R1S South OC, CA to Lake Tahoe/Reno and Back Road Trip

[mkg3]

Long weekend (Fri~Mon) trip from south OC to Tahoe/Reno road trip - first with Rivian
Our vehicle (VIN 14,XXX, built in June 2023) after the trip has 3,569 miles total and is on 22" OE wheels and tires and underbody shield. No cross bars or roof rack.

Left the house with 100% SOC. Freeway choice 5-405-5-99-88/124/49-50 to South Lake Tahoe. All in Conserve/Low/Stiff
- Charged at EA in Bakersfield to 82% SOC (we ate lunch at Panera and checked to make sure it can reach RAN Manteca)
- Charged at RAN Manteca to 92% (wanted to have roughly 35~40% SOC at Tahoe destination and there was a Bass Pro Shop!)
- Got to the destination with 38% SOC

While in Tahoe, drive around the lake, also Carson City to Reno and back to our destination. All in Sport/Low/Stiff
- Drove from south Tahoe near the state line to Truckee on NV side
- Charged at RAN Truckee to 91% SOC then continue to drive around the lake on CA side and stopped to hike at Eagle Lake
- Drove 50 from south Tahoe to 395 to Reno (used to go there when I was a young lad... its been decades since I've been to Reno)
- Drove 80 from Reno to Truckee RAN to charge to 92% (wanted to get from Truckee RAN to Bishop RAN the next day)
- Drove from Truckee back to destination

Return leg from Tahoe to south OC. Freeway choice 50-207-395-15-91-55-5. All in All Purpose/Low/Stiff
- Drove from south Tahoe (SOC 78%) to Bishop RAN
- Charged at Bishop RAN to 91% (found Erik Shat's Bakery and picked up some bread)
- Charged at Inyokern RAN to 90% (wanted 25~30% SOC when reaching home as we need to charge our Tesla for the next day)

In all, we covered almost 1250 miles, and altitudes from 35' to 8047' and chose not to go 395 on the way up since it is all inclined drive and this being the first Rivian road trip, we didn't know how 7k lbs vehicle would do on climbing range. The next time, we would just use 395 route both direction.

Our total charge bill was $26.50 at EA in Bakersfield. Last time we did a similar trip (no Reno then), we drove our Model 3 and the Supercharger cost was just under $120 round trip. Given that we charged at RAN 5 times, if we were paying at EA, probably be well over $150 on the top of $26.50.

As for the driving speeds, on the 99 and 395, we were around 80~83 mph vast majority of the time. I did notice that in Conserve mode, the two motors upfront ran hotter than when it was All Purpose or Sports modes. I guess that's to be expected. The temperature of 4 motors consistently ran about 150 deg. When in Conserve, the fronts ran about 157 deg. Probably would not rely on Conserve mode much in the future. Maybe to extend the range towards the end, if we are running short on miles to go by a bit.

Overall, we were happy with the outcome of Rivian road trip. No issues (thankfully) and would not hesitate to take our R1S on another road trip. The images below shows the summary of the trip on the gauge view and the trip odometer. Did not use Rivian's trip planner at all. Just used it to check the miles to the RAN charger locations.

Image of Emerald Bay (CA side near the south end)

Eagle Lake - pretty good hike to get to this lake but its well worth it!!!

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[ADVNOW]

I have had my R1T for almost 2 years now and have done the trip to Tahoe several times There are plenty of chargers along the way I recorded one of my trips on relive and made extra stops at chargers just to show how many charging stations are on the 395. you can get to Tahoe with 50% SOC. You'll make it just fine and in my opinion much better route than the 5 and 99 freeway.

Relive 'UPLAND CA TO TAHOE TOTAL TRIP WITH CHARGING STOP'

 

[Joe Hoffman]

Thanks for sharing, enjoyed the detail.
Did you find stiff mode tolerable for such a long trip?
Is it me or has soft mode gotten firmer since Halloween update?

 

[mkg3]

Thanks for sharing, enjoyed the detail.
Did you find stiff mode tolerable for such a long trip?
Is it me or has soft mode gotten firmer since Halloween update?

There was no problem being on stiff the entire trip.

Initially, when we first received the R1S (two OTA SW updates ago), the soft mode gave fore/aft oscillation depending on the road variations on soft so much so that made my wife nauseous (motion sick). By going to stiff, problem was solved.

Historically, we like a firm ride on any vehicle so we do not like the soft mode at all for road driving. Probably has to do with driving European imports for couple of decades. Haven't owned any of the big 3 vehicle since late 80's.

The last (not the latest) update that affected all the drive modes made the stiff much softer than before. Some people even called it stiff is the new soft. I think the new firm is somewhere between the old soft and old firm.

We also don't like the lowest setting either. It lacks damping on the average roads/freeway. On a new concrete or resurfaced roads, the lowest is fine but in the wild, those are few and far between.

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