R2 Towed 24 hours In (after charging issues at Tesla Supercharger)

[California Gold]

My R2 was towed earlier today due to charging issues at a Tesla Supercharger. I was on the road around 120 miles away from home and was limited with the amount of charging options around me. I had just picked up the R2 yesterday so only had it for less than 24 hours and this was my first attempt at charging it. I pulled up to a Tesla Supercharger and the first attempt it started to charge ok (I used the Tesla app to initiate the charge) and then about 10-15% in it gave me a charge error just out of the blue. I tried to re-initiate again with the Tesla app but I got the same error immediately as it started to charge. So then I tried to initiate via plug and charge just through Rivian, same error.

At this point I tried another stall at the same SC with the same results. I then called Rivian customer service while on my way to another SC (the only other one that was available in the town I was in). They had me troubleshoot by doing soft and hard resets to the vehicle. I tried charging again at the 2nd SC and still had the same results. The rep even had me try to initiate the charge via the Rivian app and again the same result. Because all the other charging options required an adapter (which I hadn't gotten yet since I just picked up the car yesterday) I was pretty much stranded. Rivian towed it since there was nothing more I could do.

One thing that I didn't think about until now was that I had smelled a burning rubber smell coming from the HVAC while the first charge was happening and I thought maybe it was the air outside or the HVAC so I turned off air recirculation and it the smell went away. Shortly after is actually when the error came up for the charging stopping and not working. I'm wondering now if something burned or something electrical got fried? I don't know.

Crazy day for me though.

I saw David Vaught posted this video earlier on Youtube highlighting an issue that I also experienced while driving between the two SC's highlighted here in his video where some sensor literally just keep going off and I thought the car was going haywire:



So crazy that someone else had the same issue but I guess these are the early issues of this car thus far. Curious if anyone else has had anything similar. Will find out more info on my R2 soon hopefully by Monday/Tuesday since they're closed tomorrow.

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[a9967]

I'm sorry this happened, definitely not the experience we want after all the money spent and anticipation. Having said that, thanks for posting this and providing so much information.

Interesting you saw a similar failure mode to David. I will be curious to hear both of your resolution details.

How did Rivian treat you? Did you get a loaner or a covered rental? Did you have to fight them to get what you needed or were they responsive and helpful?

 

[rdonovan491]

My R2 was towed earlier today due to charging issues at a Tesla Supercharger. I was on the road around 120 miles away from home and was limited with the amount of charging options around me. I had just picked up the R2 yesterday so only had it for less than 24 hours and this was my first attempt at charging it. I pulled up to a Tesla Supercharger and the first attempt it started to charge ok (I used the Tesla app to initiate the charge) and then about 10-15% in it gave me a charge error just out of the blue. I tried to re-initiate again with the Tesla app but I got the same error immediately as it started to charge. So then I tried to initiate via plug and charge just through Rivian, same error.

At this point I tried another stall at the same SC with the same results. I then called Rivian customer service while on my way to another SC (the only other one that was available in the town I was in). They had me troubleshoot by doing soft and hard resets to the vehicle. I tried charging again at the 2nd SC and still had the same results. The rep even had me try to initiate the charge via the Rivian app and again the same result. Because all the other charging options required an adapter (which I hadn't gotten yet since I just picked up the car yesterday) I was pretty much stranded. Rivian towed it since there was nothing more I could do.

One thing that I didn't think about until now was that I had smelled a burning rubber smell coming from the HVAC while the first charge was happening and I thought maybe it was the air outside or the HVAC so I turned off air recirculation and it the smell went away. Shortly after is actually when the error came up for the charging stopping and not working. I'm wondering now if something burned or something electrical got fried? I don't know.

Crazy day for me though.

I saw David Vaught posted this video earlier on Youtube highlighting an issue that I also experienced while driving between the two SC's highlighted here in his video where some sensor literally just keep going off and I thought the car was going haywire:



So crazy that someone else had the same issue but I guess these are the early issues of this car thus far. Curious if anyone else has had anything similar. Will find out more info on my R2 soon hopefully by Monday/Tuesday since they're closed tomorrow.

Man, this is so unfortunate. Appreciate everyone reporting the good and the bad so we have a good idea on how the rollout is going. They really need to have way less issues with the R2 or service centers will be a major problem for all Rivian owners

 

[R1Thrilled]

Hey really sorry to hear that, curious to hear your follow up. There’s a certain comfort in knowing there are others with the same problems, luckily for me at least I never got stranded between chargers or smelled any burning. Rivian needs to act fast to understand and isolate these issues before they keep building and selling the cars to people.

 

[a9967]

Rivian needs to act fast to understand and isolate these issues before they keep building and selling the cars to people.

Yes please.

 

[California Gold]

I'm sorry this happened, definitely not the experience we want after all the money spent and anticipation. Having said that, thanks for posting this and providing so much information.

Interesting you saw a similar failure mode to David. I will be curious to hear both of your resolution details.

How did Rivian treat you? Did you get a loaner or a covered rental? Did you have to fight them to get what you needed or were they responsive and helpful?

Rivian support was great. They got the R2 towed and got me a ride back home. They've also hooked me up with a rental. I spoke with two diff reps and both were trying their best, it was unfortunately just a perfect storm of me being in a place where I unfortunately couldn't try other charging options besides Tesla SCs because of not having an adapter yet mixed with the fact that I was so far away from home.

 

[Husky]

My R2 was towed earlier today due to charging issues at a Tesla Supercharger. I was on the road around 120 miles away from home and was limited with the amount of charging options around me. I had just picked up the R2 yesterday so only had it for less than 24 hours and this was my first attempt at charging it. I pulled up to a Tesla Supercharger and the first attempt it started to charge ok (I used the Tesla app to initiate the charge) and then about 10-15% in it gave me a charge error just out of the blue. I tried to re-initiate again with the Tesla app but I got the same error immediately as it started to charge. So then I tried to initiate via plug and charge just through Rivian, same error.

At this point I tried another stall at the same SC with the same results. I then called Rivian customer service while on my way to another SC (the only other one that was available in the town I was in). They had me troubleshoot by doing soft and hard resets to the vehicle. I tried charging again at the 2nd SC and still had the same results. The rep even had me try to initiate the charge via the Rivian app and again the same result. Because all the other charging options required an adapter (which I hadn't gotten yet since I just picked up the car yesterday) I was pretty much stranded. Rivian towed it since there was nothing more I could do.

One thing that I didn't think about until now was that I had smelled a burning rubber smell coming from the HVAC while the first charge was happening and I thought maybe it was the air outside or the HVAC so I turned off air recirculation and it the smell went away. Shortly after is actually when the error came up for the charging stopping and not working. I'm wondering now if something burned or something electrical got fried? I don't know.

Crazy day for me though.

I saw David Vaught posted this video earlier on Youtube highlighting an issue that I also experienced while driving between the two SC's highlighted here in his video where some sensor literally just keep going off and I thought the car was going haywire:



So crazy that someone else had the same issue but I guess these are the early issues of this car thus far. Curious if anyone else has had anything similar. Will find out more info on my R2 soon hopefully by Monday/Tuesday since they're closed tomorrow.

Oh man, this is very disconcerting. It makes me seriously think about waiting at least a few months. If even just a few R2s need to get towed in a matter of weeks, out of a total of a few thousand, that's a horrible failure rate. Sigh.

 

[Rivian R2D2]

I know it defeats the purpose of R2. But it’s now proven, or not depends on view.

A quick tip most probably don’t want to hear, if you want to use the Tesla Supercharging network, buy a Tesla.

In a perfect world we all want a EV workhorse to do it all. ***But the technology doesn’t quite allow it yet!

Owned two Tesla’s and a Ford Lightning, but they were used only for around the main town for quick errands and mostly to and from work.

***If we wanted to travel more than 100 miles that’s what our GMC Yukon Denali is for. To have peace of mind and not by chance error to the same boat, or in this case a “flatbed.”

Ironically two of the three ended up on flatbeds in the end, at this time no more EV’s.

Hope they get it fixed!

 

[WoodChips]

Not a good sign. I sure hope it gets fixed soon, not just for you but for all of us that have a reservation or pending delivery.

The R2 will be my first EV and without any personal experience I plan on testing different charging locations adapters and companies in my area before I am out of my home range. Your experience is one of my fears, being outside of home range and not being able to charge.

 

[TTedP]

Not a good sign. I sure hope it gets fixed soon, not just for you but for all of us that have a reservation or pending delivery.

The R2 will be my first EV and without any personal experience I plan on testing different charging locations adapters and companies in my area before I am out of my home range. Your experience is one of my fears, being outside of home range and not being able to charge.

I’ve heard it said that with an EV, if it’s going to fail, it will do so early on and even then the percentages are low. Different than ICE where mechanicals fail later.

Get the adapters and when you take delivery try every scenario before hitting the road. After a few months of use, you won’t even think about it anymore.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I know it defeats the purpose of R2. But it’s now proven, or not depends on view.

A quick tip most probably don’t want to hear, if you want to use the Tesla Supercharging network, buy a Tesla.

In a perfect world we all want a EV workhorse to do it all. ***But the technology doesn’t quite allow it yet!

Owned two Tesla’s and a Ford Lightning, but they were used only for around the main town for quick errands and mostly to and from work.

***If we wanted to travel more than 100 miles that’s what our GMC Yukon Denali is for. To have peace of mind and not by chance error to the same boat, or in this case a “flatbed.”

Ironically two of the three ended up on flatbeds in the end, at this time no more EV’s.

Hope they get it fixed!

Overreaction. I’ve charged at Supercharger for months. Not a single problem. Lots of others have not had problems. Without knowing exact cause of these R2 failures, it’s irrational to jump to overly broad conclusions. If one looked for it, I’m sure you’d find cases where Tesla cars suffered failure while charging at their own network. And nothing to do with the network, but everything to do with component failure within the car. It’s a machine made up of hundreds/thousands of components that can fail. When your ICE breaks down due to a failed fuel pump, you don’t blame/write-off a particular brand of fuel unless there is evidence supporting that speculation.

 

[SANZC02]

I know it defeats the purpose of R2. But it’s now proven, or not depends on view.

A quick tip most probably don’t want to hear, if you want to use the Tesla Supercharging network, buy a Tesla.

In a perfect world we all want a EV workhorse to do it all. ***But the technology doesn’t quite allow it yet!

Owned two Tesla’s and a Ford Lightning, but they were used only for around the main town for quick errands and mostly to and from work.

***If we wanted to travel more than 100 miles that’s what our GMC Yukon Denali is for. To have peace of mind and not by chance error to the same boat, or in this case a “flatbed.”

Ironically two of the three ended up on flatbeds in the end, at this time no more EV’s.

Hope they get it fixed!

I have no concerns using a Tesla SC with my Rivians. The R2 we just got last week and honestly have not charged it anywhere yet.

My R1S I have road tripped several times since the SC network opened up. I have charged over 100 times across the country at Superchargers, never had a disabling event. Only issue I ever had was in Foxbourough MA one time the R1S would not initiate a charge there, had to go to a nearby EA. I have since charged there a couple of times with no issues.

 

[WoodChips]

Get the adapters and when you take delivery try every scenario before hitting the road. After a few months of use, you won’t even think about it anymore.

That's what my thoughts are as well. It's tempting to take the trip soon after delivery but it's also a new model and some quirks are going to happen.

 

[ColoradoEV]

We're barely a month into production vehicle delivery on a brand-new product. Buyer beware - if you have a low threshold for risk, wait a year.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

We're barely a month into production vehicle delivery on a brand-new product. Buyer beware - if you have a low threshold for risk, wait a year.

Sort of. However, what most people don’t know is before Rivian delivered a single car to customers, and before they announced customer deliveries would begin, Rivian had already built hundreds of cars and had employees log thousands of miles, for months. These were the cars with manufacturer plates. And they had already generated a list of known issues. And everything on that list is minor and mostly related to assembly (fit and finish). This is per an insider I know—who, for this reason, decided to not wait another year. The failures may be due to components that slipped through suppliers’ QC. In world of mass production, not every single component made is tested. Instead, samples are checked from each batch/lot. Mass recalls aren’t only damaging to brand reputation. They cost millions. And this time, being a high volume product with far greater financial and reputation risk, Rivian took steps to mitigate major problems. Unlike first year R1s, there’s less reason to delay. And even if something breaks, there’s warranty and assistance from Rivian—as OP has shared.

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