Almost 2K miles road trip on a Gen1 large quad R1T

[PowerBugs]

Took my 2022 G1 quad R1T for my kid’s spring break to LV to visit my cousins, to Upper Antelope Canyon through Kanab, UT then to the Grand Canyon National Park then back to NV and then home in the SF Bay Area.

Here’s the data:
Miles driven: 1,926
Ave speed: 58 mph
Duration : 33 hrs
Efficiency: 1.92 kWh
Total energy: 1.,004.6 kWh

Tires: 275/60R20 Nitto Terra Grappler G3
Highest elevation: 10,107 ft

Charging cost: $444.38
DC charging: 14x
L2: 4x (1 free)

I intentionally avoided RAN’s except once for comparison to see how efficient my charging session against supercharger network or EA. I find it not much difference other than the plug&play for RAN’s.
By avoiding RAN’s, I saved $122.91.
If I used them my grand total would have been $567.29
If you factor EA membership and Tesla membership that would be $19.

So my sibling asked me after the trip, what will be more expensive if I used an ICE vehicle so I did my researched. This may came out different with everyone depending on your ICE vehicle but in comparison to a 20mpg and 25mpg SUV’s, here are my numbers based on on the miles I’ve driven for the trip:
20mpg vehicle: 96.3 gal
25mpg vehicle: 77.04 gal
Cost of fuel:
20mpg= $397.35
25mpg= $317.87
vs $444.38 on electric

This is shocking to me because not only you spend more time on the road on this long trips vs driving an ICE vehicle, it also reminds me the first excuse of why I got an EV, that gas is getting expensive. At the time. I had 2 cars and there was no need to have a 3rd but seeing the rising cost of fuel, I thought it was about time to have an EV. Maybe it will save me some fuel cost and maintenance.
But the reality is, even though I love my R1T, I had more trips to service centers (both SSF and SJ) I just 2.5 years of ownership compared to my ICE vehicle for the last 3-4 years.

The longest stretch that I was comfortable driving to get my SOC that low was between Bakersfield to Yermo at the beginning of our trip which was 146 miles. I charged up to 85% (275mi) and got to the next charging station at 23% (73mi left) which means I used up 202 miles, that’s +56mi of the 146 actual miles driven.
On the way back, the farthest was from Barstow to Buttonwillow which was 161 mi. This time, I charged up to 90% (292mi) and arrived at Buttonwillow at 26% SOC (83 mi), that’s +52 miles of the actual miles driven.
All driving was on AP mode at low height except when I was in Page, AZ going to the Grand Canyon when I was being more conservative since there’s no DC charging stations.

Overall it was a good experience getting to know how far I can go to how low I want my SOC be on the next charging station. Page, AZ was the sketchiest place to not have a backup plan and the only hotel that were available for our dates had only one working L2 charger.

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[PowerBugs]

Took my 2022 G1 quad R1T for my kid’s spring break to LV to visit my cousins, to Upper Antelope Canyon through Kanab, UT then to the Grand Canyon National Park then back to NV and then home in the SF Bay Area.

Here’s the data:
Miles driven: 1,926
Ave speed: 58 mph
Duration : 33 hrs
Efficiency: 1.92 kWh
Total energy: 1.,004.6 kWh

Tires: 275/60R20 Nitto Terra Grappler G3
Highest elevation: 10,107 ft

Charging cost: $444.38
DC charging: 14x
L2: 4x (1 free)

I intentionally avoided RAN’s except once for comparison to see how efficient my charging session against supercharger network or EA. I find it not much difference other than the plug&play for RAN’s.
By avoiding RAN’s, I saved $122.91.
If I used them my grand total would have been $567.29
If you factor EA membership and Tesla membership that would be $19.

So my sibling asked me after the trip, what will be more expensive if I used an ICE vehicle so I did my researched. This may came out different with everyone depending on your ICE vehicle but in comparison to a 20mpg and 25mpg SUV’s, here are my numbers based on on the miles I’ve driven for the trip:
20mpg vehicle: 96.3 gal
25mpg vehicle: 77.04 gal
Cost of fuel:
20mpg= $397.35
25mpg= $317.87
vs $444.38 on electric

This is shocking to me because not only you spend more time on the road on this long trips vs driving an ICE vehicle, it also reminds me the first excuse of why I got an EV, that gas is getting expensive. At the time. I had 2 cars and there was no need to have a 3rd but seeing the rising cost of fuel, I thought it was about time to have an EV. Maybe it will save me some fuel cost and maintenance.
But the reality is, even though I love my R1T, I had more trips to service centers (both SSF and SJ) I just 2.5 years of ownership compared to my ICE vehicle for the last 3-4 years.

The longest stretch that I was comfortable driving to get my SOC that low was between Bakersfield to Yermo at the beginning of our trip which was 146 miles. I charged up to 85% (275mi) and got to the next charging station at 23% (73mi left) which means I used up 202 miles, that’s +56mi of the 146 actual miles driven.
On the way back, the farthest was from Barstow to Buttonwillow which was 161 mi. This time, I charged up to 90% (292mi) and arrived at Buttonwillow at 26% SOC (83 mi), that’s +52 miles of the actual miles driven.
All driving was on AP mode at low height except when I was in Page, AZ going to the Grand Canyon when I was being more conservative since there’s no DC charging stations.

Overall it was a good experience getting to know how far I can go to how low I want my SOC be on the next charging station. Page, AZ was the sketchiest place to not have a backup plan and the only hotel that were available for our dates had only one working L2 charger.

Here’s my basis for the $ gas mileage:
Ca miles: 823, @$4.88/gal
NV: 438mi @$3.93/gal
Az: 454mi @$3.38/gal
UT: 211 mi @$3.20/gal
Price source from gas prices.aaa.com

 

[derekmw]

I find it's almost around the same to charge vs gas on road trips. But I don't know about you, for us, we do maybe 1 road trip a year. That means the rest of the charging is at home on our solar grid. We save a LOT by owning 2 EV's and never filling up at gas stations anymore.

I did a road trip to the Grand Canyon and Horshoe bend as well in our R1T Quad. It was a lot of fun - We made sure to stay at hotels/AirBnB's that had chargers so that each morning we could just start off at 100%.

 

[mikehmb]

Awesome trip, and there's a lot more to be sketched out by in Page than just the lack of chargers. Page is a deeply weird place if you go below the surface - and I kind of love it for what it is.

Also, no one in their right mind should buy an EV if their primary use is road trips. The math doesn't work out - period. But that would be like 0.1% of the population. As a DD and the occasional road trip, an EV is both significantly more cost efficient and convenient taken as a whole.

 

[DuoRivians]

Driving an ICE car feels like driving an antiquated object. There’s no f-ing way I’m driving an ICE suv anymore.

For example, you couldn’t pay me to drive a 4Runner, X5, Audi anything, Land Rover

 

[PowerBugs]

I find it's almost around the same to charge vs gas on road trips. But I don't know about you, for us, we do maybe 1 road trip a year. That means the rest of the charging is at home on our solar grid. We save a LOT by owning 2 EV's and never filling up at gas stations anymore.

I did a road trip to the Grand Canyon and Horshoe bend as well in our R1T Quad. It was a lot of fun - We made sure to stay at hotels/AirBnB's that had chargers so that each morning we could just start off at 100%.

Awesome trip, and there's a lot more to be sketched out by in Page than just the lack of chargers. Page is a deeply weird place if you go below the surface - and I kind of love it for what it is.

Also, no one in their right mind should buy an EV if their primary use is road trips. The math doesn't work out - period. But that would be like 0.1% of the population. As a DD and the occasional road trip, an EV is both significantly more cost efficient and convenient taken as a whole.

It’s always good to have other people’s perspective. Than you for the input.

 

[DayTripping]

On the long highway stretches, I'd put it into conserve mode. To use a flawed analogy but somewhat appropriate, it would be like having a car/truck with overdrive and never using it. So for a more apt comparison, drop your energy used by 10% to accommodate the improved efficiency of conserve mode.

On long trips, I just rent an ICE minivan and call it a day. The wear and tear I save on my EVs offsets the rental cost and I spend less in fuel driving a Chrysler minivan getting 30 mpg on the highway is typically cheaper and easier. Not to mention my biggest costs are typically tires, not energy. I spend far more on tires for my Teslas than I have electrons. My G1 quad is a lot less efficient but I think tires still might trump electron costs.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

As others have said, road trips aren't money savers in EVs. Daily driving is where you save the money. Where I live, with electricity at 12 cents per kWh, my R1 costs what a Prius would cost me to run. That's impressive considering the size and performance differences between my trimax and a Prius.

 

[Ecupip]

Nice writeup!

You can factor in another $66 for the ICE vehicles. That's 2/3rds of the cost of an oil change for those that still waste time and money changing it every 3K miles.

 

[Judd]

I bought a 23 R1T quad 6 weeks ago and thought…there are a couple L2 chargers at work (.30 KWh) and an EVgo (.59) on my way to/from work so no hurry on a charger. Then I used the EVgo on my first charge and realized the price and how I needed to prioritize a charger at home (.11) to save any money at all. I put one in the next weekend. The month of March I burned just under $50 for 1000 miles…would’ve been close to $200 in my previous SUV.

Great data, sounds and looks like you had a great trip. Good looking vehicle too.

 

[sfvR1S]

Good stuff.

Also, I'm not usually a fan of vanity plates, but I like this one.

 

[RedRaiderRivian]

Took my 2022 G1 quad R1T for my kid’s spring break to LV to visit my cousins, to Upper Antelope Canyon through Kanab, UT then to the Grand Canyon National Park then back to NV and then home in the SF Bay Area.

Here’s the data:
Miles driven: 1,926
Ave speed: 58 mph
Duration : 33 hrs
Efficiency: 1.92 kWh
Total energy: 1.,004.6 kWh

Tires: 275/60R20 Nitto Terra Grappler G3

I have that exact same tire for off road and a set of the 21" road tires which I trade out for road trips. From my experience over 35,000 miles, you are losing around 20% range and efficiency by driving on an aggressive off road tire. Your cost would probably be lower than the 20 MPG SUV if you were using an All Season tire.

 

[Jonger1150]

As others have said, road trips aren't money savers in EVs. Daily driving is where you save the money. Where I live, with electricity at 12 cents per kWh, my R1 costs what a Prius would cost me to run. That's impressive considering the size and performance differences between my trimax and a Prius.

There's very little competition for pricing with charging. Most of us don't have 2 to 3 different charging options within a 10 mile radius.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

There's very little competition for pricing with charging. Most of us don't have 2 to 3 different charging options within a 10 mile radius.

Okay. Doesn’t change my point at all.

 

[shamoo]

Nice trip and cool photos!

My only comment is I noticed you're in CA and charging in/near there. CA (west coast) power prices are very high. If you did this trip in the midwest, your price per kWh would be like 11 cents haha.

Even home charging in SoCal at non-peak rates are double/triple what other states charge.

Personally I didn't buy the Rivian (or my past EV/Tesla) to save the planet or save money. You're buying a $100K vehicle, so are you really saving anything? It is cool tech and I like cars. Plus it is fast. We don't need to justify our purchases. If we like it and think its cool, that's good enough reason .

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