Rivian motor noise

[jwanderson88]

My Rivian R1T has four electric motors. I've never seen them. I'd probably be amazed at their size. I've always enjoyed the silence of EV's in general. The noise Rivians make has been described by some as "geary". I thought that was overblown. Yesterday morning the radio was off and at 70 mph they seemed very loud and high pitched. I've never noticed that before. Electric motors start out very quiet and get louder as the speed increases. That's normal. Are my motors getting louder for some reason? Are the motors louder at low temperatures? Was it just me? I'm wondering how many people have noticed excessive motor noise.

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[zefram47]

What was your battery temp at the time? Motor temps? If the vehicle is actively warming the battery by inefficiently driving the motors (motors will be 150-280F or so and likely snowflake on the dash) then they sound a little different if you're paying close attention on acceleration and regen. As for the whine, in general, I love it because it actually gives you some feedback on how much you're demanding from the vehicle. My MINI's motor was damn near silent unless you were full throttle with the radio off and even then you could barely hear it.

 

[jwanderson88]

The battery and motors are around 40 degrees on cold mornings. Zefram47, are you saying the motors are louder when they are warming up the battery?

 

[Zoidz]

My Rivian R1T has four electric motors. I've never seen them. I'd probably be amazed at their size. I've always enjoyed the silence of EV's in general. The noise Rivians make has been described by some as "geary". I thought that was overblown. Yesterday morning the radio was off and at 70 mph they seemed very loud and high pitched. I've never noticed that before. Electric motors start out very quiet and get louder as the speed increases. That's normal. Are my motors getting louder for some reason? Are the motors louder at low temperatures? Was it just me? I'm wondering how many people have noticed excessive motor noise.

The quad uses Bosch motors. The picture below shows a disassemble motor, actually 2 motors. The component in the bottom is the rotor. It is assembled within the stator housing, the center-left aluminum piece. It contains the stator winding and the rotor. As you can see by the size of Sandy's hand, it's not really very big.

I have noticed this just a bit also. I think the my motor whine is slightly louder now than it was 9,000 miles ago, but it does not bother me at all. It could be temperature related, although the it does not seem to get quieter as the motors heat up.

 

[KootenayEV]

The battery and motors are around 40 degrees on cold mornings. Zefram47, are you saying the motors are louder when they are warming up the battery?

Yes they are

 

[240vPlug]

Gear whine is quite normal in many electric vehicles. It's a little louder in the Rivian than in previous EV but I like it. I believe a lot of that comes from the reduction gears.

 

[NoGoingBack]

Also if your running the stock AT tires on the 20’s they start to get loud around 13,000 miles or so. Sometimes sooner. Me a lots of others here describe it as a higher pitched whine rather then a low rumble you get with more aggressive tires. I thought I had motor noise too but it’s definitely the tires. Others have noticed it go away after getting a different brand like the new Michelin Defender LTX Platinums.

 

[Cactusone]

I’m thinking it’s the Pirelli tires. They go high pitch on certain asphalts. I’m on 22’s.

 

[jlstan]

Probably not directly rated to the issue in this thread, but I just had my first rotation of the AT Pirellis, and its quite noticeable how much quieter it is with the fresh(er) rear tires moved up front. These tires get loud quickly.

 

[Golfer04]

Gear whine is quite normal in many electric vehicles. It's a little louder in the Rivian than in previous EV but I like it. I believe a lot of that comes from the reduction gears.

I asked about the noise when my tonneau was getting replaced. Service said it was gear whine and would get a little worse as I get more miles (currently at 56,000).

 

[240vPlug]

I asked about the noise when my tonneau was getting replaced. Service said it was gear whine and would get a little worse as I get more miles (currently at 56,000).

How's it holding up? You're one of the higher mileage vehicles out there from what I've seen.

 

[Golfer04]

How's it holding up? You're one of the higher mileage vehicles out there from what I've seen.

I love the truck, but would be lying if I said there hasn't frequent issues. I can't decide whether to keep it or trade it on another one. Latest is hypersensitive sensors. They started going off for the melting plowed snow on the roadside a couple of days ago. Not a big deal, but kind of annoying. I asked the Normal SC guys where the software vs hardware line was on the drivetrain warranty (in other words a software issue made a motor not function) and they couldn't tell me. Makes me a little nervous since there is nowhere else to go for service.

 

[240vPlug]

If the motor stops functioning, unless you modified something to cause it and they can prove that...its covered. If its cause by software its an easy fix for Rivian. I kept getting messages about front radar sensors being obstructed when I drove it through the snow.

I wonder if some extended warranty would help give piece of mind for the various other components not covered past the 60,000 mi new car warranty.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

I find the preconditioning for charging noise to be incredibly loud.

Worse than I remembered from my previous vehicle which was a Tesla, and I thought that was loud when preconditioning.

Under normal circumstances I don't find the motors loud at 70. Mine tend to be loud at around 40mph and especially when re-gening. Once you gain speed the wind noise overtakes the motor noise.

 

[Brian-MS90D]

* Not a complaint *
** Observational only **

As a new R1S owner coming from a Model Y (and Model S before that), I was surprised how loud the R1S drive train was (I did not test drive one prior). It is noticeably louder to the point that at first I was worried I had a bad car.

Now that I've gotten over the initial ignorance and fear (thanks forums!), it doesn't bother me and it's kinda cool.

I did want to note that I have the dual motor Enduro's. I wonder if these are louder or quieter than the quad setup (regarding wine)?

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