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HOW WILL AIRING-DOWN TIRES IMPACT RANGE?

Lil'O Annie

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This is a question aimed at experienced overlanders. I'm sure you know how airing down impacts range on ICE rigs, right? Do you have an idea of average-percent impact on ICE mileage/range that might give us an initial idea of how it would impact a Rivian??
Rivian R1T R1S HOW WILL AIRING-DOWN TIRES IMPACT RANGE? 1636305410070
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moosehead

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Yes it will, and does on ICE vehicles. Combine greater rolling resistance with activities that dictate airing down such as sand or rock crawling, and the range will most definitely be impacted.

Cannot guess how much but it should be a greater impact than say going to 20” OR configuration, and comparable to loaded towing hit.

As a rough comparison, we generally experience 10.5-11 mpg towing results in a HD half ton, and 20 mpg unloaded.
 
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Lil'O Annie

Lil'O Annie

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Yes it will, and does on ICE vehicles. Combine greater rolling resistance with activities that dictate airing down such as sand or rock crawling, and the range will most definitely be impacted.

Cannot guess how much but it should be a greater impact than say going to 20” OR configuration, and comparable to loaded towing hit.

As a rough comparison, we generally experience 10.5-11 mpg towing results in a HD half ton, and 20 mpg unloaded.
Yes, I am very aware that it certainly will impact range. But, what will be interesting is to see how it compares to an ICE rig. My experience with ICE rigs is there's a sweet spot for max mileage/gal.. My experience with my Bolt EV and Polaris RangerEV is the slower you go the farther you go. I was often able to get 300 miles of range in my Bolt going 45-55mph, while getting 200-230 miles going 70mph. My Polaris seems to run forever through rough grassy fields on the farm if I'm going slower than its max speed on our gravel roads.

Bet the Motor Trend people know how airing-down impacts range after driving the TAT!! They would have watched that very closely. Did they give us any info on that??

This will all be lots of fun to test WHEN we get our R1s!!
 

CommodoreAmiga

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Bet the Motor Trend people know how airing-down impacts range after driving the TAT!! They would have watched that very closely. Did they give us any info on that??
The R1T that MT drove didn’t have a trip computer so they didn’t get specific numbers. They did comment that range was never a problem, and they always had plenty left each evening.

The general sentiment they shared was that EVs seem to handle that type of driving really well. Less wind resistance and you can take advantage of the instant torque and efficiency of the motors at low speeds.
 

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Hard to say really, especially with the on-board air capabilities of the R1x. In deep sand, I'd easily experience 50% range reduction, but had I not aired down, range would've been worse when I buried myself up to my undercarriage. Again, in the rocks, hard to say because I'm not going any meaningful distance. That said, I rarely ever had to air down, so it's not a big consideraton. I've always carried a CO2 tank onboard for quick refills and wouldn't drive any distance on tires at 10-12psi as they're just dangerous outside of the rare extreme circumstances.
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