First EV road trip in my R1T… 2800 mile success! (photos added)

[Boges]

I made a 1400ish mile road trip from San Antonio, TX to Pahrump, NV…and back. I used the A Better Route Planner (ABRP) app to plan out charging stops. The Rivian planner was kinda jenkee, it would work, then it would change up and say there weren't enough DC chargers along the route. Then it would just switch to the full route, delete all the planned stops and tell me we’d die on the way, so I had the ABRP reference for every stop as backup and I still used the Rivian nav to get there.

It was a really comfortable trip for the wife, myself, and our two mutts; a big ass Golden-doodle, and a swoll French Bulldog. I started out with a full charge, then we stopped every 120-200 miles or so, charge for the required time to get to the next stop and roll out. We even slept in the truck while charging at a Walmart Electrify America. Most of the charging stops ranged from 18-45ish minutes, with a outliers being stopping for the night to charge, or staying longer than required at a station.

The truck handled phenomenally during the trip and driver + worked quite well when available, however, rather than handing over your full trust and attention to the automation, it’s like riding with a teenage and you’re in a supervisory role. The old girl had a tendency to freak out over faded or repainted lines, at times attempting to take a hard right off an exit or construction area, and I had to be ready to snatch the wheel at moments notice. Something the wife wasn’t too fond of when she wasn’t paying attention or trying to sleep.

All in all the trip was a huge success, and driver + really did reduce the road fatigue and allowed me to drive longer than I would have. Can’t wait to see OTA updates that could incorporate some lane changes and less freak outs. Love my Rivian!


I’m pretty terrible at taking pictures and documenting trips. Here’s a few the wife was able to snatch.

I’m pretty terrible at taking pictures and documenting trips. Here’s a few the wife was able to snatch.

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[Denver_Paulie]

You went on a successful long distance road trip in your Rivian and leveraged the Electrify America network? Are you sure? Everyone on this forum knows that you can only road trip in a Tesla because only the Tesla supercharger network works reliably enough to get you where you need to get too.

In all seriousness, glad to hear your trip was a success. There have been multiple recent posts of successful long distance road trips in Rivian's, so hopefully that will begin to dispel some some of the BS that has been floating around here on the CCS charging infrastructure. Perfect it is not, but still robust enough to roadtrip most places.

 

[COdogman]

Congrats on your new truck and successful road trip. I’m surprised you could sleep with a snoring swoll Frenchie behind you.

 

[Quattro Powers]

Are there any photos from the trip that you’d like to share? Dog photos are permissible.

 

[Boges]

I’m pretty terrible at taking pictures and documenting trips. Here’s a few the wife was able to snatch.

 

[Boges]

You went on a successful long distance road trip in your Rivian and leveraged the Electrify America network? Are you sure? Everyone on this forum knows that you can only road trip in a Tesla because only the Tesla supercharger network works reliably enough to get you where you need to get too.

In all seriousness, glad to hear your trip was a success. There have been multiple recent posts of successful long distance road trips in Rivian's, so hopefully that will begin to dispel some some of the BS that has been floating around here on the CCS charging infrastructure. Perfect it is not, but still robust enough to roadtrip most places.

And we drove through some middle of Nowhere Texas places…seriously, a place so far into nothing the town is called Nowhere, TX. Good times still

 

[Denver_Paulie]

And we drove through some middle of Nowhere Texas places…seriously, a place so far into nothing the town is called Nowhere, TX. Good times still

Anyone who drives through west Texas or the panhandle of Texas in July is a better person than I am. I don't drive south of Colorado in the summertime and actively seek locations at altitude.

 

[Boges]

I’m pretty terrible at taking pictures and documenting trips. Here’s a few the wife was able to snatch.

 

[Boges]

Anyone who drives through west Texas or the panhandle of Texas in July is a better person than I am. I don't drive south of Colorado in the summertime and actively seek locations at altitude.

It was….warm. The dogs always wanted right back into the AC

 

[iansriv]

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a great trip. Love the photo of the two dogs sleeping in the back!

 

[SASSquatch]

Congrats on your beautiful truck and thanks for sharing your adventures!

Your pups are too cute, and it is great to know that they were able to take advantage of Pet Mode.

 

[Quattro Powers]

Thank you for posting the photos. The dogs are adorable and seem very happy in the Rivian.

 

[Dirty_B]

You went on a successful long distance road trip in your Rivian and leveraged the Electrify America network?

Since it was brought up by #Denver_Paulie - how did the charging stops go? Any broken, closed, won't work issues? How many did you make and what brands did you use? Peak xfer rate? Ever get anxious about range remaining?

Sporting some of the Rivian Regalia - Nice!

In the Mid-Atlantic region that's "Red Neck Engineering" at work, get's Er done!

 

[Denver_Paulie]

Since it was brought up by #Denver_Paulie - how did the charging stops go? Any broken, closed, won't work issues? How many did you make and what brands did you use? Peak xfer rate? Ever get anxious about range remaining?


Please note that my comments were tongue in cheek.

Since there are a number of Tesla owners who continually complain about the Electrify America network's lack of reliability, but have no experience using the network, I like to "stir the pot" a little. It is super positive that there have been a number of people posting details of successful long distance road trips in their Rivian's recently, and I went to Jackson, WY last week and did not have a single issue. I used 8 different EA chargers in 4 states, and charged easily. The only bummer I had on the entire trip was when I stopped at Ephraim's restaurant by Bear Lake in UT and did not have to share the Chargepoint charger. I got the full 125kW charging rate and did not have enough time to finish my ice cream.

 

[Marchin_MTB]

Congrats and thanks for sharing.

that one of the F150 loaded to three times it’s height just about killed me.

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