Rivian confirms POWERED tailgate has now been KILLED

[Bumble1978]

Per my latest chat w/ Rivian, the POWERED tailgate has now been KILLED. It will now be manually operated:

Me: Did Rivian really scrap the POWERED tailgate? Not the 180 tailgate...I knew that was gone...

Rivian: ...Rivian has simplified our offerings to bring the R1T and R1S to market. With that, the powered tailgate did have substantial cost, and complexity and didn't believe it created enough face value for Rivian at the time of launch. Nonetheless there is still a lot to look forward too as we near production in a few short months.

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[Dark-Fx]

I literally thought it was a once per person thing. Thank you for the correction, and I've updated my post!

I took two in 2018. It complicates taxes a bit and made the Charging station credit not inclusive because the way they figure Minimum Tax for that credit seems backwards. As long as your federal tax liability is more than zero after each credit, you can take as many credits as you can afford to, once per new car VIN.

 

[kyunam]

uh-oh... btw, now I'm starting to worry about my R1S not having power liftgate...
I must be worrying too much, right? ?

 

[kanundrum]

uh-oh... btw, now I'm starting to worry about my R1S not having power liftgate...
I must be worrying too much, right? ?

R1S confirmed power top half with manual bottom half, it is on their support website.

 

[Lobstahz]

Wow, based on a number of these posts I feel like an oddball with my preferences.

My #1 priority is a BEV. If I couldn't get a BEV buying a brand new ICE is so far from what I'd do as a replacement. If I wasn't (hopefully) getting a R1S I'd be getting a used VW Atlas for like 30k. Instead I'm likely to drop 80-90k on a BEV.

Also the "they changed things on us! quick get the pitchforks!" responses surprised me. But this is coming from someone who's followed Tesla for 6+ years, so I've been desensitized to getting jerked around and not believing anything until its delivered to people's hands. To be clear not saying thats good or OK, just that's how I've (sadly) been conditioned to operate at this point.

 

[jimcgov3]

@Lobstahz My gripe isn't so much that they killed x, y, and z. It is that they aren't communicating it. We are doing the research and asking the questions. Hit us w/ those details. Good and bad. We are all essentially investing in Rivian. Let your investors know. Weekly or bi-weekly updates. One or two paragraphs. Nothing crazy.

...The below is purely an example...​

Hello Everyone,

Things are getting crazy. We are 58 days away from starting production. We really wanted to make the powered tailgate happen, but due to timing and added cost, we have decided to table it for now. Rest assured though, we are looking at ways to add value and usability to your Rivian to make up for this.

We currently have permits/zoning/whatever for Service Centers in Dallas, Las Vegas, and Tampa. This brings our total number of Service Centers to 40. We are looking at additional locations in Atlanta, New York City, and Los Angeles to finish up 2021, exceeding our promised 41 Service Centers.

In other exciting news, we were able to get a sustained 300kW worth of charge at a nearby Electrify America station, adding 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes!

Thank you for being on this adventure with us!

Rivian

This took me 5 minutes. It would be nice to start seeing that...in the meantime, I guess we will just have to hold our breath and hope they get the message. I also hope that members on here have voiced their opinions on Rivian's communication via chat, phone, or e-mail.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

@Lobstahz My gripe isn't so much that they killed x, y, and z. It is that they aren't communicating it. We are doing the research and asking the questions. Hit us w/ those details. Good and bad. We are all essentially investing in Rivian. Let your investors know. Weekly or bi-weekly updates. One or two paragraphs. Nothing crazy.

I agree. A lot of this is fear that there is more bad news to come.

...The below is purely an example...​

Rest assured though, we are looking at ways to add value and usability to your Rivian to make up for this.

The other fear is that Rivian only seems to be removing things — not adding value. And they’ve ignored some obvious ways to add value inexpensively. For example, when the 180 degree tailgate was dropped, an obvious compromise was add some indentations to the bumper so you can use them as steps. Competitors have this. But Rivian does not appear to have done this.

It’d be easier to come to terms with some of these changes if they were better communicated AND Rivian adapted rather than simply removed.

 

[jimcgov3]

an obvious compromise was add some indentations to the bumper so you can use them as steps. Competitors have this. But Rivian does not appear to have done this.

And Rivian won't do this as I am pretty sure it would create drag. Drag being the enemy of efficiency, I don't see that happening. But that is not my wheelhouse so I will leave it right there. Plus that topic is for another thread that has been talked through until our fingers bled. Refer to the bed step thread for my 5 creative ways to get into the bed of your truck that do not require bed steps.

 

[Sean]

And Rivian won't do this as I am pretty sure it would create drag. Drag being the enemy of efficiency, I don't see that happening. But that is not my wheelhouse so I will leave it right there. Plus that topic is for another thread that has been talked through until our fingers bled. Refer to the bed step thread for my 5 creative ways to get into the bed of your truck that do not require bed steps.

But does it have to? Just spit balling but couldn't they put a cover over the cut out. It doesn't have to be high tech to get the feature AND keep drag down.

 

[Lucanjo]

I asked the cs rep this morning if the tailgate will be "soft open". Rep said that they are unsure of soft open feature but there will be no way to remotely open the tailgate. I was holding out hope that we would be able to at least remotely open the tailgate and have it lower slowly. Disappointing.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

But does it have to? Just spit balling but couldn't they put a cover over the cut out. It doesn't have to be high tech to get the feature AND keep drag down.

Also, the step doesn't have to be on the corner, like other trucks. Even a cutout in the middle of the bumper would be appreciated. I'm not a fluid-dynamics expert, but it seems drag would be minimal or even non-existent, there.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I asked the cs rep this morning if the tailgate will be "soft open". Rep said that they are unsure of soft close feature but there will be no way to remotely open the tailgate. I was holding out hope that we would be able to at least remotely open the tailgate and have it lower slowly. Disappointing.

Wow, it gets worse and worse. The more I hear, the less I think this has to do with complexity, cost, or parts availability. This is about removing as much as they can get away with while still selling out of their limited production capacity. A money grab.

 

[MReda]

@Lobstahz My gripe isn't so much that they killed x, y, and z. It is that they aren't communicating it. We are doing the research and asking the questions. Hit us w/ those details. Good and bad. We are all essentially investing in Rivian. Let your investors know. Weekly or bi-weekly updates. One or two paragraphs. Nothing crazy.

Another aspect of the lack of communicating is the good news gets overwhelmed by the bad news. There have definitely been positive developments, and there are a few things I'm excited to learn more about, but instead we all just end up complaining about the things that are removed or the lack of communication.

 

[thrill]

Another aspect of the lack of communicating is the good news gets overwhelmed by the bad news. There have definitely been positive developments, and there are a few things I'm excited to learn more about, but instead we all just end up complaining about the things that are removed or the lack of communication.

Well, a few end up complaining about everything.

 

[MReda]

Well, a few end up complaining about everything.

Yeah, there are definitely those types.

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