I turned into a squeaky school girl trying to get my wife to look and take a photo

 

[jjswan33]

Your friend that continued on to Calgary didn't have a blue T with California plates did they? My wife and I were almost in Banff, driving from Vancouver, and one pulled up behind us and I turned into a squeaky school girl trying to get my wife to look and take a photo

Haha.. no. He was in a Suburu Outback Wilderness. Of course not mentioned above I did run into a lot of excited Canadians who had never seen a Rivian in person, or even better thought just maybe they were delivering them to Canada but no unfortunately I took delivery in Oregon. That said I did run into a F150 Lightning with BC plates in Golden so some hope for Canadians on the electric truck front.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Haha.. no. He was in a Suburu Outback Wilderness. Of course not mentioned above I did run into a lot of excited Canadians who had never seen a Rivian in person, or even better thought just maybe they were delivering them to Canada but no unfortunately I took delivery in Oregon. That said I did run into a F150 Lightning with BC plates in Golden so some hope for Canadians on the electric truck front.

Hahaha, yeah, pulled up behind me and I glanced into the rear view mirror and heart skipped a beat, as he pulled around me to pass, I rolled down my window, threw out probably the most enthusiastic Thumbs Up ever out the window and he slowed slightly then took off. I tried to keep up, but the olde cabbage kart wasn't feeling as spirited as I was...

 

[R1Sky Business]

Any charging issues?

 

[jjswan33]

Any charging issues?

Nothing major. Just an early learning curve at the Flo charger. I did have one EC station that started hot but then settled at around 35kW so I had to switch to another.

In fact I was impressed by the number of fast chargers available, granted a lot were 50kW but they were all over the place.

 

[cbrcanuck]

Hey All. Just got back from a trip north of the border into Canada. I enjoyed some camping, hiking, beautiful scenery, overlanding and the adventure of taking the Rivi international. A few pointers right at the top and then in the map below I outlined some points of interest in my trip; charging stops, camping spots, etc.

Pointers:

- Most Canadian charging networks are not on the Rivian NAV examples include Electrify Canada, Petro Canada, BC Hydro etc. As far as I could tell only Flo chargers which are in the Chargepoint database are available. Plugshare was very useful without this info.
- The Flo chargers would activate from the Chargepoint app, the Flo App or with some card. Tapping your phone using Chargepoint did not work. Took me a while to figure it out right after crossing the border. In the end I used the Rivian hotspot and the Chargepoint app when needed to start charges for the rest of the trip.
- Rivian doesn’t convert to metric, at least in 2022.27.2 but from the chatter on another thread that is coming soon
- Electrify Canada 350kW chargers do not give more than 150kW
- Driver+ was basically non-existent. Only for a small section on 97C and on some of 5 near Abbotsford


Map Legend - POIs

1. Charging at EA in Hood River
2. Charging at EA in Yakima
3. Camping spot at BLM campground in Yakima River Canyon, nothing fancy and a warm windy night
4. Charging at EA in Leavenworth
5. Spot for a hike and a great camping spot near a lake - we enjoyed the hike but skipping camping and continued north towards the border
6. First Canadian charging stop in Osooyoos, BC - Flo station 80kW. As stated above took a minute to figure out how to activate, and got errors the first couple times as I figured it out.
7. Camping spot at a place called Marshal Lake Recreation site, near some small ski resort
8. Charging at a Flo Station in Christina Lake - 80kW
9. Ferne, BC - Just because it’s nice. My friend went Mountain biking
10. Camping north of Ferne, bumpy road but no problem for the Rivi. Hartley Lake Recreation Site
11. My friend went toward Calgary to meet some friends but I continued north overland towards Canal Flats. Wonderful drive with glorious views of mountains all around. A bridge out meant a mandatory water crossing, my first in the Rivian but it was no issue. Turned out to be several more small crossings.
12. Then to the adventure after the adventure, I had punctured a tire, and this after a not mentioned previous flat a day previous due to a nail that I couldn’t get repaired on a Sunday. Luckily a nice fellow came buy and gave me a repair kit and I was able to plug it enough to get to a tire shop and get both tires repaired. ? Exhausted from the adventure I just got a camping spot in Kootenay National Park for the night
13. Stopped at a 50kW BC Hydro station in Radium Springs. Had to use the Flo app to activate this one. Also had a Tesla driver ask me about the charger, no sorry lady you can’t charge your car here without an adapter you’ll have to deal with that L2 station.
14. EC charging stop in Golden
15. EC charging stop in Revelstoke
16. EC charging stop in Kolowna
17. Beautiful lake side camping spot. Elkhart Lake Recreation site
18. EC charging stop in Merritt
19. EC charging stop in Abbotsford
20. EA charging stop in Tacoma, WA to finish up the trip and head home.

Amazing! There are many fantastic routes to explore up this way. I've done many of them on my moto, and looking forward to doing more with the Rivian whenever Canada deliveries start...

Nice pics, awesome trip!

 

[crashmtb]

In fact I was impressed by the number of fast chargers available, granted a lot were 50kW but they were all over the place.

BC Hydro has partnered with Flo and they've put them at nearly all their rest stops, even little out of the way spots. It's quite clever.

Electrify canada, outside of BC, is quite limited in the west. It doesn't exist at all over here.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

How easy is it to get the spare tire out from under the RTT tent?

 

[jjswan33]

How easy is it to get the spare tire out from under the RTT tent?

Its not easy taking the spare out in any circumstance (RTT or not), at least with only 1 person. With 2 or 3 people it will come out pretty easy.

 

[Quattro Powers]

Two questions:

1. How many miles are on your odometer?
2. Did you take your dog?

 

[s4wrxttcs]

Its not easy taking the spare out in any circumstance (RTT or not), at least with only 1 person. With 2 or 3 people it will come out pretty easy.

I've been mulling over getting the ikamper Mini 3, and one of my concerns is getting the 21" spare out (eventually I want 20" AT's). It seems like a tight fit.

It's mostly always going to be just me.

Obviously flat tires happen given that you had two of them.

 

[jjswan33]

Two questions:

1. How many miles are on your odometer?
2. Did you take your dog?

As of today, 17247 miles.

My dog comes most everywhere! He’s actually in one of the photos but doing his best to blend into shadow.

 

[jjswan33]

I've been mulling over getting the ikamper Mini 3, and one of my concerns is getting the 21" spare out (eventually I want 20" AT's). It seems like a tight fit.

It's mostly always going to be just me.

Obviously flat tires happen given that you had two of them.

Of note both of those tires have a lot of wear, actually having them replaced today.

Ive pulled the spare out myself a couple of times, it’s doable just difficult. The RTT doesn’t get in the way as much as you think.

 

[JeremyP]

Great trip! We also went through BC this summer, from visiting family in Edmonton down to Penticton (still without our Rivian). I was checking out where the charging infrastructure was and it was cool to see some at the viewing area for Mt. Robson. I love the Canadian rockies!

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