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Max Pack holders: tell me your thoughts

Smithery

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I haven't seen the truck bed mounted battery pack mentioned in a while:

"Rivian says that its battery pack may be available in several configurations to provide varying amounts of power and weigh "several hundred pounds or more," meaning that the company could theoretically sell 10-kilowatt-hour or 20-kWh packs depending on a customer's needs."​

Even if Rivian doesn't do this - I have to believe an aftermarket solution will emerge. And I bet it would cost less than $17k :)
There will be no aftermarket "pluggable batteries for extra range" if the hardware on the truck doesn't support them.

Which it currently does not.

They have a patent on the concept but have absolutely not implemented it on the current R1T.
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Smithery

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One the reasons we were originally excited about the R1T is the Max Pack range.

The standard pack would be great for 90% of our driving, but then we'd be stuck with (2) EVs that don't quite get us the road trip range we want.

And as for considering alternatives?

Having spent time around the trucks and having driven one, I'm more convinced than ever that there is no alternative

The F-150 Lightning will be an F-150 with a frunk.
The Hummer EV will be way bigger and heavier with less utility and lower range.
The Cybertruck will be... Something, that's for sure.

The notion that any of those 3 will fill the same truck niche as the R1T is laughable.

For us the R1T is the perfect size, perfect feature set, and perfect drive. One of the best thought out trucks I've ever seen.

The test drive cemented the idea of "waiting for the Max Pack R1T no matter how long it takes"
 

KeithPleas

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They have a patent on the concept but have absolutely not implemented it on the current R1T.
And they've implemented the max pack? <cough>
 

Laurent

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Since 95% of my driving is around town and I don't have a trailer, the large pack is probably good enough, especially in California given the charging network. That said, if the max pack were available at launch for the R1S, I would probably get it. My current plan is to get the LE in March-April and then use my non-LE reservation to get the max pack later if needed. That will give me a year or so to figure out if it's worth it. I'm reasonably confident I could sell my LE R1S in 2023 and not lose too much money.
 

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Whmorken

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Three years in Tesla, 3 & X. LE ordered, but why not keep LE and get max-pack or better in two years and keep the LE in the family for shorter trips. My proposed solution is both/and.
 

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Fellow Max pack reservation holders: given all of the info we have now about deliveries for non-max pack vehicles, is anyone considering dropping their reservation? Switching to the smaller battery to try to skip ahead in line? Given that I haven't seen or heard any information about the Max pack even being a physical product that exists yet, it's hard to justify waiting potentially years more for something like this just to get the extra miles. What do Max pack holders think? please sound off.
I'm thinking about switching from the max pack - been waiting 3 years just to see them put me on the back burner:mad:
 

KeithPleas

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I haven't seen the truck bed mounted battery pack mentioned in a while:

"Rivian says that its battery pack may be available in several configurations to provide varying amounts of power and weigh "several hundred pounds or more," meaning that the company could theoretically sell 10-kilowatt-hour or 20-kWh packs depending on a customer's needs."​

Even if Rivian doesn't do this - I have to believe an aftermarket solution will emerge. And I bet it would cost less than $17k :)
Quoting myself I know but...yeah this is a thing - here's what RJ said less than a year ago:

“You’re starting to get into the long tail of use cases, but even there we’ve designed the vehicle so you can have auxiliary battery packs. You can also charge Rivian-to-Rivian, which is a neat thing. You connect the two vehicles and then I could hand you some electrons...”​
Ok it's not the same as one large battery pack but I could easily see TODAY putting some capacity in the bed and running a cord to the charge connector in the evening. So...grovelling around...to go from 135 (Large) to 180 (Max) adding 45 kWh at (current industry average) $140/kWA is $6300 and would weigh around 735 pounds.

Heck, that might BE the Max pack for the R1T ;)
 

Smithery

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And they've implemented the max pack? <cough>
We know the fact that the many hundreds of trucks that are now privately owned by employees combined with the many dozens of trucks that have made their way through reviewers hands and our own hands at these test drive events... That the "pluggable spare battery" is not a feature implemented on any publicly known R1T.

Is it POSSIBLE they'd come along and implement it for later trucks, completely surprising us? Yes, I suppose it's possible.

It's also POSSIBLE Trump and prominent pro-Trump Republicans will hold a big press conference announcing that he legitimately lost the 2020 election, and they feels bad for their role in dividing the country, and they're ready to start actually governing instead of trying to dismantle and sell the country for scraps.
 

steilkurve

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Max pack and sticking with it. I will tow a decent sized trailer. Will likely cut range in half. So, max is needed. If I’d switch to regular range, I’m sure I’d regret it later.
 
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MountainBikeDude

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I'm thinking about switching from the max pack - been waiting 3 years just to see them put me on the back burner:mad:
I don't think swapping to a straight adventure trim will put you up in the que unfortunately.

It is a bit frustrating knowing what we do now versus the fog we were feeling our way through a year ago when deciding Launch edition or max pack.

When I first decided on Rivian nearly 3 years ago, my plan was always 180 kWh pack. Not gonna faulter now.

Ideal is May 17th 2022 I wipe the sleep from my eyes on my 39th birthday and, oh... What's that in my driveway? Better not still be an Xterra!
 

gd_r1t

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I had originally figured that Rivian would want to prioritize Max pack deliveries earlier (after LE’s). Tesla always pushes their pricier and higher margin models for faster delivery to help with their margins, especially in the ramp up phase for new models. I’m surprised to hear that folks think Max pack will get delayed later. Does Rivian have a reason to do so?
 

thrill

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I had originally figured that Rivian would want to prioritize Max pack deliveries earlier (after LE’s). Tesla always pushes their pricier and higher margin models for faster delivery to help with their margins, especially in the ramp up phase for new models. I’m surprised to hear that folks think Max pack will get delayed later. Does Rivian have a reason to do so?
If batteries are a logistical friction point then delivering more vehicles with less battery capacity still counts as a vehicle delivered in the great stock market counting game. Also, if Rivian believes (mostly correctly I think) that the vast majority of people would actually be content with a medium sized battery pack then simply delaying the availability of the largest pack, especially with two years of production lined up anyway, gives more time for those customers to go ahead and get the medium pack. Besides, the margin of the max pack is not *that* much more in the grand scheme of things.
 

gd_r1t

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If batteries are a logistical friction point then delivering more vehicles with less battery capacity still counts as a vehicle delivered in the great stock market counting game. Also, if Rivian believes (mostly correctly I think) that the vast majority of people would actually be content with a medium sized battery pack then simply delaying the availability of the largest pack, especially with two years of production lined up anyway, gives more time for those customers to go ahead and get the medium pack. Besides, the margin of the max pack is not *that* much more in the grand scheme of things.
I don’t necessarily disagree with that logic, but it seems entirely the opposite of how Tesla approaches the same thing. They 100% prioritize the largest battery and most premium configurations rather than prioritizing quantity of deliveries, ever since the very beginning.
 

BigE

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To Max or not? I checked back with Rivian as I have on several occasions to see if they had any new information to share:

In building my original Configuration, I passed on the LE which now may or may not have been the best decision in my specific case.

So I emailed CS and asked as they have stated, by the end of December I will receive an email with my future timeframe for delivery of my R1T. So my question was, should I keep my current configuration of a Large Pack Adventure (switched due to possible BBB) or would I be better off to configure as Max Pack and make a decision when my time comes? I was trying to ascertain, would switching to Large pack speed things up, or would waiting for Max Pack slow me down? Also, to make an informed decision, what is the Payload Rating of both the Large and Max Pack R1T in Adventure trim with the Off-Road Package?

Answer: "Configuration adjustments will not result in an earlier delivery. At this time, there is no additional payload information besides the amount that has been shared with you. If that information is updated, we will reach out directly. As far as the battery options, we would suggest going with the pack that benefits your use case."

So the only information that Rivian has shared is a payload of 1,760 lbs, but nothing further, zero specific trim level data.

Also, I sent a question back...so if Configuration, as-built right now, will determine my place in line which I will learn by the end of December (per Rivian), and changing this configuration will not result in an earlier delivery, will changes not impact delivery at all, and thus I can I keep my current configuration for now, and then possibly change when my time comes to Max Pack based on hopefully more relevant information at that time?
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