R2 Block Party (Palo Alto)

[JeepEVer]

The Palo Alto Block Party for R2 (https://events.rivian.com/r2blockpartypaloalto) started a day early (Thursday, May 14th)! As expected there were lots of people, but not enough to cause lines to form. There were plenty of staff to assist with questions and to do some minor feature demonstrations.

There were 5 vehicles on site as of Thursday morning!!!!!
* Catalina Cove (outside): 21" Wheels with All Season Tires
* Catalina Cove (inside): 20" Wheels and All Terrain Tires
* Glacier White (inside): 20" Wheels and All Terrain Tires
* Forest Green (inside): 20" Wheels and All Terrain Tires
* Launch Green (outside): 21" Wheels and All Season Tires

Of course all the vehicles had the Black Crater Signature interior. This was nicer than it shows on the photos. Some had the standard floor mats, and others had the all weather mats.

The VINs were in the 100s with a trailing X, so supposedly not official production vehicles yet.

The front-rear distance of the roof mounts is 34.75" for those like me who have existing roof racks and other gear considerations.

The distance from the rear hatch to the back of the front seats was at least 72". Since people were in the vehicle the front seats were probably not all the way forward.

Despite the high ground clearance, getting into the vehicle was easy, even for my 5'4" wife! I have damaged the driver seat getting in my Jeep as my butt scrapes the side of the leather seat.

+

Both the exterior and the interiors of the R2s look great! I am looking forward to a demo drive coming soon. And using the configurator to finalize pricing for the various paint colors. The Gear Shop will need to be populated with the R2 versions of the tonneau cover, window shade, all weather mats, etc.

I have plenty of pictures, although most have already been posted at the previous shows or by other sources.

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[JeepEVer]

The R2 Configurator went live on 5/15/2026!

Next:

• Demo drive
• Place order
• Vehicle delivery
• R2 fun!!

 

[IvanSlow]

You caught me staring at the roof, wondering how it could be eye-level to a six-footer, while the R2 has 9.6" of ground clearance, gobs of front and rear interior space for my longish legs, great visibility out the windows, yet is also easy for 5' 3" wife to access. In this regard, the driver's seat vertical adjustment range is helpfully large. The R2 is a little engineering marvel, to me. After reading what I just wrote, I think I must say that this is not a paid endorsement. And neither is this recommendation to try the Nirvana Soul Mabuhay Ube Latte and the Banana Chai at the Palo Alto Block Party.

 

[Yamazaki]

Going to this tomorrow. Glad to know they are going to have the colors I am interested in. I want Launch Green, but I'm not sure I $2000 want it. White is my backup choice so we'll see how they look in person.

 

[JeepEVer]

Going to this tomorrow. Glad to know they are going to have the colors I am interested in. I want Launch Green, but I'm not sure I $2000 want it. White is my backup choice so we'll see how they look in person.

I like the Forest Green better than the Launch Green. The latter seems kind of drab, whereas the former has some energy. My tastes run different than today's "black out" design and choices.

Note that the R2 white is the same as the new R1 white (Glacier White). R2 originally toured with Cloud White, which we liked better.

 

[Yamazaki]

I like the Forest Green better than the Launch Green. The latter seems kind of drab, whereas the former has some energy. My tastes run different than today's "black out" design and choices.

Note that the R2 white is the same as the new R1 white (Glacier White). R2 originally toured with Cloud White, which we liked better.

I like Forest Green too. The only reason Forest Green isn't being considered is that I don't want to wait even longer for it.

 

[Just Passing By]

I like the Forest Green better than the Launch Green. The latter seems kind of drab, whereas the former has some energy. My tastes run different than today's "black out" design and choices.

Note that the R2 white is the same as the new R1 white (Glacier White). R2 originally toured with Cloud White, which we liked better.

Thanks for your OP. I went to Palo Alto today and also thought the Launch Green a bit muted. My preferences currently are Catalina Cove > Forest Green > White but Half Moon Bay wasn't there so maybe that inserts itself somewhere in the order after I see it.

 

[Owner]

I went today (Friday) and attended the walk around with Erik Glaser, Director of UX Design. The 30 minute talk and even the 30 minute Q&A were very interesting. He talked about a lot of things related to all their vehicles including design details such as the Haptic Touch, the 12Volt battery, the clamshell frunk on the R2 to meet European regulators, and the regulation noise maker. Definitely worth listening to if you enjoy this level of detail.

 

[sparked]

the 12Volt battery

anything interesting on that front?

 

[Owner]

anything interesting on that front?

Interesting to me as the 12Volt battery was not an issue with my 2013 Tesla (or my 2009 Tesla). He said the 12Volt issue was because of the amount of additional use of the battery vs an ICE. With an ICE, the battery is only used to start the car. With the Rivian it is used whenever your using the app to talk to the car and for gear guard. I'm wondering if leaving Gear Guard on all the time is a good idea or not (I'm generally not worried about having anything stolen as there's nothing of real value left in the car).

 

[JeepEVer]

Interesting to me as the 12Volt battery was not an issue with my 2013 Tesla (or my 2009 Tesla). He said the 12Volt issue was because of the amount of additional use of the battery vs an ICE. With an ICE, the battery is only used to start the car. With the Rivian it is used whenever your using the app to talk to the car and for gear guard. I'm wondering if leaving Gear Guard on all the time is a good idea or not (I'm generally not worried about having anything stolen as there's nothing of real value left in the car).

I had to replace the 12-volt battery in my Tesla recently, after 7 years. This is a little longer than an ICE vehicle.

I assume the cost to step down the voltage from the high-voltage battery to low-voltage (12 volts) is more than having a separate battery, which is why Tesla and Rivian are still adding a 12-volt battery.

 

[sparked]

Interesting to me as the 12Volt battery was not an issue with my 2013 Tesla (or my 2009 Tesla). He said the 12Volt issue was because of the amount of additional use of the battery vs an ICE. With an ICE, the battery is only used to start the car. With the Rivian it is used whenever your using the app to talk to the car and for gear guard. I'm wondering if leaving Gear Guard on all the time is a good idea or not (I'm generally not worried about having anything stolen as there's nothing of real value left in the car).

So nothing about any changes or improvements? Just that they have a 12 Volt system that's probably AGM.

 

[Owner]

So nothing about any changes or improvements? Just that they have a 12 Volt system that's probably AGM.

Yes, for the R2 they have a much heftier battery, I forgot the exact specs but it should last longer. He also thought but wasn't 100% sure that it is somewhere in the passenger area.

 

[sparked]

Yes, for the R2 they have a much heftier battery, I forgot the exact specs but it should last longer. He also thought but wasn't 100% sure that it is somewhere in the passenger area.

I think I read under the rear seat.

 

[rbdavis808]

So nothing about any changes or improvements? Just that they have a 12 Volt system that's probably AGM.

As an owner of an Ioniq5 I'd very much like to know what kind of 12v is installed. Ioniq5 has had lots of 12v issues, some related to ICCU problems and others not. It's been pretty well established by owner experience over the years that AGM is a highly desirable replacement for the original OEM SLA battery, and Hyundai themselves have finally started shipping the cars with AGM. If R2 does not ship with AGM already I'd love to know if one can be customer-installed as a replacement.

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