Direct Current Engineering (DCE) Introduction: builders of the OPTIMA Rivian and OPTIMA Power Station vehicles

[DCE]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for jumping in a little late here. We are Direct Current Engineering (DCE) the builders of the OPTIMA Rivian and OPTIMA Power Station vehicles. We were a little apprehensive about jumping into the conversations as we did not want to violate any forum rules - We are now an official sponsor of the forum.

DCE is a division of Weistec Engineering - an established high-end automotive performance solution provider with a proven track record. From world record-setting Mercedes vehicles to Unimogs and high-performance UTVs, we specialize in taking great vehicles to the next level.

DCE is dedicated to providing EV solutions that enhance the looks and functionality of your vehicle no matter how you use it. DCE products are built to tackle the extreme without compromising daily use. Our products don’t just look great - they work. We daily drive vehicles with our products. Our wives drive them on trips with kids, then we thrash them on and off-road. Direct Current Engineering is enthusiast proven without compromise!

Our first product is a set of genuine rock sliders that double as a sidestep for the R1T and R1S. They are built to protect your Rivian rockers and endure the rigorous demands of rock crawling.

Here is a link to our Instagram with a quick video of our rock sliders:
Instagram Video

We have thousands of miles of testing both on road and off. These rock sliders/steps work without compromising range or ground clearance as if they came fitted from the factory.

Please feel free to email us at [email protected] or give us a call (877) 934-7832

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[COdogman]

Welcome! Thanks for working hard to create products for our Rivians. Really looking forward to seeing more!

 

[jjswan33]

Cool video, definitely gives some confidence on the strength as a slider. Looks like the competition is coming in (at least introductory) at half the price. Time will tell if the price difference is justified.

Side note I love the Rivian build you guys did. I’d be very interested (and I am sure others would be too) about how the racks were attached to the Rivian. I know word is that Overland Ruff Racks will bring it to market but I am more interested in the mounting setup for a different application, would happily buy such a mount if that were possible.

Also I would be curious on what size tires you upgraded to and any issues with rubbing etc at the lower ride heights. Do the wheels have a different offset than OEM etc.

Regardless keep up the good work.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Looks like a super cool truck. I look forward to seeing your stuff.

 

[moosehead]

 

[SANZC02]

Might pick them up when I get my R1S just to facilitate tire rotations.

 

[shrink]

Cool video, definitely gives some confidence on the strength as a slider. Looks like the competition is coming in (at least introductory) at half the price.

Where was the price posted? I must have missed it.

 

[jjswan33]

Where was the price posted? I must have missed it.

https://www.weistec.com/rivian-rock-sliders.html

 

[zefram47]

Here is a link to our Instagram with a quick video of our rock sliders:
Instagram Video

It's unclear from the video. When the truck is jacked up using the slider, it kinda looked like the slider deflected towards the bottom of the doors. Would the doors still open while the truck was jacked up? One concern that @Dark-Fx brought up was taking a rock impact and then possibly not being able to open the doors.

 

[AllInev]

Thank you @DCE for providing the video —very helpful!

I’d love to see more detailed images and/or videos of how the sliders are attached to the R1T frame.

Also, it appears we’ll need to remove and leave off several underbody panels from the truck. If I recall, these panels are merely plastic but I assume Rivian designed and included them for a reason?

 

[AxelR]

I think a lot of us would be interested in knowing how much range a truck with this whole setup (rack, slider, tires) has.
Please share this valuable data with us.

And I agree with others your build looks great and purposeful.

 

[DJG]

I think a lot of us would be interested in knowing how much range a truck with this whole setup (rack, slider, tires) has.
Please share this valuable data with us.

And I agree with others your build looks great and purposeful.

+100000 for this. I would add though, the whole setup on the truck (R1S too actually), but both with and without the trailers. It will be important to assess baseline (stock), outfitted vehicle only, outfitted vehicle pulling the trailer(s).

My assumption is that the 50kwh battery trailer will closely offset it's own marginal usage (~100 miles), rather than be a range extender (relative to not pulling trailer). Which is fine and justifiable given it's also functional as a trailer, it's not just batteries.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

That's great but (I hate giving the but) the real demonstration of strength is when this 7100lb truck slams down on that slider after slipping off a rock. Doing that puts a couple g forces into it. However this is a good demonstration that the sliders will likely preform well when the body bottoms out and drags across a rocky surface.

The biggest downside to these, IMO, is the price.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Apologies for the nay-saying ahead of time, but as a self-proclaimed company with lots of experience working with folks in the overlanding community, I'm utterly shocked at how little detail you've added to your product page at launch.

You must know without doubt that us overlanders need way more information than that to make a decision. You don't even mention how much they weigh, and every overlander's first stop is 'how does this affect my payload?'.

You don't provide the construction material. You can claim you've tested these all you want, but I want to know what the material is so I can assess the characteristics of your material choice (steel is a hell of a lot stronger than aluminum).

How do they mount? Do they require alteration to the stock configuration (do we need to leave underbody panels off?). What type of range impact do they have (should be easy to ascertain with thousands of hours/miles of testing)? Etc, etc.

If you've got thousands of hours of testing, why isn't there 5 minutes of video of you showing them actually taking impacts from the truck dropping on rocks and going through the thrashing you claim to have done?

There's just no way you're going to sell any of these to anyone who comes into an R1 from an overlanding background with the state of data you're currently providing, especially at that price point. You may snag some people that just want running boards, and you may snag some of the new-to-overlanding crowd, but you're doing yourself a disservice with this product launch, imo.

I'd at least consider them if you provided the above detail, but thus far I'm leaning towards another available product that comes in at half the price and has given me at least *some* of this detail.

Hope you guys can sort all this out and are successful. I definitely want to see competition in the market, so please don't take the above as an attack but instead take it as feedback, please.

Cheers!

 

[johstacy]

https://www.weistec.com/rivian-rock-sliders.html

Aren't those the rock sliders that someone else was trying to get a group together to lower the price on but everyone thought they looked to flimsy?

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