Road Trip Recommendations

[stynes]

We did ~2700 miles round trip between Houston, TX and Arizona. We used only EA network and worked fine for us. Charged in 13 different locations and had more than one working chargers available all the time. Approximately 30% of the stations had at least one charger that was not working or very slow and I had to switch to different charger (in the same station). We were planning this trip with my R1S but unfortunately it was in the SC for changing the motor and hence I had to use a R1T. We charged 25 times for $164.82 in the whole trip and used 945 kwh for 2636 miles which averages to 2.77 miles/kwh. We are 2 Adults + 2 kids and enough luggage to fill the bed/frunk. One thing I noticed is the price in Texas - $0.24/min (vs New Mexico/Arizona - $0.31/kwh) was so much cheaper as it is calculated per minute.


Sorry if there not enough data presented in this post as I was not tracking everything. Just got these numbers from EA app and Google Maps (approx. miles).

That's awesome data. And super encouraging from an efficiency standpoint. You paid $.17/kwh vs. my $.20 and you're seeing nearly 40% greater efficiency than I was. I'll be curious to see more data like this over time. Was the difference R1T vs. R1S? I wouldn't think so given the EPA ratings. Was it terrain? I wasn't in mountains, per se, but a lot of hills. Or weather? My trip started when it was in the 20s. Temps never got above mid-40s for the first couple of days. Had a ton of rain the last 2 days which affects range as well. So I'll be curious to see more of this data and help normalize some of this.

Rivian's on board trip calculator was pretty accurate for me telling me how many miles I'd have remaining at my destination. Interestingly, ABRP was super conservative and generally told me I'd have about 10% LESS than I actually ended up with. Just an additional data point.

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[Guy]

That's awesome data. And super encouraging from an efficiency standpoint. You paid $.17/kwh vs. my $.20 and you're seeing nearly 40% greater efficiency than I was. I'll be curious to see more data like this over time. Was the difference R1T vs. R1S? I wouldn't think so given the EPA ratings. Was it terrain? I wasn't in mountains, per se, but a lot of hills. Or weather? My trip started when it was in the 20s. Temps never got above mid-40s for the first couple of days. Had a ton of rain the last 2 days which affects range as well. So I'll be curious to see more of this data and help normalize some of this.

Rivian's on board trip calculator was pretty accurate for me telling me how many miles I'd have remaining at my destination. Interestingly, ABRP was super conservative and generally told me I'd have about 10% LESS than I actually ended up with. Just an additional data point.

Your home electricity rate is very cheap. In PA (which is moderate in energy prices) charging at EA would be as cheap if not cheaper than home (16-18c).

 

[stynes]

Your home electricity rate is very cheap. In PA (which is moderate in energy prices) charging at EA would be as cheap if not cheaper than home (16-18c).

Agreed. Energy is cheaper in Georgia than in a lot of the country and the plan I'm on is cheaper at night. That was a big part of our decision to go EV.

 

[3l3c7r1c]

Sounds like you are expecting the ICE gas station experience and should wait a few more years.
Recently completed a 3000 mile road trip seattle-san diego RT and it was pretty easy. Mainly used the Riv NAV and plugshare. Sometimes cross referenced the EA app or Riv app. At each charge stop I'd spend a few minutes checking on the next charger location on those apps. In general, each stop was only 5-10 minutes longer if in ICE after bathroom breaks, walk the dogs and grabbing food. Not a big deal.

That's really great to hear to Seattle to Sand Diego is doable without much issue. If we do any road trip this, this route will be a potential one

I live in Seattle and drove to Whistler with absolutely no issue with charging. Canadian infrastructure seems less good compared to I-5 north of Seattle but Whistler has plenty of level-2 chargers where I could charge full overnight.

 

[WSea]

That's really great to hear to Seattle to Sand Diego is doable without much issue. If we do any road trip this, this route will be a potential one

I live in Seattle and drove to Whistler with absolutely no issue with charging. Canadian infrastructure seems less good compared to I-5 north of Seattle but Whistler has plenty of level-2 chargers where I could charge full overnight.

Super easy drive! First leg leaving Seattle we didn't stop to charge until Salem. That was over fours and arrived with 17%. We cut over to Crescent City from Grants Pass, OR on 199 and did 101 & 1 down to LA. The R1T was a blast through the curvy Big Sur roads. North leg was pretty much 5 the whole trip.

 

[screamingkarts]

That's awesome data. And super encouraging from an efficiency standpoint. You paid $.17/kwh vs. my $.20 and you're seeing nearly 40% greater efficiency than I was. I'll be curious to see more data like this over time. Was the difference R1T vs. R1S? I wouldn't think so given the EPA ratings. Was it terrain? I wasn't in mountains, per se, but a lot of hills. Or weather? My trip started when it was in the 20s. Temps never got above mid-40s for the first couple of days. Had a ton of rain the last 2 days which affects range as well. So I'll be curious to see more of this data and help normalize some of this.

Rivian's on board trip calculator was pretty accurate for me telling me how many miles I'd have remaining at my destination. Interestingly, ABRP was super conservative and generally told me I'd have about 10% LESS than I actually ended up with. Just an additional data point.

I myself cannot believe at the efficiency but I double checked the total energy delivered in the EA app and it tallies. It is probably bit of both temperature and terrain. In all those days in our trip while driving the lowest temperature would be in lower 50s and highest would be in upper 70's. And drove in rain on only one day and about few hundred miles. Most of the Texas highways are (relatively) flat and I used Conserve mode + Low ride height in majority of the highways. I did drive up and down the mountains (All Purpose + Low ride height) in the northern part of AZ which would be around 450+ miles. I also noticed very good efficiency in non-open highways like between mountains or some civilization when compared to the open highways in the Western part of Texas. I have to try the R1S sometime to see how the efficiency stacks up against the R1T numbers.


Energy prices are decent in our area (12-17c) and I do have Home Solar which makes it even better. I always try to charge at the peak sun which has more value when compared to charging when there is no sun. Using EA is still not bad since we are billed per min (as of now) but trying to avoid DCFC as much as possible.

 

[goldburger]

Threads like this terrify me about road tripping in the Rivian—

I’m nervous enough about the charging infrastructure going across the country but Wasssym saying the truck needsa replacement of the core gateway module… like wtf is that. I’m more nervous about what seems like subpar software and hardware than the charging fears, but those are real too.

What is the most important thing to consider when road tripping in the Rivian?

 

[JohnB R1T]

. One thing I noticed is the price in Texas - $0.24/min (vs New Mexico/Arizona - $0.31/kwh) was so much cheaper as it is calculated per minute.

Texas currently prohibits sales "by the kWh" by anyone other than an electric utility. This means that the networks must charge "for the service of providing electricity" rather than "for the electricity provided"...meaning a per minute charge.

This approach makes it imperative that you discontinue charging once the charging curve flattens out. It takes a LOOOONG time to get from 80% to 100%...with many reporting that DCFCs "topping off" to 100% take just as long as an L2...and end up running your "average cost per kWh delivered" way up

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