Didn't get stuck but I was fairly cautious because we had a couple of days of the journey ahead of us and I was not carrying recovery boards. The marked trail was a blast. At one point the trail started to climb in softer sand and I sensed a little slippage. That's where we turned around.
That’s exactly right. Here’s how efficient I was (or wasn’t) while driving in the sand. Note that I was NOT concerned with range efficiency while enjoying the R1T in the sand, nor should anyone.
Congratulations on your new R1T. Happy adventuring. I am in the Portland/Hood River area frequently so perhaps we will see each other on the road.
I'm planning on a family road trip in the summer from Southern California to Portland. Any tips as far as charging goes, or must see/do from SF to Portland area?Completed a wonderful 15 day trip down the West from Seattle to the Bay area and back in my R1T with wife and brother as co-pilots. It was the first long road trip. We covered over 2500 miles in early April weather - mix of snow, rain and some glorious spring days. The R1T with 21" tires performed admirably over the trip, reaffirming our confidence in the truck.
Some highlights:
A few low-lights:
- Used the 'Conserve' mode a majority of the time, which netted us about 2.13 miles/kwh.
- Got to see some of the mythical RAN Charging Sites for the first time (why don't we have any in WA?). They work as advertised.
- The much-maligned Tonneau cover actually does a darn good job at keeping out the rain despite Rivian not officially claiming that it is weather proof. And the power mechanism stalls frequently but did not actually fail on me despite a good amount of use.
- We used the A/C power in the bed to power a small 20L refrigerator from Alpicool. There is no discernible impact on power consumption so I think we'll be using this more.
- Highway 101 and some of the coastal highways of OR and CA are a joy to drive in the Rivian.
- Auto-high beam hugely useful driving down 199 at night.
- Visited the Oregon dunes on the return trip and ventured out onto ATV tracks briefly to try out the the soft-sand mode. Worked pretty well in this limited trial.
- Rivian as an office - My brother joined a two hour video conference on his laptop from the back seat, while we were driving down I-5 in Southern OR. Laptop was plugged into the rear AC outlet and used the Rivian's hotspot. Quite an enabler.
- Adaptive cruise control - all three drivers used this extensively and found it an effective reducer of fatigue. I tried the lane tracking a few times but still find it a little scary and apt to turn off.
- Overall cost was about $130 for charging! We used RAN in 4 locations, complementary in-hotel L2 charging in one and discounted "Pass Plus" 36c per kwh from Electrify Americal super chargers for the rest.
- Nav generally worked pretty well but required cellular connectivity and there were some areas near the coast where the truck lost connectivity. This seems a shortcoming for an adventure truck.
- Took a while to work out some kinks in EA charging. I think this was EA's problem - my EA app would sometimes get stuck thinking a charging session was in progress when the truck was miles away. The phone support from EA was responsive. I sure wish Rivian would work out something with EA so Rivian owners can drive up, connect and get auto-identified and auto-billed without using the EA mobile app. (Umm, like Tesla owners).
- I scraped my front wheel against a high curb trying to take a turn that would have been a cinch in my car. Still this undoubtedly was driver error.
15 days. Off-roading. 80 MPH.
I designed & 3D printed a flag holder for my R1T. It wedges into the tonneau cover slot and is held in place with one of the bolts in the bed. I used it for one day at Pismo, including some street driving around town & a little on the freeway, and it worked great. I’d be glad to share the file or give away my extra copy to another beach going R1T owner.
Awesome!R1T was right at home amongst the Redwoods at the Jedediah Smith Park
Sounds like a pretty sweet trip. Bet the dunes were a lot of fun. Got any other trips planned?Completed a wonderful 15 day trip down the West from Seattle to the Bay area and back in my R1T with wife and brother as co-pilots. It was the first long road trip. We covered over 2500 miles in early April weather - mix of snow, rain and some glorious spring days. The R1T with 21" tires performed admirably over the trip, reaffirming our confidence in the truck.
Some highlights:
A few low-lights:
- Used the 'Conserve' mode a majority of the time, which netted us about 2.13 miles/kwh.
- Got to see some of the mythical RAN Charging Sites for the first time (why don't we have any in WA?). They work as advertised.
- The much-maligned Tonneau cover actually does a darn good job at keeping out the rain despite Rivian not officially claiming that it is weather proof. And the power mechanism stalls frequently but did not actually fail on me despite a good amount of use.
- We used the A/C power in the bed to power a small 20L refrigerator from Alpicool. There is no discernible impact on power consumption so I think we'll be using this more.
- Highway 101 and some of the coastal highways of OR and CA are a joy to drive in the Rivian.
- Auto-high beam hugely useful driving down 199 at night.
- Visited the Oregon dunes on the return trip and ventured out onto ATV tracks briefly to try out the the soft-sand mode. Worked pretty well in this limited trial.
- Rivian as an office - My brother joined a two hour video conference on his laptop from the back seat, while we were driving down I-5 in Southern OR. Laptop was plugged into the rear AC outlet and used the Rivian's hotspot. Quite an enabler.
- Adaptive cruise control - all three drivers used this extensively and found it an effective reducer of fatigue. I tried the lane tracking a few times but still find it a little scary and apt to turn off.
- Overall cost was about $130 for charging! We used RAN in 4 locations, complementary in-hotel L2 charging in one and discounted "Pass Plus" 36c per kwh from Electrify Americal super chargers for the rest.
- Nav generally worked pretty well but required cellular connectivity and there were some areas near the coast where the truck lost connectivity. This seems a shortcoming for an adventure truck.
- Took a while to work out some kinks in EA charging. I think this was EA's problem - my EA app would sometimes get stuck thinking a charging session was in progress when the truck was miles away. The phone support from EA was responsive. I sure wish Rivian would work out something with EA so Rivian owners can drive up, connect and get auto-identified and auto-billed without using the EA mobile app. (Umm, like Tesla owners).
- I scraped my front wheel against a high curb trying to take a turn that would have been a cinch in my car. Still this undoubtedly was driver error.
Yup, I have noticed that. sitting with the power on (I can't figure out how to turn it off without exiting the truck) reduces your range significantly.
We had overnight stops in Ashland (OR), Crescent City, Fort Bragg, Sonoma, Redding, Coos Bay, Portland (OR).
) with respect to the actual charger. One place had a NEMA 14-50 and charged $20, others had J1772 and were complementary. Rarely did we see more than two chargers so they could easily be in use when you need them.
