Rivian R1T charging curve test 20-80% [by TFL]

[ajdelange]

That is really hard to believe. Not they said, this, just doesn't hold water in many circumstances.

If you are on a road trip, stay over night somewhere having decided to defer charging until the next morning and cold soak the battery over night the precondition feature is nice to have. But whilst driving during the day it makes no difference as the battery is warm and at departure you have presumably charged at home the night before.

The charge curves for cold batteries may limit the charge rate to 0.2C or so for a while and this does add to time but clearly that wasn't the case in the video as the rate ramped right up to neat 150 kW.

It case it isn't clear the thing limiting this charge curve was probably the charger which, while capable of 300kW, just wasn't willing to give more than 150.

Sponsored

 

[McMoo]

60% charge should take about 60% of an hour i.e. 36 minutes.

That has been true historically but now if you look at EV6 and Ioniq 5 they shatter that. 10% - 80% has been tested at less than 20 minutes in those cars. I suspect that will translate to the upcoming EV9 and Ioniq 7 as well which are R1S competitors.

 

[BigE]

If you are on a road trip, stay over night somewhere having decided to defer charging until the next morning and cold soak the battery over night the precondition feature is nice to have. But whilst driving during the day it makes no difference as the battery is warm and at departure you have presumably charged at home the night before.

The charge curves for cold batteries may limit the charge rate to 0.2C or so for a while and this does add to time but clearly that wasn't the case in the video as the rate ramped right up to neat 150 kW.

It case it isn't clear the thing limiting this charge curve was probably the charger which, while capable of 300kW, just wasn't willing to give more than 150.

As I have a Tesla, I understand this. This is why I stated, for Brian Gase to state that "pre-conditioning" is not necessary is not factually correct.

 

[ajdelange]

That has been true historically but now if you look at EV6 and Ioniq 5 they shatter that. 10% - 80% has been tested at less than 20 minutes in those cars. I suspect that will translate to the upcoming EV9 and Ioniq 7 as well which are R1S competitors.

And it looks as if it is going to continue to be true for the Rivians.

Of course what I want people to do is observe in order to discover the Rule of Thumb for the cars/trucks they are driving. If your experience shows that you get 2.1C (10 to 80 in 20 min) then by all means use 2.1C in your planning.

I would not buy an EV at this point that claimed 2.1C as its nominal charge rate until I saw some battery longevity data on it.

 

[SeaGeo]

That has been true historically but now if you look at EV6 and Ioniq 5 they shatter that. 10% - 80% has been tested at less than 20 minutes in those cars. I suspect that will translate to the upcoming EV9 and Ioniq 7 as well which are R1S competitors.

And the EQS (another 400v class car) does it in like 27 minutes. 1C is still a good placeholder for the average over a full battery though!

 

[ajdelange]

And it certainly makes the math easy!

 

[SeaGeo]

And it certainly makes the math easy!

That's less fun though. Need decimals.

Edit: upon proper reflection, I am now holding out till cars do a full charge at pi C.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

I appreciate the feedback (i’ve seen lots of it on this forum) and say what you want but we DO have tons of experience in towing and off-road environments.

On our rocky mountain towing test quickest rate was 150kW as well from 15%.

Thanks Tommy! I've been waiting years to see this exact data and your approach was articulate and easy to understand. Was literally pulling my hair out reading the Motortrend coverage, but you guys delivered.

 

[SeaGeo]

Thanks Tommy! I've been waiting years to see this exact data and your approach was articulate and easy to understand. Was literally pulling my hair out reading the Motortrend coverage, but you guys delivered.

This is a great point. I had forgotten how confusing the MT stuff was. I agree. Thanks @TFLtommy .

 

[slawwach]

Well that's not great.
Both my previous EVs charged slower in cold even with battery warm-ish from driving at interstate speeds, so wouldn't be surprised if for the same reason some people see ~180kW and others ~150kW peak.
Took quite some time to get this data point. Thanks guys!

 

[Drterreur]

I asked the development team about preconditioning via nav and they said it doesn’t have an impact.

Hi Tommy. Thanks for chiming in!

Very interesting curve and I'm not disapointed as this is in line with my expectations.

My suggestion. Charging from 0-100% would probably have been best. Then you can compute different scenario. 0-100, 20-80, 5-70, and on and on.

Thanks again

 

[Joints4Sale]

@TFLtommy would it be possible to get a Taycan, e-tron GT or any other car capable of charging at 200kw plus to those same chargers?

I have a e-tron GT and have experienced multiple times that the EA 350kw chargers are throttled to 150kw. About a 50% success rate of getting charge rates above 150kw. With optimal battery conditions.

I would guess that these chargers used were not providing the maximum output.

 

[grantsi]

As a long time R1S LE Reservation holder - I appreciate the commentary - despite having grown up in an extremely scientific household, my brain has never been willing to think along the lines that many of yours obviously do - simply reading through this forum has forced me to ask questions, explore battery technology and learn more about the product that I was otherwise willing to blindly ( and naively ) strike a check for. Thank you for not only deepening our collective understanding of R1 products but also providing a platform to learn about battery technology.

As someone who rarely drives more than 120 miles a day…I remain comfortable and confident that my R1S will be perfect…but thanks to your critical thinking I’m certainly concerned that longer distance drives may not be as ideal as the 2+ years of Rivian promoted marketing materials otherwise want us to believe

 

[kanundrum]

They aren't. I've had multiple owners say they've gotten ~180 to 190 kW.

I have seen several other comments in regards to the 150kw software throttle limit so not sure if there are limitations on "PUBLIC/Non Employee Units" but employees should be in a different group I imagine for testing purposes.

Charging in General:

 

[r1t_kev]

I have seen several other comments in regards to the 150kw software throttle limit so not sure if there are limitations on "PUBLIC/Non Employee Units" but employees should be in a different group I imagine for testing purposes.

Charging in General:

Ok I laughed harder at this than I should have. Euro types have a way with the English language that I just love.

On a related note, I've watched Kyle from Out of Spec on a couple of road trips using the EA network with middling results - and with a Taycan no less. Some of that was down to the network and some of it was the car.

I'm glad to have some R1T real world data, even if it's not the most encouraging. I take it at face value though; not particularly as concerned as some others at this point.

Sponsored