[Official Feature] Rivian Drive Systems Decoded: Dual-Motor, Enhanced Dual-Motor and Quad-Motor

[theyoungone]

Assuming you can find tires in a 20" that cost $250 as opposed to the $440 per tire that the 21s currently cost, it would take 5 sets of tires to break even on the $4,500 (assuming you are replacing the spare as well). That's about 100,000 miles of driving until you hit the breakeven point, and that's assuming another cheaper 21" tire that works doesn't come out before then.

Your break even point & ROI would be much lower. The Pirelli Scorpion AS+3 at 20” has shown range similar to what the 21s provide. Someone else on the sub has them. I’m hoping the Michelin Defender LTX M/S show similar gains. It’s a 70-80K tie with a GREAT reputation and on top of that fits in the 250-280 range and that’s not even including the rebate from Michelin.

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[Autolycus]

It’s not a pr thing, it’s an “informing customers directly about changes to the product they’ve put money down to purchase“ thing.

putting out a press release to announce something new is one thing.

Telling one niche outlet about customer critical information rather than getting it customers directly is just dumb.

Look, I'm not defending all of Rivian's communications decisions here. They've certainly not shared as much as they should when they should, but I just don't understand the criticism of them talking to RS the way they have. It's an improvement over their prior practices.

They shared the truly customer-critical information via email and a blog post on their website. You're complaining about not getting the answer to every single question you have. There are at least 3 ways to get additional information directly from Rivian (email, phone, and chat) and a 4th if you have a guide assigned to you. Sharing additional information through RS isn't them trying to hide the ball.

tesla doesn’t even have a PR department but maybe that’s the joke…

Yeah, that was my joke. Tesla shares FAR less and not even the press has any way to get information out of them. At this point it seems like Tesla only really shares major announcements at the whims of Elon's twitter account.

 

[crashmtb]

You're complaining about not getting the answer to every single question you have.

there are only three questions; what is the probability of the configuration I’ve chosen actually being built? when might that happen, if it’s happening?

and

WHEN WILL IT ARRIVE?



never had a straight answer to any of those.

 

[Autolycus]

there are only three questions; what is the probability of the configuration I’ve chosen actually being built? when might that happen, if it’s happening?

and

WHEN WILL IT ARRIVE?



never had a straight answer to any of those.

And none of those answers have been given by Tony or Mason during their chats with RS. Most likely because of the simplest explanation: it’s impossible to give a good answer because too many things are changing too quickly.

 

[crashmtb]

And none of those answers have been given by Tony or Mason during their chats with RS. Most likely because of the simplest explanation: it’s impossible to give a good answer because too many things are changing too quickly.

“We don’t know” counts as a reasonable answer. Even that hasn’t happened.

 

[downranger12]

I love Rivian, but the Dual Motor doesn’t mean a dang thing to me until they tell me how much added range it’ll be receiving over the current quad motor configuration. And tbh if it’s not more than 5-6% (hoping for 10%) i just don’t see why it’s worth it.

My biggest gripe so far with the Rivian is the perceived tire life. Specifically for the 21s. I can’t do 7-10K miles for ONE set of tires. Increased range on a dual motor variant would allow me to get the 20s which is more common as a tire size, cheaper (as opposed to $420-450 for the 21s) and isn’t custom.

I am measuring the wear on my 21s as I just passed 13k since middle of July. Mine are projecting to replacement at 30k approaching minimum. By that time I will run them another three to five k and then mount factory 20s next fall, which are now showing up on the site for purchase at a reasonable price. I am using mine as a hunting vehicle and had a sidewall puncture from a stiff cornstalk in frozen ground. Totaled the tire and Discount Tire got me one for 480 out the door.
I don't know if the 20s will be any more protective. 21s are very quiet and capable in all of the conditions that I have encountered.

 

[dleewla]

Modern AWD with ABS torque vectoring is very effective and avoids serious downsides of lockers (can't be used on-road, forces all but one wheel to turn at a suboptimal speed, etc.). Is it 100% as good as full lockers for the crawling use cases where lockers shine most?

Probably not. Is it 95+% as good for the overwhelming majority of use cases, including off road? Yeah.

(In fact there are probably scenarios where Dual Motor + ABS will outperform Quad Motor since it can send more power to a given wheel.)

i highly doubt that its as good in 95+% of offraod use cases. if that were true, the majority of offroad vehicles would have that and not lockers. theoretically maybe but its not there yet.

 

[dleewla]

With the dual motor option AWD, not having locking diffs and relying on brakes to control wheel spin during off-roading is a real miss by Rivian. Brake control of wheels is reactionary and terrible.

its actually not that bad. Toyota offers something similar with crawl control / atrac. id imagine Rivian is going to have some similar capability

 

[kylealden]

i highly doubt that its as good in 95+% of offraod use cases. if that were true, the majority of offroad vehicles would have that and not lockers. theoretically maybe but its not there yet.

Rivian is the only quad motor offroad vehicle on the market. Other offroad (or on-road!) EVs all do this with open diffs and ABS. (And that's fundamentally what systems like ATRAC do as well.)

 

[markp]

Rivian is the only quad motor offroad vehicle on the market. Other offroad (or on-road!) EVs all do this with open diffs and ABS. (And that's fundamentally what systems like ATRAC do as well.)

The Hummer EV has a locking front diff and a “virtual” rear locker (but only three motors). But yes, open diffs with brake control is a functionally adequate if not exceptional system for all wheel drive.

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