My Q&A with Rivian reps at Venice Hub

[svet-am]

Yes. My guide advised me that I should be receiving my R1T -by- Jan 2022 (LE, LG/BM, 20"AT, tent, gear shuttle, order date Nov 2018). The statement that all LE holders will receive their vehicles by the end of 2021 is news to me.

As I said previously, this is one of the details I am most skeptical about. We'll see. Like I said, I reported what I learned as best I could but there could still be some confusion somewhere in the chain. This whole thing is like a giant game "telephone" like most of us played in Kindergarten. I tried to ask my questions as clearly as possible and remove any ambiguity but it could be (a) I wasn't clear enough (b) they don't know or (c) they misunderstood something. Or (d) I misunderstood what they said

I want to be clear based on what I'm seeing happen in the thread. I do NOT fault any of the Rivian employees that I interacted with. Every. single. person. that works for Rivian that I had a contact with came across as genuine and as forthright as they could be. I did not get the feel that any of them had any malintent in their interaction with me. I think there's still a lot of variables in play and going from stealthy secretive startup to open transparent automaker is a big transition.

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[Matty J]

Yes. My guide advised me that I should be receiving my R1T -by- Jan 2022 (LE, LG/BM, 20"AT, tent, gear shuttle, order date Nov 2018). The statement that all LE holders will receive their vehicles by the end of 2021 is news to me.

Maybe, your guide can provide you with a new update now that deliveries have started.

 

[jjswan33]

Yes. My guide advised me that I should be receiving my R1T -by- Jan 2022 (LE, LG/BM, 20"AT, tent, gear shuttle, order date Nov 2018). The statement that all LE holders will receive their vehicles by the end of 2021 is news to me.

If you look at things with a glass half full mind set then perhaps they are telling people expect your truck by Jan 2022 but trying very hard to deliver them by the end of the calendar year. The two statements are not necessarily contradictory.

I do have my doubts but we can only hope!!!

Edit: Another possibility is maybe the confusion between production vs delivery. They may plan on having all LE orders built in 2021 but deliveries stretching into 2022?

 

[svet-am]

Edit: Another possibility is maybe the confusion between production vs delivery. They may plan on having all LE orders built in 2021 but deliveries stretching into 2022?

this is a good thought and IMHO is probably closest to reality.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I have the same issue. Maybe worst, I live in the suburbs of Charlotte, N.C., and my house is an AT&T dead zone - ugh! So, I went with Version, and I have had no coverage issues. Does anyone know if OTA updates require an AT&T carrier?

You can use WiFi... Although living in NC should be your bigger concern -- Rivian has said they're prohibited from servicing vehicles in the state, so even if you buy out of state it's unclear how residents will be able to get service, other than driving to Tennessee/Virginia (South Carolina has a prohibition, similar to North Carolina, so that won't work for Charlotte residents).

 

[Dbeglor]

As I said previously, this is one of the details I am most skeptical about. We'll see. Like I said, I reported what I learned as best I could but there could still be some confusion somewhere in the chain. This whole thing is like a giant game "telephone" like most of us played in Kindergarten. I tried to ask my questions as clearly as possible and remove any ambiguity but it could be (a) I wasn't clear enough (b) they don't know or (c) they misunderstood something. Or (d) I misunderstood what they said

I want to be clear based on what I'm seeing happen in the thread. I do NOT fault any of the Rivian employees that I interacted with. Every. single. person. that works for Rivian that I had a contact with came across as genuine and as forthright as they could be. I did not get the feel that any of them had any malintent in their interaction with me. I think there's still a lot of variables in play and going from stealthy secretive startup to open transparent automaker is a big transition.

Yeah, I have no doubt they are genuine. The primary culprit could be the fact that most of the people that work there haven't been there long. That's a factor that doesn't get enough focus I think when everyone is frustrated with the conflicting information.

 

[LaunchGreen]

One thing I meant to put in my original post that has nothing to do with the Rivian staff is the demographics. Just about everyone I talked to had a pre-order of some kind (some LE, some not). Almost ZERO of them had ever heard of any kind of Rivian forums. Of those that were aware, they were aware but don't participate. The closest that these folks got to a "forum" was some kind of Facebook group. So, as we talk about deliveries, it's _entirely_ possible that non-employee deliveries are happening and the people just aren't talking about them. I think we tend to do a bit of navel-gazing on these boards but we don't necessarily represent the entirety of the Rivian-buying demographic.

We are a pretty sleuthy group here and have been unable to find social media posts, reviews, comments, anything from anyone not connected to the company. I have doubts that a meaningful number of new vehicles were shipped to non-employees and they are all silent.

 

[Trandall]

One thing I meant to put in my original post that has nothing to do with the Rivian staff is the demographics. Just about everyone I talked to had a pre-order of some kind (some LE, some not). Almost ZERO of them had ever heard of any kind of Rivian forums. Of those that were aware, they were aware but don't participate. The closest that these folks got to a "forum" was some kind of Facebook group. So, as we talk about deliveries, it's _entirely_ possible that non-employee deliveries are happening and the people just aren't talking about them. I think we tend to do a bit of navel-gazing on these boards but we don't necessarily represent the entirety of the Rivian-buying demographic.

... And then you invited each of them to personally join the forum, touted the benefits and left out our negative, judgmental, obsessive nature... right?

 

[svet-am]

... And then you invited each of them to personally join the forum, touted the benefits and left out our negative, judgmental, obsessive nature... right?

Dude, no! I don't want to traumatize them.

 

[ajbrutman]

Thanks for asking the questions I was kind of waiting for.



Oh Damn, this sucks! They build an amazing Meridian audio system and cripple it by limiting to Spotify!
I like to listen to my own audio. I was really hoping they would have an internal storage where you can store FLAC/WAV/MP3 audio, at least enable USB playback!
What happens when there is shoddy or no data connection?



This sucks again! Did they make any mention of how the offline navigation would work?

Bluetooth

 

[ajbrutman]

On the audio front, I literally mentioned to Colby that I felt the Meridian was wasted on lossy audio. He is much younger than me and this seemed like it went over his head. No offense to him. I am feeling like I am having my “old man yells at clouds” moment on this issue. I think I am becoming a dinosaur who listens to music differently.

Bluetooth Apple Music with lossless compression? I thought with the doors lowed and windows up it sounded pretty good. I’m sure they can tweak software to make it sound even better

 

[Zac]

Yeah, I have no doubt they are genuine. The primary culprit could be the fact that most of the people that work there haven't been there long. That's a factor that doesn't get enough focus I think when everyone is frustrated with the conflicting information.

Agreed! According to LinkedIn, the median tenure at Rivian is 0.7 years.

 

[ajbrutman]

Can these cars connect to WiFi? If so, that would help with the lack of LTE at a house for nav.

They can, and they were at the event, at least the blus R1T was on Friday

 

[ajbrutman]

Yes. My guide advised me that I should be receiving my R1T -by- Jan 2022 (LE, LG/BM, 20"AT, tent, gear shuttle, order date Nov 2018). The statement that all LE holders will receive their vehicles by the end of 2021 is news to me.

Now I’m but hurt, same order time, same config minus tent, no guide contact?. But I got to go to the event, so that was their way of saying here’s a little taste be patient soon will come. Ok.

 

[cc84]

Yes. My guide advised me that I should be receiving my R1T -by- Jan 2022 (LE, LG/BM, 20"AT, tent, gear shuttle, order date Nov 2018). The statement that all LE holders will receive their vehicles by the end of 2021 is news to me.

I'm in the minority here, or only one, and most likely wrong, but to me, the end of 2021 and by Jan 2022 are one and the same. Most people include all the month of January as "by January". I don't. I feel it should be worded "by the end of January, if you want to include the entire month". Three additional words would clear up the entire confusion, on my part. Seems everyone else has it correct, but I never have.

To me, "by January", means prior to the month of January arriving, which would include "the end of 2021, but not any of Jan 2022.

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