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emlo

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Hi All!

I received the dreaded "REPLACE 12V SOON" warning on Tuesday afternoon of this week. About a half hour later, I called service.

They were able to get me an appointment at the eastvale service center this morning at 9AM. They were going to do the battery and two recall/ service bulletin related items that I didn't know about.

The 12V batteries only have a 3 year/ 36k mile warranty. My truck has 38k miles, and about 25 months old at this point.

Total cost was $717.18 for the 12V batteries (2 of them). Parts 479.98, labor 200, plus tax. I'm not in love with this. They don't let you replace them on your own. That means I paid ~$29 per month of ownership for my 12V batteries. For reference, a Lamborghini Aventador battery is ~$180-250 for parts only and can be replaced by yourself. Model X is from $120-200 and easily done DIY.

Prior to the Rivian, I've done almost all of the maintenance on all of my vehicles. This is the most expensive service I've had in ten years, for a battery...

Onto Eastvale. They had my truck in and out in less than 2 hours while I waited, which was pretty awesome. Service staff was excellent. Wildly better experience than I have had at Costa Mesa or El Segundo. A++

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One last point: I asked the service advisor a theoretical question: "The last two times I have had service, my truck had to sit for 9 and 11 days, respectively, before service began. Both times, I had a rental car as the Rivian is my only vehicle. When the truck is out of warranty, who pays for the rental?"

The answer is the owner, not Rivian. Makes me worry a hair about owning this truck out of warranty! However, I must say it has been quite reliable minus this 12V issue.

TL;DR: I really wish Rivian would allow for self service on the battery, and that there were more options for the consumer like Tesla.
Doesn’t the Magnussen act protect us if we replaced the 12V itself. What I recall is the burden of proof that the repair made by the consumer caused an issue with other parts falls on the company. Ive changed a 12V on all my previous ICE vehicles without fear of warranty loss. It shouldn’t be different here.
 

emlo

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I watched the video on the single version replacement and it looks pretty easy to do your self. I would 100% replace it with a Litium ion based version.
Agree with you would definitely go lithium ion route or lfp if available.
 

dstraede

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Rivian called me last week and scheduled a mobile visit to my house to replace the battery at no charge. The R1S is two years old and has 25K miles. I pointed out that I had already replaced it with the Ohmmu lithium, but they wanted to visit anyway. That's okay; the suspension is making loud clunks every time you stop or start. Off to the new Burbank service center next month... Film at 11
 

emlo

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Rivian called me last week and scheduled a mobile visit to my house to replace the battery at no charge. The R1S is two years old and has 25K miles. I pointed out that I had already replaced it with the Ohmmu lithium, but they wanted to visit anyway. That's okay; the suspension is making loud clunks every time you stop or start. Off to the new Burbank service center next month... Film at 11
I have my vehicle in service and they added 12 v replacement to the work order. It’s a 23 R1T that I picked up new in May of 2024 with only 3000 miles (yay friends and family discount and finding 23’s in the couch cushions 🤣). My guess is the original 12v on these vehicles was not good and they are now proactively replacing.
 

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Roads76

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Does anyone know at what point in production they swapped to a single battery? I have a 2023 with production #197xx.
 

emlo

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Not sure when the switched. You’d have to look under the hood of your vehicle. I saw mine was a single battery with a production date in May 2023
 

mzdds

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Yeah I was slightly upset about it. This is the gen1 with the 2 batteries. I think gen2 labor will be worse but the parts will be less given it has 1 battery.
I guess I am one of the lucky ones with the Gen1 single battery. They replaced that and performed the recall service last week with mobile service. I highly recommend mobile service. The replacement is very simple. No different than replacing the cabin air filter.
 

mzdds

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Does anyone know at what point in production they swapped to a single battery? I have a 2023 with production #197xx.
See if your VIN has PN before the last six digits. If it does, your are in luck.
 

R1Thor

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March 2023 and my battery was proactively replaced (I didn't even know they added it to the work order until service mentioned it to me) last month during a service for another issue. Along with 2 other TSBs.

I was at 35,7xx miles. 😰
Now I'm over 36k and really hope I don't get to experience any near-term out-of-warranty costs.

As far as the Ohmmu--there are risks. There was one incident on another forum of an owner who 'proactively' replaced his with Ohmmu and he claimed it bricked his truck and Rivian said "warranty void." He never followed up after that extremist post, so we can only make conjecture.

I do understand it's different chemistry. I also understand it supposedly has a built in BMS to accommodate for that. I've talked to electrical engineers who have diverging opinions on it. I don't think it's worth the risk personally. Things that are engineered for a specific purpose, with specifications that are directed for a purpose built system are generally at peak performance when they continue to use the intended parts. Especially in a complex system with dependencies, intelligence, and complexities when it comes to sensors, management, readings and computer interpretations of system performance and function.

I get Moss-Magnusson. I do. I'm a huge proponent of it. But it was meant for replacing like with like (Brand A brake pads and Brand B brake pads that have the same geometry, material, and performance, but you opted for B because of cost or C because of availability). Your truck is one giant electrical appliance. If the electronics stop working and you have a different battery, I hope you have more money and patience than Rivian attorneys do, because you're not going to win that fight very easily...

If nothing else, the current geopolitical climate should be a warning to everyone: if you can be buried in litigation for your adversary to get their way, you will be. And in this case, right, wrong, indifferent, when you bark "Moss Magnusson" on something Rivian is convinced is your 'fault,' it doesn't matter that you're right. What matters is they'll say no until you get attorneys involved, and then they'll get their attorneys involved. Is it worth the trouble to you? I know I couldn't personally finance the lawsuit...

Just my .02.
 

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UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan

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I have my vehicle in service and they added 12 v replacement to the work order. It’s a 23 R1T that I picked up new in May of 2024 with only 3000 miles (yay friends and family discount and finding 23’s in the couch cushions 🤣). My guess is the original 12v on these vehicles was not good and they are now proactively replacing.
That was the belief, a bad batch, until a tech told a customer it was due to suspicion of BMS compromising battery health. BMS has been addressed by one of the OTAs (not mentioned in update notes), so with the voluntary campaign they are addressing the other half—preemptive replacement of 12V.
 

CO Riv

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We also just had a proactive 12V battery replaced in my wife's Gen 1 R1T. Mobile service came to repair an interior trim piece that kept coming loose and when he arrived, he said he would also replace the 12V battery and tighten wheel suspension nuts to higher torque spec. He said that Rivian was proactively replacing some 12V batteries that were known to be failing early. The R1T apparently registered the battery health below some threshold for replacement early despite no warning in the vehicle. This is in an R1T with only 16K miles, one-year-old.

I was impressed with the proactive service but not impressed with the lifespan of these batteries.
 

UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan

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We also just had a proactive 12V battery replaced in my wife's Gen 1 R1T. Mobile service came to repair an interior trim piece that kept coming loose and when he arrived, he said he would also replace the 12V battery and tighten wheel suspension nuts to higher torque spec. He said that Rivian was proactively replacing some 12V batteries that were known to be failing early. The R1T apparently registered the battery health below some threshold for replacement early despite no warning in the vehicle. This is in an R1T with only 16K miles, one-year-old.

I was impressed with the proactive service but not impressed with the lifespan of these batteries.
See my post above. It was due to software we had once upon a time. And all cars I’ve owned, I have experienced lead acid and AGM failure at 3 yrs. Not unusual. What is unusual is the cost. But these are also not standard sized 12V batteries. And in OP’s case, there are two of them.

Think back to the older ICE cars I'm sure we all have owned... the ones that aren't smart enough to auto shut-off accessory power. What happened when we forget to turn of the HVAC fan or interior/exterior lights after ignition shutoff? Dead or weak battery, right? The result is battery degradation—reduced capacity, reduced charging/discharging performance. And if it could be recharged to be used again, through normal cycles, it gets weaker and weaker overtime ending in premature failure. It sums up to accelerated wear through one single incident. What happened with BMS and the 12V is similar, and the reason they are proactively replacing them.
 
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