R1S flat towing behind an RV?

[Vern Bybee]

Even if it works, it's not ideal. Unless you have a diesel pusher, who wants a 6,000# toad?

I have a Cat 425 turbo diesel pusher
So ME!

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[StevieD]

True. I get the afford part

It just doesn't make sense. Small cars, or Jeep Wranglers work greeeeat. Every now and then you do see a pickup or gigantic SUV as a toad A rivian pickup is as heavy as a diesel pickup

As a full time RVr who travels a lot, I see a lot of larger vehicles being towed including hummers, pickups, and large SUVs. My toad is a RAM. I also see some stacker trailers, some of which can carry two or more vehicles. If Rivian doesn’t want to address this market, I would hope that they would release the driveline specs so companies like WARN could supply wheel lockers for all four wheels.. We can then manually unlock the drive lines at each wheel hub as we connect the Rivian TOAD and lock the drive lines when we disconnect. It makes a lot of sense for me to have a Rivian and towing it to my next adventure spot is just my way of getting there.

 

[DavidStHubbins]

A BIG THANK YOU to all on this forum that revealed and confirmed Rivian rescinded the RV flat tow ability. Would have been a nasty surprise at purchase! Had our R1T reservation in early based on the statement that it could be flat towed. Always looking for the next toad to be ready for purchase when the time comes, looks like the search continues ....

 

[Vern Bybee]

A BIG THANK YOU to all on this forum that revealed and confirmed Rivian rescinded the RV flat tow ability. Would have been a nasty surprise at purchase! Had our R1T reservation in early based on the statement that it could be flat towed. Always looking for the next toad to be ready for purchase when the time comes, looks like the search continues ....

Customer Care told me "there will be options" so my thoughts are there might be enough space for locking hubs on the rear wheels and dolly the front wheels
But they did say "OPTIONS"
That means more than 1
We will see

 

[Babbuino]

Well ford just patented tow charging...
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1132920_ford-patents-charging-electric-cars-by-towing-them

 

[Autolycus]

Well ford just patented tow charging...
https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1132920_ford-patents-charging-electric-cars-by-towing-them

Ford submitted an application in December 2020 for a patent on tow-charging electric vehicles (among other claims). There's also a reference to a prior-filed German patent (filed in Dec. 2019). I wonder what their timeline is for inventing this, considering there's video of a Rivian being tow charged at some point before Dec. 2019 (Long Way Up). I think Germany does allow for a delay in filing without potentially losing to any prior art, unlike some other countries, but they may have prior art problems.

 

[wicked2112]

I searched but could not find my answer.

Anyone know if the R1S can be flat towed behind a RV?

I would say contact Rivian Customer Service.

 

[Craigins]

Ford submitted an application in December 2020 for a patent on tow-charging electric vehicles (among other claims). There's also a reference to a prior-filed German patent (filed in Dec. 2019). I wonder what their timeline is for inventing this, considering there's video of a Rivian being tow charged at some point before Dec. 2019 (Long Way Up). I think Germany does allow for a delay in filing without potentially losing to any prior art, unlike some other countries, but they may have prior art problems.

US patent applicants have 1 year after public disclosure to file a patent.

The ford patent is pretty broad, and typically what appears to happen is the patent office auto accepts large commercial company patents and then lets the courts decide.

one novelty in the Ford patent is in claims 8&16. So instead of sending out a rescue vehicle to charge depleted batteries on the road side, they'd send out an autonomous rescue tow vehicle that would tow the depleted vehicle, using the towed vehicles regen breaking to recharge while towing.

I don't see them getting Claim 1 and related claims through, but 8 and above seem feasible.

 

[LaurenPham]

I think it is almost been a year now and there have been no changes in the towing features. I have not seen any people who are against these new features.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I think it is almost been a year now and there have been no changes in the towing features. I have not seen any people who are against these new features.

Maybe not “against” them…. But this use case is niche and I do not think it is prudent to expend engineering resources (and add product complexity and cost) for something few care about.

when you sell as many units as the big 3, then that niche, as an absolute number of units, is large enough to be worth capturing; but Rivian should ignore it, for now.

 

[crashmtb]

Maybe not “against” them…. But this use case is niche and I do not think it is prudent to expend engineering resources (and add product complexity and cost) for something few care about.

when you sell as many units as the big 3, then that niche, as an absolute number of units, is large enough to be worth capturing; but Rivian should ignore it, for now.

Don’t let the robot pass the Turing test

 

[StevieD]

As a full time RVr who travels a lot, I see a lot of larger vehicles being towed including hummers, pickups, and large SUVs. My toad is a RAM. I also see some stacker trailers, some of which can carry two or more vehicles. If Rivian doesn’t want to address this market, I would hope that they would release the driveline specs so companies like WARN could supply wheel lockers for all four wheels.. We can then manually unlock the drive lines at each wheel hub as we connect the Rivian TOAD and lock the drive lines when we disconnect. It makes a lot of sense for me to have a Rivian and towing it to my next adventure spot is just my way of getting there.

After Rivian’s recent 20% price hike that took my R1T configuration over $105k, Rivian solved my flat tow issue! All the pre-orders behind me are about to move up one position!

 

[StevieD]

Customer Care told me "there will be options" so my thoughts are there might be enough space for locking hubs on the rear wheels and dolly the front wheels
But they did say "OPTIONS"
That means more than 1
We will see

The latest info I found is that Amsted has supplied a drive shaft disconnect system that (at a minimum) is fitted onto the rear motors. It is passive requiring no power when it has connected or disconnect the wheels and only requires power to switch between the two states. It’s used to realize the ECO mode that disconnects the rear motors. It would great if Rivian also installed the hardware on the front motors and all we are waiting for is the software. Considering that they didn’t even tell us about this feature maybe the rest is cloaked, too.

 

[ERguy]

Doesn't conserve mode place the Rivian in front wheel drive?

If Rivian figured out how to disengage the rear wheels to temporarily allow front wheel drive, why can the front wheels not also be disengaged in a similar fashion?

Are the front motors somehow different than the rear motors?

 

[Dark-Fx]

Doesn't conserve mode place the Rivian in front wheel drive?

If Rivian figured out how to disengage the rear wheels to temporarily allow front wheel drive, why can the front wheels not also be disengaged in a similar fashion?

Are the front motors somehow different than the rear motors?

Front motors don't have the axle disconnect modules on them. It does look like the front and rear units both have the mounting points for them though, so it would be interesting to hear an industrious person manually adding them and setting up a way to use them to flat tow.

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