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Tesla Raj talking about Rivian after driving it.

SeaGeo

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While we're on it. Anyone knows does Rivian support plug&charge? That's a feature I'd really like. @Denver_Paulie your Taycan has this capability for some time now right? Does it work nicely?
I've s it confirmed somewhere, but I don't recall where.
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Scoiatael

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As others posted, the messages of EA's issues are highly exaggerated. I'm using EA for 2 years now and I've never been stranded. A couple times I had to try another plug, but that's it and there was always another one available.
Also where I live and travel EA chargers are almost always empty, so same as others I've never had to wait for free plug. I'd say that 90% of the time there is no one else at the station charging and my car is not charging very fast so I spend good 30-40 minutes there. I actually feel pretty bad every time I charge, because I'm worried they will just go under with such a low demand.

While we're on it. Anyone knows does Rivian support plug&charge? That's a feature I'd really like. @Denver_Paulie your Taycan has this capability for some time now right? Does it work nicely?
I forgot where I heard it, but someone did say that Rivian was supposed to support plug and charge.
 

Scoiatael

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@Scoiatael and @Jabbahop


Since 2015 I have owned two different Model S', two different Model X's, an Audi e-Tron, and a Porsche Taycan 4s. I have logged serious miles in all of those vehicles.

I have no issues touting the strength and superiority of the Tesla Supercharging network. What I have issues with are people who spout absolutes on the internet about things that factually untrue. Why would someone spew that they "would never road trip in a non-Tesla EV" if they don't have a lot of experience in ownership of both types of vehicles???? I feel I can because I have longer term ownership of both types of cars.

Can you road trip in a CCS compatible EV? That answer is an absolute yes. Are there locations with 40 or 50 Electrify America chargers in California? No. But, in the almost 3 years I have been driving CCS compatible EV's, I have never waited to use a charger like I have when I owned Teslas. I have been to Idaho, California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas in an EV and successfully charged at Electrify America locations in all those states.

Once again, I feel that bull$hit type of conversation has to be posted with a caveat - this is one guy's OPINION, and he has little evidence to back up his opinion.

IF YOU BUY A RIVIAN YOU WILL HAVE NO ISSUES ROAD TRIPPING. But, as with everything in life, always have a back up plan. That is the message that should be shared on this board.
Ok yeah that makes sense then. Completely agree that road tripping in EVs other than Tesla is completely do-able. Its more likely I end up with an F150 Lightning than an R1T at this point, and I'm still planning on taking the same road trips, but just assuming I'll probably spend 40 - 60 more minutes charging.
 

Denver_Paulie

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Ok yeah that makes sense then. Completely agree that road tripping in EVs other than Tesla is completely do-able. Its more likely I end up with an F150 Lightning than an R1T at this point, and I'm still planning on taking the same road trips, but just assuming I'll probably spend 40 - 60 more minutes charging.
Depending on how far you go, the speed in which you drive, the climate conditions, the speed in which the car will charge, and the speed pushed by the actual charger itself, you will want to assume that you will spend 20 to 40 minutes charging at each stop. I am not sure what road trips you take now, but that will also dictate how long you will spend charging while on the road.

If you do 700 miles in one day in an EV, that makes for a long day in the car. If you are going 300 miles, then that is super easy.

That all being said, no one publicly knows the charging curves for the Rivian nor the EV version of the F-150, but, people need to be prepared for a new way of long distance driving since stopping every 150 miles to charge takes a shift in perspective from legacy road tripping.

But, to bring this full circle, regardless what "Tesla Raj" says, there should be no apprehension in going on a long distance road trip in a Rivian, once they start being delivered to customers. Hopefully, this starts happening in March or April, 2022. In the meantime, Electrify America will have, hopefully, improved reliability and increased the number of locations open.
 

SeaGeo

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Hopefully, this starts happening in March or April, 2022. In the meantime, Electrify America will have, hopefully, improved reliability and increased the number of locations open.
And EVGO picks up their build out to meet their terms with GM. And Rivian keeps building out RAN. And we see more 150+ kW chargepoint chargers. Lots coming in the next two years!
 

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BigE

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By happenstance, I found myself on a Twitter Live stream last night with Tesla Raj and maybe 100+ people. Some were sharing their experience at a Rivian First Mile event and that Raj is going next week. I thought it was a nice conversation with an interesting variety of opinions. My takeaway was, overall they loved driving the R1T. Many of those on the call have younger families, so I think the R1S will appeal to them once they get to experience one. It was clear in the conversation, most of or all of them have very little knowledge of Rivian, the R1's, or Rivian's future plans, thus their apprehension and leaning on their positive experiences with Tesla makes them biased towards Tesla. That being said, I think they all sounded very open to what Rivian will bring in the future and thought the R1T was a huge value for the money. A few of them shared that they felt the R1S will be a great and much more affordable vehicle vs the Model X for young families. Overall, nice discussion. In the future, I thought, wow, what if Rivian provided an insider to jump on calls of this type? That person could clear up many of this group's apprehensions, share clear information, as some of what some people stated was just plain incorrect.
 

Denver_Paulie

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It was clear in the conversation, most of or all of them have very little knowledge of Rivian, the R1's, or Rivian's future plans, thus their apprehension and leaning on their positive experiences with Tesla makes them biased towards Tesla.
Thank you for your comments on what you took from listening to the conversation.

My last experience with a Tesla in 2019 was when my new, second Model S had a massive failure in a semi-remote road in Colorado. The vehicle caused a 4 mile traffic jam because there was no shoulder to move the vehicle off the road, and it took a tow truck 5 hours to come get me. The issue was so severe that Tesla ended up buying the vehicle back from me.

Does that affect my opinion of Tesla as a company? No. I still like the Model S and Model X even though I no longer own either vehicle.

What bothers me about the conversation are the backhanded compliments of Rivian colored by their obsession with Tesla. The outright untrue comments based on nothing but personal opinion. "I would not road trip in anything but a Tesla?" Who says that without spending time in a CCS compatible vehicle and going on multiple road trips? Someone with an agenda.

I mean when does Raj host the conversation on the 3 year delay of the Tesla Semi truck? Discuss the delay of the Cybertruck? What gets me is that people who had no knowledge of Tesla in 2015, or before the Model 3 was introduced, now consider themselves automotive industry experts and Tesla insiders.

If you have little or no knowledge of something, keep your mouth shut and learn about it first hand, then comment. Raj should be hosting this type of conversation after driving a Rivian for a month and going on multiple long distance road trips. But, that would make too much sense.

Anyway, it does not matter at this point since most of us are a year to two years away from getting our Rivian's.
 

Taycanfrank

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I can chime in and agree with the above. I have done a lot of road tripping in my Taycan 4S (I'm probably top 10 for EA 350 charger usage) and it has been fantastic. While EA does have some clear growing pains, ie.. one or two chargers at a location not working, some difficulty getting charging started, I've never reached an EA charger and been unable to get my Taycan charged. On average I probably spend 20-25 minutes to get 200 miles of usable highway range and I have had 14-15 minute fast charges before. The worst stop I've had was probably 42 minutes, when the site was under repair, someone else was on the one operating 350 charger and the 150 I hooked up to was slow.

I've also been mostly happy with the location of the EA chargers. They seem pretty well thought out, both in terms of planning a trip and being located near a store to go in while your car is charging. I've also had excellent experiences dealing with the EA customer service when needed, they respond quickly and do an excellent job getting your charge initiated. The Porsche Charging NA app has been hideously bugged off/on and EA customer service really helped out.

Let's also not forget that Tesla is likely heading down the road of making their supercharger network available, possibly (probably?) by the time most of us see our Rivian. The larger concern will be the price of using the EA network with such a large battery pack, unless Rivian works out a discounted rate with EA.
 
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flabyboy

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Unless you are an employee, and get one in 2022, and need to raod trip through the upper Midwest along I-90 or north.

2023 though? Probably totally fine.
Yup. Barren wasteland up here. I’ve never even seen an EA charging station up here
 

SeaGeo

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Yup. Barren wasteland up here. I’ve never even seen an EA charging station up here
Just MSP for now. Pretty sure some of that is because of how the states used their diesel gate funds. SD only used like 5% for charging...
 

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flabyboy

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Just MSP for now. Pretty sure some of that is because of how the states used their diesel gate funds. SD only used like 5% for charging...
Well that’s the least shocking thing I’ve read all day
 

moondog417

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I used to have a Model S and now drive a Clarity BEV. Living in SoCal, I frequently would show up to full Superchargers. Being locked to one fast charge option (Tesla) was really frustrating. Now I’m never road tripping in the Clarity (80 mile range) but between EA, EVGo, and ChargePoint, I’ve rarely had issues finding an available CCS when needed.
 

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It really depends on where you live most likely. In Southern and Central California at least Tesla supercharging network is so far ahead of EA its not even funny. Major routes have Tesla superchargers with 30-50 chargers while EA will only have 4-6, and there is usually 1 or 2 of them not working everytime I check plugshare. Maybe where you live EA is decent, but its not that great here.
This has been my Nor-Central-SoCal experience as well.

Superchargers sites are more plentiful and each site has way more chargers.

I see EA chargers in many of the same parking lots as Superchargers, and since I'll be relying on them soon I often go take a look.

This summer, at (4) supercharging stops where I was able to wander over to the EA chargers and take a look, I saw:

Trip 1 - An ID.4 waiting to charge because a MachE was using the only working charger.
Trip 2 - A Polestar2 charging at 50kwh (The owner assured me he was at about 30% SoC, and had successfully charged at high rates at other EA sites, so it was a problem with this one)
Trip 3 - An Audi eTron simply unable to start charging, with the owner on the phone (presumably) with EA, as he was trying to troubleshoot something on the screen.
Trip 4 - A site with 4 chargers, 2 of them being used successfully at well over 100kw

I look at this as a 25% success rate, which doesn't feel great.

We'll definitely be more weary taking roadtrips in the R1T than we do the Tesla.
 

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This has been my Nor-Central-SoCal experience as well.

Superchargers sites are more plentiful and each site has way more chargers.

I see EA chargers in many of the same parking lots as Superchargers, and since I'll be relying on them soon I often go take a look.

This summer, at (4) supercharging stops where I was able to wander over to the EA chargers and take a look, I saw:

Trip 1 - An ID.4 waiting to charge because a MachE was using the only working charger.
Trip 2 - A Polestar2 charging at 50kwh (The owner assured me he was at about 30% SoC, and had successfully charged at high rates at other EA sites, so it was a problem with this one)
Trip 3 - An Audi eTron simply unable to start charging, with the owner on the phone (presumably) with EA, as he was trying to troubleshoot something on the screen.
Trip 4 - A site with 4 chargers, 2 of them being used successfully at well over 100kw

I look at this as a 25% success rate, which doesn't feel great.

We'll definitely be more weary taking roadtrips in the R1T than we do the Tesla.

Is it me, or is it weird to have so many current Tesla owners who are experts in the Electrify America charging network???? Do they have some much free time on their hands that they are surveying random locations to verify reliability, and the exact reasons why people may, or may not be, having challenges charging??? Or, are they spending their weekends reading PlugShare Electrify America location reviews????

Own a Tesla? Have a ChadeMo converter? Your charging session at an Electrify America will be different than a faster charging CCS compatible EV. Other than that, your knowledge of charging at an Electrify America location is 2nd or 3rd hand, or conjecture. Please refrain from commenting on something you have no experience with.

I have driven 22,000 miles in a Porsche Taycan, and 10,000 miles in an Audi e-Tron. Been to 11 states in those 32,000 miles. Never been stranded. Ever.

Is the network perfect? No. But, is it bad enough for some one with no experience with the network to share that they will "be more wary taking roadtrips in the R1T." Why spout that kind of bull$hit when they have no experience with CCS compatible EVs and are a year to two years a way from getting their Rivian???

I have ownership experience with Model S' and Model X's from 2015 to 2019. That does not make me an expert on the Tesla supercharging network, or the recent vehicles, so I keep my mouth shut about it. Let's focus on future Rivian ownership and things we know about.
 
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TexasCrane

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Unless you are an employee, and get one in 2022, and need to raod trip through the upper Midwest along I-90 or north.

2023 though? Probably totally fine.
The same goes for i20 between Dallas and birmingham. 600+ miles with no fast charging available. Hopefully that changes soon.
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