End of my dream

[Mysta]

This is why it's important to call out the Tesla haters and Rivian fan-bois who continue to paint a Pollyanna/rosy picture of the CCS network stating everything is "fine" where it's anything but that. You present a false impression of the charging infrastructure to first time EV buyers and they in turn get in to trouble because of your bad advice leaving a bad taste in their mouth for EV's. It's not good for EV adoption and it's a huge source of stress that no one needs.
Just be honest and call a spade a spade so people know what to expect when trying to use the public CCS network.

Bad chargers happen, it sucks, I usually check for both CCS and slow chargers on trips just to make sure there's a backup(outlets are plenty thankfully and usually find one more frequently than a gas station but luckily never had to resort to that. Had bad chargers in both Teslas and non teslas but never had all of them fail at one stop, though I did have a Tesla charger show up offline and had to turn around 10 mins away and go to one 30 minutes back up the road. I'm more curious about why he didn't get the range. I have been taking trips at 80 mph and getting close to 300 miles, I can't imagine how you'd only get like 230 unless you had some aero or massive wind/uphill trek, and a blizzard.

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[AO_Pete]

I do feel for the OP a little, I think this has as much to do with emotions at the time. I've been there, in the early days of Tesla, trying to convince a skeptical family of how awesome a roadtrip without using gas would be, and then things unravel, and all of a sudden it's no longer fun. Long before superchargers made it out of California we ended up charging on a helipad behind a hospital at 2 in the morning somewhere near Waco. Fun times.

Obviously, present day, Tesla has nailed it with Superchargers, and if we're going anywhere that'll need a charge, we'll take one of the Tesla's for now, unless I know for sure the hotel at the other end has a Destination charger that we can get access to. I don't want to take the 'shine' of what is truly a great truck with one bad roadtrip.

 

[mgc0216]

This is why it's important to call out the Tesla haters and Rivian fan-bois who continue to paint a Pollyanna/rosy picture of the CCS network stating everything is "fine" where it's anything but that. You present a false impression of the charging infrastructure to first time EV buyers and they in turn get in to trouble because of your bad advice leaving a bad taste in their mouth for EV's. It's not good for EV adoption and it's a huge source of stress that no one needs.
Just be honest and call a spade a spade so people know what to expect when trying to use the public CCS network.

Just because someone lives in an area with reliable charging infrastructure, doesn't make them a fan boy. The CCS network is not homogeneous - someone in Oregon has a very different experience than someone in Wyoming (hell someone west of the cascades has a very different experience than someone east of the cascades). And, for many of us, we will do 99.99% of our miles in our home area where everything works pretty well.

I'm all for being realistic, but that means the reality is different for different folks. Also, I'd never contend that the CCS network is even close to on par with Tesla's supercharger network.

I think the biggest thing Tesla has going for it in this whole thing is a closed ecosystem. I'm one who prefers iPhone to Android (even though I work at Google) because I think it makes for a more seamless experience. I am eager to see what evolves with RAN over the next couple of years.

But in my short Rivian ownership experience I have yet to see a single issue with public chargers outside of an occasional icing (not unique to public chargers) and a few cases where a charger has been down and I needed to change stalls. My lived experience isn't an opinion, it's a fact - for me, where I live, and where I've traveled I've had a very good experience (luck?) Admitted all this is in a very short time period and only with about 5,000 miles of usage - probably 3,500 of that on public CCS charging.

Finally, when something goes south with my charging experience, I'll be sure to come back here and post about it to show both sides of the coin.

 

[yizzung]

Not trying to pile on here. I'm sure that Mike the OP had what sounds like a frustrating experience. I think the thing perhaps many of us are struggling with is the extremely strong negate reaction: asking for an immediate refund along with a willingness to take "whatever he can get" for the truck.

If you have to call a tow truck on your very first outing in an EV, you're entitled to swear off Rivian and/or public chargers and/or EVs altogether. To each his own. But I've had ICE vehicles break down on me before and my instant reaction was not to immediately swear off cars and vow to switch to bicycles or jetpacks. (Although I've cursed at Audi many, many times...) YMMV.

Sh*t happens. And I do think you need to have an open mind coming in to this "arrangement". It's probably not going to be a 100% smooth transition away from ICE vehicles, as Tesla owners will attest. There's a reason that 90%+ of the country (myself included) own a ICE vehicles. It's not because we enjoy destroying the planet. It's cost, convenience, inertia, etc.

I do hope as few of us as possible have these types of experiences and that our resolve enables us to hang in there through the transition. Clearly not everyone will have that necessary level of patience.

 

[Taycanfrank]

Sorry to hear about your troubles, OP, and just ignore the "Rivian can do no wrong" crowd on here.

Chargers are unfortunately quite inconsistent and we've seen plenty of issues with R1Ts so far. The thing I'd tell someone considering a Rivian is to be prepared for significant issues with both charging and the car.

Currently the R1T is an adventure vehicle but the adventure (or misadventure) is in owning it. Did you get lucky and get one of the few without issues? Are the issues minor and you can live with them? Or do you now own a very expensive brick?

In your situation I'd highly recommend selling it for a nice profit and circling back in a couple of years to see where Rivian is at. Don't force yourself to like a vehicle just because people on a forum claim it's amazing.

 

[yizzung]

Currently the R1T is an adventure vehicle but the adventure (or misadventure) is in owning it. Did you get lucky and get one of the few without issues?

Thanks for bringing an unbiased POV to the thread... ?

 

[SeaGeo]

So, this person has a lot of good points. Lets face it - charging *Anywhere* other than a Tesla Supercharger *blows* - plain and simple. Ive heard this time and time again from my non-Tesla EV friends and they all say the same thing. The issues with the Rivian are just new car company stuff. Buy a new car from a company like Rivian and you're going to deal with this kind of crap. If you want something to take you to the mountains on the weekend with kids and dogs etc, go get an F150 Hybrid until there is a real charging network out there that is not Tesla or Tesla opens their network to the rest of the world.

My 2c,
J

I would not say it "blows." I've used it plenty in the PNW and haven't been stranded. Does EA have issues at times? Sure. Does Tesla? Yes. Does EA have *more* issues than Tesla right now? Yes. Are they generally catastrophic? No.

This is why it's important to call out the Tesla haters and Rivian fan-bois who continue to paint a Pollyanna/rosy picture of the CCS network stating everything is "fine" where it's anything but that. You present a false impression of the charging infrastructure to first time EV buyers and they in turn get in to trouble because of your bad advice leaving a bad taste in their mouth for EV's. It's not good for EV adoption and it's a huge source of stress that no one needs.
Just be honest and call a spade a spade so people know what to expect when trying to use the public CCS network.

Presenting the CCS infrastructure as unusable as others do is very misleading. @mgc0216's description below is a fair assessment and consistent with my experience.

Just because someone lives in an area with reliable charging infrastructure, doesn't make them a fan boy. The CCS network is not homogeneous - someone in Oregon has a very different experience than someone in Wyoming (hell someone west of the cascades has a very different experience than someone east of the cascades). And, for many of us, we will do 99.99% of our miles in our home area where everything works pretty well.

I'm all for being realistic, but that means the reality is different for different folks. Also, I'd never contend that the CCS network is even close to on par with Tesla's supercharger network.

I think the biggest thing Tesla has going for it in this whole thing is a closed ecosystem. I'm one who prefers iPhone to Android (even though I work at Google) because I think it makes for a more seamless experience. I am eager to see what evolves with RAN over the next couple of years.

But in my short Rivian ownership experience I have yet to see a single issue with public chargers outside of an occasional icing (not unique to public chargers) and a few cases where a charger has been down and I needed to change stalls. My lived experience isn't an opinion, it's a fact - for me, where I live, and where I've traveled I've had a very good experience (luck?) Admitted all this is in a very short time period and only with about 5,000 miles of usage - probably 3,500 of that on public CCS charging.

Finally, when something goes south with my charging experience, I'll be sure to come back here and post about it to show both sides of the coin.

Both on an ID.4 and Rivian I have generally had good luck with CCS. EA reports out the status of their network in their app, and I haven't had that be wrong for me yet. BUT that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Rivian and EA do need to get along and start reporting dispenser status live in Rivian's nav solution though.

 

[xyskis]

So here we go on our first trip on our new R1T. Loading went well with lots of space and room for three adults, a big dog, bikes, and lots of luggage to support the rest of the family. OK first planned charging station after 150 miles using electrify america went great.

Then we tried to drive off only to be told the front hatch was open. Multiple, multiple attempts to open and close the hatch did not solve the problem. Called support and while on the phone the problem seemed to resolve itself.

We have 250 miles until our destination so we figured that our 95% charge, in trip mode, would get us there. We drove carefully in conserve selection, but ended up needing to recharge at 200 miles with only 30 miles left. Several of the charging stations we tried were broken or at least non-functional.

The fun really started on our return a week later. On reaching our planned recharge stop we filled up to 70% or nearly 200 miles as we only had a 100 to go. Again we get the hood open alert. We call support and do everything they say …..push down hard on hood…..no response…..open hood…won’t open…soft reset…..hard reset…All no change. So here we are in a small crossroad 50 miles from any town.

Support says try rental car…none open. Try ride share…none around. Then all of a sudden, while parked in the shade the alert goes away and we start for home. We see we are going to need a further charge and begin planning for that. The first two chargers we stop at are non-functional. Now we are panicking as we are down to less than 5 miles. We find a 6 kw charger and charge to 10 miles so we can make it to the next charger.When we get there and plug in ….no connection. Call Electrify America and they reprogram the charger to no avail. Call Rivian support and told to try hard reset as when the battery is critically low it needs to be reset in order to charge. Finally we head home.

i am completely disillusioned and plan to get rid of the truck. Rivian is coming tomorrow to take it to service center. If they won’t take it back I am selling and taking whatever I can get.

Sorry that this happened to you, OP. It can be kind of humiliating to be so stoked about a new truck and then for it to have trip-ending issues when you're with friends/family. I hope you give your R1T another shot. Looks to be a great truck but obviously not perfect in the setting of an evolving charging network.

This is one of the reasons we went with a Tesla back in 2021 and expect delivery of our R1S sometime in '23/'24. Our use-case does not typically require long trips and Washington/Oregon's infrastructure for charging seems reasonable though still has reliability issues (for non-Tesla chargers) and coverage (SE Oregon and traversing E Washington in particular).

 

[The J-Man]

I ran into problematic chargers all the time back in 2016 when I bought my i3. It's a shame that this is still an issue.

 

[Deleted member 4325]

So here we go on our first trip on our new R1T. Loading went well with lots of space and room for three adults, a big dog, bikes, and lots of luggage to support the rest of the family. OK first planned charging station after 150 miles using electrify america went great.

Then we tried to drive off only to be told the front hatch was open. Multiple, multiple attempts to open and close the hatch did not solve the problem. Called support and while on the phone the problem seemed to resolve itself.

We have 250 miles until our destination so we figured that our 95% charge, in trip mode, would get us there. We drove carefully in conserve selection, but ended up needing to recharge at 200 miles with only 30 miles left. Several of the charging stations we tried were broken or at least non-functional.

The fun really started on our return a week later. On reaching our planned recharge stop we filled up to 70% or nearly 200 miles as we only had a 100 to go. Again we get the hood open alert. We call support and do everything they say …..push down hard on hood…..no response…..open hood…won’t open…soft reset…..hard reset…All no change. So here we are in a small crossroad 50 miles from any town.

Support says try rental car…none open. Try ride share…none around. Then all of a sudden, while parked in the shade the alert goes away and we start for home. We see we are going to need a further charge and begin planning for that. The first two chargers we stop at are non-functional. Now we are panicking as we are down to less than 5 miles. We find a 6 kw charger and charge to 10 miles so we can make it to the next charger.When we get there and plug in ….no connection. Call Electrify America and they reprogram the charger to no avail. Call Rivian support and told to try hard reset as when the battery is critically low it needs to be reset in order to charge. Finally we head home.

i am completely disillusioned and plan to get rid of the truck. Rivian is coming tomorrow to take it to service center. If they won’t take it back I am selling and taking whatever I can get.

What a miserable road trip. Just so you know, you are not alone. I just finished a epic road trip from San Diego to Vancouver BC in an non-tesla EV (I have a RS1 on order) and found that the 3rd party chargers totally unreliable. Electrify America's are the worst! I was in the CA Central Valley and stopped to charge at the (two) CCS chargers, neither worked. I was in the dessert 100+ degrees and standing their wondering what to do. I had 30 miles left and was able to make it further up the road to another (with 5 miles to spare). As I drove to the interstate I saw about 20 Tesla chargers (with dozens more under construction) with their owners having cold drinks and snacks on the Tesla Lounge patio. They had smiles on their faces, I was full of anxiety. I've owned a Tesla X and S in the past and now drive a Chevy Bolt. I am considering canceling my R1S order, only due to the fact that the 3rd party charges (and relatively low range, per your own experience) ruin the experience for non-Tesla owners, and buying a Model Y. So frustrating!

 

[Ovfit]

So dramatic lol
[/QUOTE

 

[Ovfit]

This is a forum to support each other, not criticize or poke fun at for what some feel is trivial.The OP is obviously frustrated and has a valid complaint.

 

[SeaGeo]

I ran into problematic chargers all the time back in 2016 when I bought my i3. It's a shame that this is still an issue.

My personal opinion but it seemed like EA specifically was getting maintenance under control in the 2020/2021 range. Reliability seemed better. Seeing dispenser status in my region and the experiences of several EV owners around the Country it seems like they've fallen behind on being able to fix hardware issues. As with many things, I'm guessing that's being driven by supply constraints for chargers. Which is hitting basically all of the networks.

 

[IThinkFreely]

I can sympathise with the OP as an early Tesla adopter...we were plagued by problem with the early units. In reality, the heightened emotion when you have people and pets staring at your while things go wrong is adding a bit to the hyperbole.

A glitchy latch and some broken chargers is no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[the long way downunder]

Fortunately, the first time we encountered one of these horror trips was after months of carefree traveling. Still, I've given up on EVs for road trips … the novelty has worn off.
As (numerous) others have noted in this and many other threads, EVs have their strengths and you either drive according to their limitations or you take on the burden of range and charging.

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