Announcing our new "CLUBS" section where you can join or create a Rivian club or group! You can use this new feature to conveniently plan and discuss local events, gatherings or other club/group related topics.
So we encourage you to join (or start) special-interest and regional-based Rivian clubs at: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/group-categories/clubs-groups.1/
Because it's heavier. Given sufficient tire traction, weight is pretty much the only thing that matters in these tug-of-wars. If the Tremor's tires had been bald or something, it might have lost, but power had very little to do with it. (Above a certain figure, of course. I mean, load up a 2WD 1990 F-350 to be heavier than the Rivian, and it will still lose; but any modern high-torque truck? It's all about weight.)
It’s torque limited. Not enough torque to spin the tires.
That makes sense. I know we have seen some other tug-o-wars where a Rivian seemed to punch above its chonky weight, which is impressive. I sure didn’t think it could move that F350 diesel. Still fun to watch it try!
It appears in the video the strap is not parallel to the ground, and based on the angle it gives Ford an advantage. Its hard to see, could you confirm?
The Rivian computer is still doing something even with "traction control off"... its just too smart to let us have fun.
Thanks! At the moment we are not developing sliders. There are already really nice ones on the market.
This is not true. The 2021 F350 4x4 Crew Cab Short Bed has a curb weight of 6,769 lbs which is technically LIGHTER THAN THE RIVIAN.
I believe this is partially true. The Rivian has an axle ratio of 12.6:1 and is said to produce 10,300 lb-ft of "ground torque." Compared to a standard 2wd ICE vehicle this is alot. Compared to a diesel 4x4 with a transfer case its only about a 1/3 of the power to the wheels.
Yes good eye. This was a concern of mine before the test and I was going to adjust the strap height if necessary. However, the rear tires in the Rivian did not even spin which means they still had full traction. So we did not bother to change the strap height.
If you watch the video on pull 2 and 3 I actually did do this. With the previous knowledge from our 4x4 roller test I didn't slowly floor the pedal. I quickly slammed the throttle pedal which is what gave the Rivian the initial edge! You can actually see the Rivian pull the Ford a few inches in the beginning.
The Ford has a curb weight of 6,769 lbs so it is NOT heavier than the Rivian. Yes still impressive. If you watch closely on pull 2 and 3 the Rivian actually pulls the Tremor back. My conclusion from this test is that even with "traction control off" the computers are still limiting wheel speed!
Which one would you put on yours and why?
That would also make sense. I know you have done quite a bit of testing on the Rivian so you would know better than I would. I’m curious if you tried other drive modes for the pull Than what we saw in the video?
The biggest single factor here is the the tire contact patch and tire composition. For this to be an apples to apples test, you need the same tire compound and contact patch size on both vehicles. And yes, you do allude to that near the end. To illustrate the concept, imagine the F350 with bicycle tires. Hopefully everyone agrees that the Rivian would have won that competition hands down. So while this was a fun demonstration, it doesn't really prove much.
It's likely that the Rivian torque limiting is implemented to prevent overheating of the motors/inverters and/or mechanical damage to the drive train. In the 3rd test, you can see that the front wheels are spinning forward for a bit while the rear are turning backwards, and then it appears that the front wheels "give up" and start turning backwards. From a programming viewpoint, if you are commanding all four wheels forward, but detect one or more are turning backwards, you know something is not working, and limiting torque is a smart preventative step.
