Road trip testing the R1T's limits: Updates From The Road

[Shill2801]

My in-laws live just outside Sturgeon Bay, and we'll be heading up that way from the Milwaukee area in September for a wedding. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

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[JeremyMKE]

Awesome photos and will watch this thread with anticipation to see how your trip goes. This is what the Rivian was built for so I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip and I'll be living vicariously through your photos while I await my Power Tonneau Covered R1T to be available.

Power Tonneau Cover or bust!

I cant wait till they fix my Power Tonneau cover!!

 

[JeremyMKE]

Trip Summary:
Departure from Milwaukee,

Its 201 miles to Washington Island WI, we had 100% charge lacking a half a pack of cigarettes, it was light out and we were wearing sunglasses.

The truck as you can see above had two bikes on the bed rails and two bikes (one an 80lb ebike) on a hitch carrier. In the bed we had a full catering 5 burner propane grill with 90 lb cast iron griddle insert and its propane, a tailgate tent, tailgate table, 5 gallon full water cooler, 2 loaded yeti coolers, four heavy duty camp chairs, bedding clothes and 4 large humans. The dog went to the kennel...

The truck was LOADED, not aerodynamic and EVERY storage location was packed full.

We left in conserve mode and at 60 MPH I could average just above 2 KW/Hr. Drafting a semi or equivalent at 70-75 and the efficiency would drop precipitously even with the airstream. I was better off on my own at 60.

I had mapped in ABRP that if I could average 2 KW/Hr I would be just fine.

Then we found El Rapido. This was a caravan that had Swiss plates traveling at 60 MPH (I think its max speed). We drafted El Rapido and I got it up to 2.29 KW/Hr HUGE gains for almost an hour. This gave us a ton of buffer range.

We stopped for lunch at Stone Harbor Grill in Sturgeon Bay as they had a chargepoint charger. This is a party hotel and restaurant and at 4:45 pm there was no lack of pickled patrons. Not throwing shade, I love a good time. Food was mediocre at best but the charging was FREE and we pulled a good 6 KW for almost an hour. I will say as the lot was filling out people in all the ICE trucks were looking lustily at the EV spots at the back of the lot. I could see the spots getting ICEd out easily.

We made it with an ice cream stop and across the ferry and to the campground with 30% range left. We EASILY could have made it with out the charge stop.

NO PROBLEM charging on the 50 amp RV charger topped it up to 85% the first night. And up to 100 before we left.

We averaged 2.1 KW/hr with that enormous load and some creative hyper miling. I think that is outstanding.

On the way home we made a few stops and no charging. As I got closer to home and felt more comfortable I opened up the taps and cruised at 75 MPH.

As you will see from the trip odometer we basically got 2 kw/hr for the entire trip. MORE than enough to get there on a charge and back on a single battery.

Wisconsin charging infrastructure is abysmal, Door County is an oasis of delight but consequently there are a lot of EVs for VERY few L2 chargers so you need to have a guaranteed place to charge to make that trip.

We did see a twin Rivian towing an RV trailer outside Baileys harbor and got a Rivian Wave kudos to them!

If I didn't have the bikes and massive cargo load it would have been an easy trip, did the aero inserts on my wheels help? No Idea.
Is the Rivian the best roadtrip vehicle I have ever driven?
Yes and I have a minivan which is no slouch as a comfy road warrior.

 

[Winger]

Any idea how much space is left on the crossbars between the two bike carriers? I have a SUPDawg and was wondering if I can add bike carriers on either side of it.

 

[JeremyMKE]

Any idea how much space is left on the crossbars between the two bike carriers? I have a SUPDawg and was wondering if I can add bike carriers on either side of it.

I put the racks on the rails facing backward but did not fasten them.

The min distance between the racks if they are both facing the same direction in 37.5 inches.

If you had one facing forward and one backward you could get more room is my guess, but you have to make sure the bikes fit on the bed rails facing forward.

In looking at the rack you mentioned it seems like the crossbar is 40 in long. That may or my not fit depending on the riser height and clearances with the bike racks. The min mount distance of 24" is no problem but will the ends of the cross bar fit I cant say it will or wont, it would be tight.

You could theoretically straddle the mounting leg of the rail with the bike rack and then you would have your clearance but I haven't tried that to see if it would work, the issue is the rear of the rack is centered and would interfere with the mounting leg on the back. You could possibly mount it at a angle and solve the problem but I would only do that if i had to.

Honestly I would just get 4 racks and do roof and bed rail.

 

[Winger]

I put the racks on the rails facing backward but did not fasten them.

The min distance between the racks if they are both facing the same direction in 37.5 inches.

If you had one facing forward and one backward you could get more room is my guess, but you have to make sure the bikes fit on the bed rails facing forward.

In looking at the rack you mentioned it seems like the crossbar is 40 in long. That may or my not fit depending on the riser height and clearances with the bike racks. The min mount distance of 24" is no problem but will the ends of the cross bar fit I cant say it will or wont, it would be tight.

You could theoretically straddle the mounting leg of the rail with the bike rack and then you would have your clearance but I haven't tried that to see if it would work, the issue is the rear of the rack is centered and would interfere with the mounting leg on the back. You could possibly mount it at a angle and solve the problem but I would only do that if i had to.

Honestly I would just get 4 racks and do roof and bed rail.

Wow! Thanks for the detailed response! I guess I'm going to buy one to test and buy a second one if it looks like it will fit. Thanks again, I'll post up pics if it works in case anyone wants to do anything similar.

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