Reminiscence: Photos of Rivian R1T Prototypes in the Documentary, "Long Way Up" (2020)

[tps5352]

As long-time Rivian owners probably know (but those new-to-Rivian may not) in 2019 Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, actors and friends, took a third long motorcycle trip together. As with two previous excursions (first; second), this latest adventure was filmed for an 11-part television documentary (televised in late 2020). They traveled from Tierra del Fuego, at the extreme southern tip of South America, to Los Angeles. Unlike the previous two trips, they chose this time to use electric vehicles, including two prototype support trucks from the, then, fledgling American company, Rivian.

For those fortunate to see the resulting documentary, “Long Way Up,”* much of the screen time is (appropriately) focused on (a) people (the two leads and the folks they encountered), (b) the (truly spectacular) scenery, and, truth be told, (c) the motorcycles. Nonetheless, there are numerous scenes with the support crew, Rivian employees, and the amazing vehicles that Rivian hastily assembled just for this incredible effort.

Here is a collection of screenshots of (mostly) the two electric trucks in action. (I wonder: Where are those trucks today? UPDATE: According to Google, they were finished/improved and are now part of the Rivian fleet.)
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* "Long Way Up" should still be available for viewing on Apple TV+ and perhaps other online sources (e.g., Sky One TV in Britain?).

Maps.​

Map 1.​

Map 2.​

Map 3.​

Map 4.​

Map 5. Rivian-installed Level-2 charging stations.​

Some Scenes from the Show (click to enlarge).

​

1. Prototype R1T at Rivian factory in the USA.​	2. Preparing to start, Tierra del Fuego.​	3. Punta Arenas, Chile (one of many charging stations installed by Rivian).​	4. Chile.​
5. Chile.​	6. Chile.​	7. Argentina.​	8. (Back into) Chile (again).​
9. Chile.​	10. Chile.​	11. Chile.​	12. Temporarily-jammed rear brake (Argentina again).​
13. Working on rear brake. (Will they figure out what to do?)​	14. Argentina (again).​	15. Argentina.​	16. Opening credit shot (Chile or Argentina).​
17. Opening credit shot.​	18. Opening credit shot.​	19. Argentina.​	20. At an Argentina- Chile border.​
21. Bolivia.​	22. Approaching a town with ferry in Bolivia.​	23. Towards the ferry, Bolivia.​	24. Onto the ferry, Bolivia.​
25. Peru.​	26. Machu Picchu.​	27. Peru.​	28. Peru.​
29. Opening credit shot (Peru?).​	30. Ecuador.​	31. Ecuador.​	32. Ecuador.​
33. Ecuador.​	34. Ecuador.​	35. Costa Rica.​	36. Costa Rica.​
37. Nicaragua​	38. Guatemala.​	39. Mexico.​	40. Mexico.​
41. Mexico.​	42. California.​	43. Los Angeles.​	44. Los Angeles..​
45. Los Angeles.​	46. Los Angeles.​	47. RJ welcomes the boys back. (And breathes sigh of relief?)​	48. Los Angeles.​
40. Final charge.​	50. Final ride.​	51. Final ride.​	52. Final ride.​

These screenshots represent only the tip of the iceberg. There are tons more spectacular and informative scenes in the ~9 hours of the total show, including the most beautiful and awesome scenery.

Rivian Forums References

Threads with "Long Way Up" in the title, providing additional videos, photographs, and information.

• Rivian Presents: The original Rivian road trip (Long Way Up) - 01/17/24
• Long Way Up - 05/29/23
• Rivian V2V/bi-directional charging from Long Way Up - 11/16/22
• "Long Way Up" chargers still operational and accessible? - 09/06/21
• New Rivian Video Posted - Long Way Up Update - 01/11/21
• Fully Charged covers Long Way Up and Rivian & R1T - 09/17/20
• Car and Driver Article on Long Way Up - 08/09/20
• Video Feature: Long Way Up -- R1T's 13k mile all-electric journey from Patagonia to LA - 09/04/20
• ‘Long Way Up’ w/ Rivian R1Ts, Harley LiveWire to debut on Apple TV + - 07/12/20

Some Other Interesting Threads and Posts

• Patagonia to LA to Now | Electric Adventure Vehicles | Rivian Feature Video - 01/11/21 -- David Alexanian--producer, writer, and director of the three "Long Way" documentaries featuring Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman--is invited by Rivian to check out the latest progress of the R1T a year after the "Long Way Up" ride (with prototype R1Ts) ended.
• First mention of "Ewan McGregor" on Rivian Forums by @jimcgov3 - 09/01/19
• First mention of "Long Way Up" on Rivian Forums? by @Godawgs - 09/01/19
• Preproduction Rivian R1T spotted testing at Tierra del Fuego! - 08/31/19 -- Amusing. Rivian Forums posters in 2019 were (of course) initially unaware of the precise reason why two Rivians were in Tierra del Fuego. (The totally natural assumption was that it was solely for field testing. [But that's a heck of a place to perform winter field testing, right?]) Nevertheless, thanks to smart-phones and the Internet eagle-eyed reviewers were checking out and sharing this sighting for features (because early Rivian fans/customers were desperate to learn all they could about the yet-to-be-released cars), just as if the two prototypes were parked in downtown Chicago . All attention was (appropriately) on the trucks and exterior/interior details. ("Movie stars? Who cares?") But el gato was soon out of the bag with articles appearing like this: "Rivian R1T y Harley LiveWire en Ushuaia: dos pick-ups y cuatro motos harán una travesía eléctrica por toda América." (08/31/19)

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[JeromePowell]

Thanks for taking the time to categorize and post all of this!

I really liked the times when they tow-charged the R1T's.

 

[tps5352]

Thanks for taking the time to categorize and post all of this!

I really liked the times when they tow-charged the R1T's.

Thanks. Having formatting problems with the photos. I will continue work on it later today (Monday).

 

[dduffey]

I will have to rewatch, it's an amazing adventure. That said I recall being annoyed several times at what appeared to be making up a story and going out of their way to reinforce the cons of EV.

I mean, after months of planning they "forget" their chargers on day 1. Come on, I almost stopped watching right there.

It seems like their planning was more about "how can we work all of these 'challenges' into the story."

 

[JeromePowell]

I will have to rewatch, it's an amazing adventure. That said I recall being annoyed several times at what appeared to be making up a story and going out of their way to reinforce the cons of EV.

I mean, after months of planning they "forget" their chargers on day 1. Come on, I almost stopped watching right there.

It seems like their planning was more about "how can we work all of these 'challenges' into the story."

I dunno about that. I doubt they wanted to level 1 charge at that off grid location so they had to wait. The had to wait on Level 1 quite a bit and learned the hard way about charging and discharging batteries in very cold temperatures.

Their Harleys could only Level 1 or DC Fast Charge, no Level 2. I also doubt they liked hunting down generators as it is quite a bit of ass-pain.

They really spent a ton of time just waiting around on Level 1 charges. It was challenging to find charging even with the wall connectors they had installed as part of the route planning.

You might change your opinion if you rewatch.

 

[SDH]

That was such a great series and I thought (watching it back again last year) that the Rivians did exceptionally well considering they were prototypes. Kudos to Rivian for putting themselves out there.

If you go back and watch the first trip they did (The Long Way Round), KTM made the killer mistake of not beliving in them and BMW stepped in with the GS. Well, the rest is history (BMW GS sales vs. KTM).

 

[Tango45]

This is what got us in a Rivian. My wife watched it and finished it saying "I want one". I didn't watch it because I had just had a motorcycle accident and was still salty. It was a big deal for us that the first two Rivians made were put to this test

 

[Big_Ike]

I watched the show for the Rivians and became enamored with the Livewire.

I was really impressed by the pre-planning that Rivian did with some of the Level 2 charges installed along the way.

Great adventure. @tps5352 inspired me to watch it again!

 

[jpv]

As many others we ride bmw motorcycles and watched this program and have been watching the development in Rivian.
we are glad to have two of the gen one rivians RS and RT . Thank you for sharing

 

[zefram47]

Watched the series for many reasons and enjoyed every episode. I think I'd heard of Rivian prior to Long Way Up as a coworker already had a really early preorder, but this series really made me take notice and decide that Rivian was worth strong consideration. I don't know how long after I watched the show that I put money down, but I'm glad I did. Not sure how much this effort actually cost Rivian, but I think they realize that it was one of the best ways to advertise their capabilities at a time when they were very much an unknown quantity. It also allowed them to beat the hell out of the trucks along the way, find the weak points, and fix/redesign anything that they found wasn't up to snuff in ways that standard testing may not have.

 

[elatrickWheels]

That series was a big part of the inspiration for us to make our pre-order.

 

[fxstein]

What an amazing memory. Remember watching the series and getting lots of inspiration from it. Did not know I would end up with a Rivian. Bought a Zero Motorcyle that year for our Europe trips and did a 3000 miles trip on it through the Austrian and Italian Alps. Charging the motorcycle every 60-80 miles a least 3-4 times per day.

what an adventure! Sold the bike 2 years later as it just was not practical with that range.

 

[S.Mueller]

It definitely was my intro to RIVIAN. I started following and researching the company, taking a Demo ride and putting my deposit down. Took delivery Sept 2023 (Rivian Blue R1S G1).
What’s most amazing to me is that the design of the R1T did not change and that the Gear tunnel was even in place then.

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

It was enjoyable to watch, but we pre-ordered two years before they produced the series. Pre-order was done at the LA Auto Show in 2018.

 

[CharonPDX]

One of the amazing details is that - before the show started production, there were zero functional "full Rivian hardware/software" prototypes. They finished these two just before the show started. During the time the show was being filmed, these were the only two Rivian prototypes in existence.

(They had "test mules" - powertrains with completely not-representative-of-final-vehicle top halves, and they had mockups of exterior and interior; but these two were the only two "complete vehicles". - I just found out last week that an acquaintance of mine worked on these as a metal fabricator. He hadn't seen a full production Rivian yet, and was amazed at how close my production vehicle is to the prototypes he worked on.)

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