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How do you charge a Rivian R1T or R1S EV? Soon, easily- MT

Canthoney

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https://www.motortrend.com/features/rivian-r1t-r1s-ev-pickup-suv-charging-stations-options/

Rivian R1T R1S How do you charge a Rivian R1T or R1S EV? Soon, easily- MT 1631826409541
“Rivian, the relatively young electric car company that is releasing the R1T EV pickup as we write this (the related R1S SUV follows soon) has big plans. Yes, electric 4x4s themselves take a huge portion of the company's attention, but the automaker also has its eyes on supporting the R1T and R1S with chargers. Rivian is planning a multi-layered charging network that, if not exactly like Tesla's, at least brings similar capability to the table via a mix of DC fast chargers, 240-volt Level 2 chargers, and home chargers. Rivian even expands on Tesla's network with the existing tens of thousands of compatible quick chargers and Level 2 hookups already scattered around the country by third parties such as Electrify America.


Where and How Will Rivians Be Charged?


So, what exactly will charging a Rivian look like? In the immediate future, that existing public charging network—the one created by Electrify America, ChargePoint, EVGo, and the like—will ensure Rivian owners can get up and running out of the gate. Owners also can purchase an in-home charger that is functionally and mechanically nearly identical to Rivian's so-called Waypoint chargers, 10,000 of which will be scattered near public shopping, lodging, and outdoor locations by 2023. These Level 2 units are capable of up to 11.5 kW of charging and utilize the common J1772 plug design, meaning they can work with non-Rivian vehicles, too; Rivian says it plans to make its Waypoint chargers open to non-Rivians. Prices for charging will vary—the units can be installed by state and national parks, local businesses, etc., and those who choose to add one to their location can set the charging terms. All Level 2 chargers we visited during our cross-country trek down the Trans-America Trail were free—even to non-Rivians.
Every Rivian also comes standard with a "portable charger" that can plug into conventional 120-volt household wall outlets (for a very slow Level 1 charge) or a 240-volt hookup like those that power your clothes dryer; such 240-volt plugs also exist at campsites and RV parks everywhere, and they can add up to about 16 miles of driving range to a rivian r1t per hour of charging.
The real action is in fast charging, and to that end, Rivian is installing more than 3,500 DC quick chargers at 600-plus locations in the U.S and Canada by 2023. These speedy chargers can add up to 140 miles of driving range to a Rivian in just 20 minutes; early on, R1Ts and R1S SUVs will "only" be capable of a 190-kW peak charge rate, though we're told this will later increase through 200 kW and on to 300 kW or more "in the future." Each of these sites will deliver juice sourced from "100 percent renewable" energy production, and unlike the Waypoint and home chargers, they'll be exclusive to Rivian customers.
Rivian is calling this DC charger system the Rivian Adventure Network. Designed to complement existing DC fast charging infrastructure, like the type we used on our Trans-America Trail journey, it balances urban locations with farther-afield sites to facilitate off-road adventures—plus regular adventures who happen to include interstate travel and transiting longer distances. A map on Rivian's website depicts proposed Adventure Network locations as dots scattered across the continental U.S., with clear pathways east to west, north to south, and so on along major arterial routes. There are DC chargers planned for Alaska, though their numbers appear few, and so far none between the Vancouver area of Canada and the far-flung state are included in Rivian's plans, meaning a drive to Alaska will require Level 2 chargers and a less hasty pace. Hawaiians, rejoice: Rivian has DC chargers planned for several islands there.


Filling in the Gaps


Of course, before Rivian gets around to fleshing out its homegrown charging plans, there's always the existing public EV charging network. These charging stations are fairly blanketed across the country but are managed by a patchwork of dedicated apps, including PlugShare, Electrify America, and others. This means to use each one, you typically need to have the attendant app on your phone; many chargers, particularly fast chargers, have on-site payment options—just like, say, a gas pump does—but a seamless experience this is not, even if you go with electronic payment.
During our cross-country Trans-America Trail adventure, we encountered wildly variable user experiences at Electrify America chargers. Some didn't work properly, others refused to connect with our apps, and numerous chargers wouldn't deliver their full potential output; several 150-kW and 350-kW chargers delivered way less than their ratings despite the Rivians asking for more power, leading to longer-than-anticipated charging stops. Your experiences will vary, too.
The good news is, despite the multiple apps managing access to the nation's public charging infrastructure—Rivian has its own app, which will be available to non-Rivian customers for handling transactions at Rivian Waypoint chargers—there are a ton of these chargers across the country. There are at least 50,000 public chargers, including DC fast chargers and Level 2 units, listed on the U.S. Department of Energy's location tracker. This roundup doesn't include the untold number of private charging locations at offices and homes. Remember, if you don't regularly drive long distances, a home charger should be able to handle nearly all of your EV's energy needs; quick chargers and other public sites are merely helpful if you're in a hurry and need a charge on the go or are transiting between far-flung places. And Rivian uses the common CCS plug standard for DC fast charging, making their vehicles compatible with a huge number of existing DC chargers in addition to its own future Adventure Network.


So, What Was It Like Crossing the Country in the Rivian?


Charging during our 7,000-mile trek across the Trans-America Trail from the East Coast to the West Coast was such a non-event, even accounting for a few faulty public chargers, that we felt more "range anxiety," or the fear of not making it to our destination with the energy onboard for our support truck, a 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX.
Most days, we charged up just once in the middle of the day; some days, we didn't even do that, and off-roaded from morning until evening without stopping. Keep in mind, this trip wasn't ideal for highlighting what everyday life with a rivian r1t might be like—mostly because unless you live on a remote ranch, commune, or science station, you'll be driving on paved roads, near chargers, and likely for shorter distances. At a few stops, we used Rivian's new Level 2 Waypoint chargers, plugging in overnight and waking to a full battery pack. For other stops, we hit up Electrify America fast chargers, taking on significant charge in well under an hour. As mentioned earlier, some of the public chargers didn't quite deliver their promised power output, in at least one case prompting us to switch to another charger to avoid wasting time.
If you're looking for more detailed charging information beyond "it wasn't an issue," we don't have it. Most of the chargers we used don't track the kWh put into the Rivian during the charge—Rivian's Waypoint chargers and a few newer public units do—and the R1T doesn't display that kWh figure anywhere on its infotainment display, nor does it have (for now) an onboard trip computer. Really. The plain old odometer is buried several menus deep, but again, without consistent, specific data on how many kWh the truck took on at each stop, we can't furnish an accurate kWh/mile consumption figure. (We're reaching out to Rivian to see if it has that data from the trucks.) We will say the R1Ts, when fully charged, delivered well over 200 miles of use on the trails before needing any recharging; the R1Ts we drove came with the 314-mile-rated battery packs; a 400-mile-plus unit is coming soon and costs an additional $10,000.
This is sure to disappoint the hardcore EV followers out there, but we'll offset it with this generalization: Save for one decision to skip a charging stop and push our luck, resulting in an arrival at our destination (we didn't run out of juice!) with zero miles of range displayed on the gauge screen, we never once hurt for chargers or worried about range. The R1Ts simply went where we needed them to go, and advance planning (choosing which chargers we'd stop at, if we needed to at all) meant we easily made it from stop to stop. Some followers of our Trans-America Trail story have wondered what impact off-roading had on the range, and we can't really say. That's because we predominantly drove off-road and over challenging terrain and put down very few miles on pavement. Clearly a bigger impact on our driving range came from the hundreds of pounds of gear and rooftop tents our trucks were saddled with. Even with all that, the Rivians were capable of nearly 300 miles of range at a time if the terrain was relatively flat and we could use the Conserve drive mode—which only activates the front-axle motors, making the R1T front-drive—and avoided high speeds.
The takeaway? Charging or range shouldn't be issues or worries for any Rivian owner. A network exists today to facilitate long-distance trips, around-town juice-ups, and the like. Rivian is expanding on that with its own dedicated network. Plus, we crossed the country, off-road, far from population centers in most cases, and exercising the R1Ts' amazing off-road capabilities was always far more front-of-mind than any thoughts of where we'd charge up—or if we could at all. We'll have more detailed energy usage data, range tests, and more when we get our hands on a rivian r1t for a full test evaluation on normal roads.”
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SeaGeo

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These speedy chargers can add up to 140 miles of driving range to a Rivian in just 20 minutes; early on, R1Ts and R1S SUVs will "only" be capable of a 190-kW peak charge rate, though we're told this will later increase through 200 kW and on to 300 kW or more "in the future."
I would *very* much like to know why 250+kW isn't available now if they know they'll be able to get there in the future. And when they think they'll get there. I hate buying something with a "someday maybe" attached to it. Like, are they worried they won't be able to implement it? If not, why haven't they been able to over the last 12 months? Do they think they'll implement it in 2 months, or in 2025?

Not being grouchy, just very very curious about what we can reasonable expect and when.

also, 190 kW Peak is in my opinion a major fault for a battery pack that large with EV6 kicking out 250 kW or whatever for example. But 300kW would be great. So the delay here is pretty important to me personally.
 
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LordUlhtred

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I would *very* much like to know why 250+kW isn't available now if they know they'll be able to get there in the future. And when they think they'll get there. I hate buying something with a "someday maybe" attached to it. Like, are they worried they won't be able to implement it? If not, why haven't they been able to over the last 12 months? Do they think they'll implement it in 2 months, or in 2025?

Not being grouchy, just very very curious about what we can reasonable expect and when.

also, 190 kW Peak is in my opinion a major fault for a battery pack that large with EV6 kicking out 250 kW or whatever for example. But 300kW would be great. So the delay here is pretty important to me personally.
I agree with the general sentiment of 190KW peak is a bit “underwhelming”. However, we probably still need to wait until testers go and see if the 190KW is sustainable for a much greater period of time or peak at 190KW and within few minutes starts to drop. It is possible that Rivian is been much more conservative with the peak power while sustaining it for much longer period to protect the battery. we just don’t have enough data but given the fact that Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Tesla and other EVs can do more than 190KW at the peak…does give me some pause as well on the potential charging speed of RT1 and RS1.
 
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Canthoney

Canthoney

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I would *very* much like to know why 250+kW isn't available now if they know they'll be able to get there in the future. And when they think they'll get there. I hate buying something with a "someday maybe" attached to it. Like, are they worried they won't be able to implement it? If not, why haven't they been able to over the last 12 months? Do they think they'll implement it in 2 months, or in 2025?

Not being grouchy, just very very curious about what we can reasonable expect and when.

also, 190 kW Peak is in my opinion a major fault for a battery pack that large with EV6 kicking out 250 kW or whatever for example. But 300kW would be great. So the delay here is pretty important to me personally.
Yeah, I understand the frustration. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t come out with the 250 kW right out of the gate with all the testing they’ve done. Maybe they’re waiting on more data from customers to see if the battery can safely maintain that peak charging rate.
 

SANZC02

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I would *very* much like to know why 250+kW isn't available now if they know they'll be able to get there in the future. And when they think they'll get there. I hate buying something with a "someday maybe" attached to it. Like, are they worried they won't be able to implement it? If not, why haven't they been able to over the last 12 months? Do they think they'll implement it in 2 months, or in 2025?

Not being grouchy, just very very curious about what we can reasonable expect and when.

also, 190 kW Peak is in my opinion a major fault for a battery pack that large with EV6 kicking out 250 kW or whatever for example. But 300kW would be great. So the delay here is pretty important to me personally.
I was pretty excited to see the 190, curious how long it can hold that rate which to me is probably more important than what the max is.

I have a 75KW Model S, I think the max charge rate is 96 kw but I never see that, usually highest I see is low 80's but it starts dropping off almost immediately and spends most of the time between 40 and 60kw

That being said, it has never been an issue for us when we have taken it on a trip.
 

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SeaGeo

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I was pretty excited to see the 190, curious how long it can hold that rate which to me is probably more important than what the max is.

I have a 75KW Model S, I think the max charge rate is 96 kw but I never see that, usually highest I see is low 80's but it starts dropping off almost immediately and spends most of the time between 40 and 60kw

That being said, it has never been an issue for us when we have taken it on a trip.
I would hope it's 175+kW all the way to 80% given how large the battery is. That's about C= 1.25 at 80%. The old E-tron pulled about 1.5C all the way to 80%, the new e-tron and taycan pull about 1.3C at 80%, and the EV6/Ioiniq5 are pulling more than 2C at 80% still (with some weird ass blips in there for battery management).
 

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It the peak value only applies to a small section of the charging curve, then it isn't much help. I would rather have a lower peak value, but a high sustained value.

For example, our Audi E-tron has a peak value of 150kW, but it's able to sustain that value all the way to 80%. As a result, it actually charges faster to 80% compared to many EV's with higher peak charging values.
 

SeaGeo

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I agree with the general sentiment of 190KW peak is a bit “underwhelming”. However, we probably still need to wait until testers go and see if the 190KW is sustainable for a much greater period of time or peak at 190KW and within few minutes starts to drop. It is possible that Rivian is been much more conservative with the peak power while sustaining it for much longer period to protect the battery. we just don’t have enough data but given the fact that Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Tesla and other EVs can do more than 190KW at the peak…does give me some pause as well on the potential charging speed of RT1 and RS1.
Totally agree. I'm really hoping Tom is able to log it during this media day this week.

Yeah, I understand the frustration. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t come out with the 250 kW right out of the gate with all the testing they’ve done. Maybe they’re waiting on more data from customers to see if the battery can safely maintain that peak charging rate.
That's my question too. And why I'm curious. I am wondering if they want to have a rock solid 400v delivery first while relying on EA, and then once they feel good about things with customers make the 800v switch. I'd just like some transparency as to the why/when there.
 

SeaGeo

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That's not going to happen.
Why? Based on what? The EV6 with about 60% of the size of the battery pulled ~160+kW to ~75%. The old etron pulled 150 kW to 80% with a much smaller battery. Where's the frame of reference that there is a good reason for a battery pack this large not to pull that much power that that point?
 

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Based on all of the other charging curves I have seen.
There are multiple curves out there that are pull more than 1.25C at 80%. 175 is not a stretch goal given the size of the battery. Several examples up above.
 

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There are multiple curves out there that are pull more than 1.25C at 80%. 175 is not a stretch goal given the size of the battery. Several examples up above.
Rivian R1T R1S How do you charge a Rivian R1T or R1S EV? Soon, easily- MT 1631832266729
 

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Rivian R1T R1S How do you charge a Rivian R1T or R1S EV? Soon, easily- MT 1631833046576

Not the ioniq 5 has a 77kwh battery, and the e-tron has a 95 kwH battery.
Rivian R1T R1S How do you charge a Rivian R1T or R1S EV? Soon, easily- MT 1631833080207



EV6:

Rivian R1T R1S How do you charge a Rivian R1T or R1S EV? Soon, easily- MT 1631833138155
.

E-tron GT, M3, Taycan, and e-tron compared:
E-trong GT pulls +200kw through about 60% (same with Taycan). 155 kW at ~70%, and about 122kW at 79%. that's with a 93 kWh pack.

in Bjorns test for the 83 kWh e-ron that pulled 135 kW at 79%. So C = 1.6.


So the EV6 pulls about 2C+ at 79%, the old e-tron pulled about 1.5C at 79%, and the E-tron Gt and Taycan each pull ~1.3C. 175 kW would be 1.25C.

Really, my point is it's a big ass battery. Assuming their thermals are ok they should be able to shove a lot of power in there compared to what we're used to, even at a high percentage. the EV6 and Taycan has the benefit of being at 800v above, but we aren't talking about a lot of power going into the battery relative to it's size.
 
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Yeah, I understand the frustration. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t come out with the 250 kW right out of the gate with all the testing they’ve done. Maybe they’re waiting on more data from customers to see if the battery can safely maintain that peak charging rate.
Yup.

My Model X only charged at 120kw when new, but now charges at 160kw.

Software update enabled the faster charging (and presumably included the safe charging curve and required battery temps, etc) after data on my generation battery was gathered from the field and it was deemed safe.

Note: This doesn't REMOTELY mean my Model X charges 33% faster than it did when new.
More like 5% faster.
Because peak charging rate is MUCH different than sustained charging rate.

Don't expect any miracles after they enable 200, 250, and maybe even 300kw peak rates down the line.

Personally I'm much more afraid of EA not getting their shit together and being stuck at ~35kw at an EA charger than I am Rivian never ramping it up after the fleet has many KWh worth of data gathered.
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