Has "Conserve" mode changed with Gen 2?

[ksumnole]

Greetings,

I wanted to share some observations and shine a bit more light on the topic of Drive Mode / Tire Wear / Efficiency.

I picked up my TriMax R1T just in December, and right from the start, I was advised by a few owners to avoid the "Conserve" mode as it puts the vehicle in the lowest ride height setting and destroys the tires prematurely. Some pointed to the Motortrend article.

My observation with the TriMax is that in both "All Purpose" and "Conserve" mode, the vehicle uses a "Standard" ride height by default and "Low" above ~65 mph. Unless you manually specify the ride height. However, the major difference is that in "Conserve" mode, the rear motors are turned off unless you are going uphill or need more power, then the vehicle engages the rear motors temporarily. Lastly, with 20" AT wheels and 60F ambient temp, I average 2.5-2.6mi/kwh in Conserve mode, but only 1.99mi/kwh in All Purpose.

Ride Height observation. While Conserve mode does set the ride to "Low" at speeds over ~65 mph, there is another "Lowest" setting still available. Has Rivian adjusted this ride height to compensate for tire wear? Should we be overwriting the automatic ride height in All Purpose and Conserve mode?

80% of my driving is short highway commutes, at ~70 mph, so the vehicle always lowers itself.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you choose your own ride height and stick to it?

Cheers

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[phaduman]

Gen2 DM Max here (so no conserve mode...):
All Purpose observation:
- both motors operating at slow speeds (from start to ~15mph )
- both motors operating during spirited drives, faster climbs etc.
- front motors only, operating at all other times.
- ride height is STD upto 60-65mph then goes to low (when height is set to Auto).

I had 22 sport dark wheels for first 30days: commute (17 miles each way, so total 34miles) would get me ~2.8miles/kWh. I swapped with 22 range wheels (and same AS tires), getting close to ~3.0 miles/kWh. Commute is mostly stop & go traffic, even if 70% is freeway. I don't think wind is playing a role at these slower speeds, but I think the lighter forged range wheels are making a difference.

I have heard RJ in videos that Tri and Quad Gen2 Conserve is like All Purpose in DM. But it looks like from your observation that Gen2 Conserve further restricts rear motor usage compared to All Purpose (more use of rear motor) in the Tri (& perhaps in Quad as well).

 

[ksumnole]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. You can definitely feel when the rear motors are engaged in Conserve mode. Nothing major, but since the ride is so quiet, you feel a gentle nudge when the power comes in.

I'm still curious about the tire wear and ride height issues.

 

[phaduman]

I am curious as well. tire wear as I was reading various threads are affected by: 1. acceleration, braking (regen), height. #1 is now better in Gen2 due to most all accelerations use both front and rear motors. #2 - regen is mostly front for me (dual motor) - not sure regen uses the rear motors in Tri/Quad. So here, the front tires will wear out faster than rear if we do not rotate. And then ride height, with auto height adjustments - is it same as Gen1?

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

With Gen2 Tri Apparently, conserve mode makes the vehicle operate like the dual motor where it automatically disengages the rear drive units to increase efficiency. All purpose they are engaged all the time.

 

[RivAW]

Conserve mode is not the lowest setting.
Conserve mode does not accelerate the wear of the front tires if you use it as directed (at highway speed).

 

[pickupman2022]

Gen 1 conserve mode used only FWD at all times. Gen 2 conserve operates more like all purpose in the dual and will engage the rear.

 

[malditofman]

Greetings,

I wanted to share some observations and shine a bit more light on the topic of Drive Mode / Tire Wear / Efficiency.

I picked up my TriMax R1T just in December, and right from the start, I was advised by a few owners to avoid the "Conserve" mode as it puts the vehicle in the lowest ride height setting and destroys the tires prematurely. Some pointed to the Motortrend article.

My observation with the TriMax is that in both "All Purpose" and "Conserve" mode, the vehicle uses a "Standard" ride height by default and "Low" above ~65 mph. Unless you manually specify the ride height. However, the major difference is that in "Conserve" mode, the rear motors are turned off unless you are going uphill or need more power, then the vehicle engages the rear motors temporarily. Lastly, with 20" AT wheels and 60F ambient temp, I average 2.5-2.6mi/kwh in Conserve mode, but only 1.99mi/kwh in All Purpose.

Ride Height observation. While Conserve mode does set the ride to "Low" at speeds over ~65 mph, there is another "Lowest" setting still available. Has Rivian adjusted this ride height to compensate for tire wear? Should we be overwriting the automatic ride height in All Purpose and Conserve mode?

80% of my driving is short highway commutes, at ~70 mph, so the vehicle always lowers itself.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you choose your own ride height and stick to it?

Cheers

Motortrend has terrible credibility and a track record of incorrect and misleading information regarding EVs specifically. The tire wear issue due exclusively to Conserve mode has not been seen by many in the real world. I use Conserve mode at 60 mph on the highway all the time with zero issues. I also use knell mode. No issues. I jump to All Purpose mode when climbing a grade to give the front motor an assist while lugging 7000 pounds up the grade. After driving R1T Tri for two months, no unusual or uneven tire wear. Conserve mode was rated at 405 miles of range. My driving experience with Conserve has been 398 miles of range which is less than 2% off from Rivian's marketing. In kneeling the height lowers one additional notch, which does help a bit getting in and out. Some misinformation on the web can cause us to way overthink. Rivian is doing EVs right. Drive well.

 

[Jonger1150]

Gen 1 conserve mode used only FWD at all times. Gen 2 conserve operates more like all purpose in the dual and will engage the rear.

Sadly.

Right now Dual Motor All-purpose had an engagement clunk introduced on the last software update.

 

[ksurfier]

Motortrend has terrible credibility and a track record of incorrect and misleading information regarding EVs specifically. The tire wear issue due exclusively to Conserve mode has not been seen by many in the real world. I use Conserve mode at 60 mph on the highway all the time with zero issues. I also use knell mode. No issues. I jump to All Purpose mode when climbing a grade to give the front motor an assist while lugging 7000 pounds up the grade. After driving R1T Tri for two months, no unusual or uneven tire wear. Conserve mode was rated at 405 miles of range. My driving experience with Conserve has been 398 miles of range which is less than 2% off from Rivian's marketing. In kneeling the height lowers one additional notch, which does help a bit getting in and out. Some misinformation on the web can cause us to way overthink. Rivian is doing EVs right. Drive well.

Funny - Had two mobile techs at my house recently (both driving R1Ts) and they told me that conserve is directly responsible for increased front tire wear…also, even in All Purpose the front motors deliver more power and do more of the regen braking, also leading to more wear on the front tires…
I’ve been carefully tracking tire wear. The fronts wear almost 2x faster than the rears (using 99% All Purpose).

 

[Golfer04]

I've owned three R1Ts now. Two QM and now a Tri. I've put just short of a 100,000 miles combined on them. "Excessive" tire wear depends on your definition. I only experienced excessive tire wear when I used to let the suspension drop when interstate drivingThe axle is fixed so your tires can only be flush with the road at one height (standard). When the vehicle drops down its weight shifts to the inside of the tire. This causes above normal tire wear on the inside of the tire. Ultimately it will make your tires wear uneven and become loud. Mine did that and tire shop told me what the problem was.

In the QM Conserve the rear motors do not come on during acceleration/take off from a stop sign. This disproportionately puts wear on the front tires just like all front wheel drive vehicles experience. Timely tire rotation will help alleviate this. The Tri motor vehicles' rear motors come on during acceleration in conserve mode. This change was made to help reduce tire wear.

If tire wear concerns you then when you use conserve don't drop the suspension to low. I NEVER drop the suspension to low any more. In my limited testing the efficiency gain from dropping the vehicle a couple of inches was almost zero. I also don't like the much more rough ride at low height.

My first set of Pirelli 20s lasted 15,000 miles when I had the suspension on auto. My second set (Michelin all weather) had 47,000 miles on them and still 8/32 tread when I traded and had followed the tire shop's advice. But to each his own. It is your vehicle drive it how you want.

 

[ksumnole]

I've owned three R1Ts now. Two QM and now a Tri. I've put just short of a 100,000 miles combined on them. "Excessive" tire wear depends on your definition. I only experienced excessive tire wear when I used to let the suspension drop when interstate drivingThe axle is fixed so your tires can only be flush with the road at one height (standard). When the vehicle drops down its weight shifts to the inside of the tire. This causes above normal tire wear on the inside of the tire. Ultimately it will make your tires wear uneven and become loud. Mine did that and tire shop told me what the problem was.

In the QM Conserve the rear motors do not come on during acceleration/take off from a stop sign. This disproportionately puts wear on the front tires just like all front wheel drive vehicles experience. Timely tire rotation will help alleviate this. The Tri motor vehicles' rear motors come on during acceleration in conserve mode. This change was made to help reduce tire wear.

If tire wear concerns you then when you use conserve don't drop the suspension to low. I NEVER drop the suspension to low any more. In my limited testing the efficiency gain from dropping the vehicle a couple of inches was almost zero. I also don't like the much more rough ride at low height.

My first set of Pirelli 20s lasted 15,000 miles when I had the suspension on auto. My second set (Michelin all weather) had 47,000 miles on them and still 8/32 tread when I traded and had followed the tire shop's advice. But to each his own. It is your vehicle drive it how you want.

Interesting perspective. I think I'll do a bit of my own range testing at the Standard height and Conserve mode. Thanks

 

[ElGuano]

So, I've been driving in All Purpose since I got the car this winter. I've been seeing ~1.5-1.9mi/kwh on 22"s, driving conservatively on the freeway, which is fine cause it's cold and rainy and windy (on sunny calm days it shoots well above 2.0). Today, on a whim, I tried conserve mode, And even though we're in the middle of a massive storm, I saw 2.3-2.5mi/kwh on the freeway both out and back, which blew my mind.

Is conserve really the real deal? I've been thinking it must be a bit of a gimmick given that Rivian recently took off the "mileage using conserve mode" on their site, but at least according to the energy meter, it seems real. I loved seeing the battery gauge drop to 50% and seeing "200 miles remaining" right next to it

 

[strykerwsu]

I removed Auto mode add select standard height after all of the discussions on here. Tires are wearing great on our 2 Gen 1 R1s

 

[emoore]

I only use conserve mode in charging deserts now and that’s becoming fewer and fewer places (looking at you northern Minnesota). It’s just nit worth it to me to get out of all purpose on my gen 1 quad. There are enough charging locations on major highways to get by. We still need a lot more but it’s not a desert anymore.

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