More R2 & R3X info from Pasadena Event

TL;DR: Little tidbits about R2 and R3 from Brian Gase, Chief Engineer of Special Projects at Rivian from a small YT channel that attended the Rivian event at the Pasadena Hub this weekend.

I’ve been on the Rivian train for almost two years now (originally an R1S reservation holder and now an R2 reservation holder) and like many of you I’m super excited about R2. I’ve heard/read a lot about the comments made at the Pasadena location this past weekend and hadn’t really been able to find a summary of everything, but I hopped on YouTube today and found THIS video of the entire Q&A for both R2 and R3X. I’ve summarized everything with timecodes below.

Be sure to check out the video for yourself. Nothing earth shattering, but some good and very informative details nonetheless.

R2

• R2, R3, and R3X weren’t built at the factory. The cars we've been seeing are a final surface layout. (12:35)
• Front seats will slide, they will articulate, very much like the R1, but won’t fold flat. *bummer*. Back seats will fold to a 4 degree angle. (13:00) EDIT: Per a commenter on Reddit, it's apparently because of federal safety regulations. (13:00)
• Compact spare being included may depend on which trim variant you have. (13:29)
• Single motor will be built later other variants. *expected* (14:08)
• Won’t have camp modes ability to level itself due to their being no air suspension. Not sure on other camp mode features. Emphasizes that price is important for them which is why there’s no air suspension. (14:15)
• There will be a hitch on the final production variant. *also I feel obvious*. (15:00) BUT what isn’t obvious is that it will be an optional build style. Sounds like there have been internal discussion about how to fix the bumper difference. (22:50)
• Sounds like the motor in the version of R2 we see driving around might be Bosch? They had to build R2 with a motor that existed at the time of prototyping. The motor in R2 now is bigger than what will be the production motor (their in house motor). This sounds like it goes back to the compact spare comment earlier. We know from this Out of Spec video that the tri motor Gen2 R1S has a larger motor in the rear so I’m assuming that a single or dual R2 may enable more cargo space than the tri motor. (15:15).
• The color on R2 is a brand-new color. It’s not actually the same “white” as seen on the R1s. Sounds like Rivian is still deciding which colors and interiors are unique to each other. (15:35)
• Power liftgate on R1 isn’t on the roadmap to translate to R2 at this time. *hard to decipher so correct me if I’m wrong* (21:35). EDIT: Clarification via Chris Hilbe. The question in the video was regarding if the R1S will get the powered rear glass window like the R2. It cannot get that feature because the R1 has a split tailgate so the glass wouldn't be able to drop very far.

On a personal note, I hadn’t really been able to get a visual as far as scale on the R2 and having someone at a fixed distance videoing someone else interact with it up close helped me to get a better gauge. I’ll be coming from a RAV4 Hybrid which has almost the exact same dimensions, but comments from others and the sense of scale I gathered from the video make it look bigger and closer to a 4Runner (which is what I’m going for).

R3X

• R3X charge port is moving to the driver’s side rear as well. All Rivian vehicles on the “midsize” platform will have the charge port in the same location. Hinting at more unreleased vehicles (shown in Investor Day slide deck) in the pipeline on this platform? (19:40)
• Something about the steering wheel design. I’m assuming they’re asking if this was the final design and there was just a reiteration that yes it was. (20:00)
• You won’t need a CCS to NACS adapter when purchasing a wall charger in the future. Once Rivian switches their cars to NACS, all related products (wall charger in this case) will follow suite. *seems obvious, but good question* (20:25)
• V2H is still in development. Didn’t catch all of what was said, but it sounds like Rivian is really trying to get it right from the top down with the development of this feature in order to ensure a seamless experience from the top down. (20:50)
• R2 and R3 (both on midsize platform) share same suspension, battery system, drive units, etc., but which different wheelbases (like R1T and R1S). But R3 should have more (> 330) range than R2. Not an expert here, but my guess is R2 will have a 90-110 (2025 large pack is 109)~ kWh battery which ranges from the upper 2s to low 3s in efficiency and R3 will get low to mid 3s in efficiency on the same pack. (21:55)

Due to noise (and environment) some of this was hard to hear/unintelligible so if anyone else is able to run it through a denoiser or can decipher what’s being said please add on.

theyoungone said:

Front seats will slide, they will articulate, very much like the R1, but won’t fold flat.

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This is probably the single feature I was most interested in for the R2. Even if we'd realistically never use it to camp inside. I'm not sure I had thought about the consequence of not having air suspension here though, for some reason. Definitely could make it less useful.

I wonder if by 'no camp mode' they really mean no levelling, but still have camp mode besides that. Would be nice.

Nice summary. I thought they showed the front passenger seat folding flat back in the March reveal. Is this a change?

I was at Pasadena Rivian yesterday. The R2 isn't 4runner sized, its closer to CRV sized, but has good ground clearance and the 21" wheels were off roady and chunky. They did not let anyone sit inside or touch the R2 or R3.

The head of interior design was there and gave a brief tour. Oddly the tour wasn't technical at all, and much less info that the Rivian fanatics here would probably want to know. The car was in carwash mode I think so the exterior handles were flush, and he seemed to have a problem opening the doors when they accidentally closed. A helper came out to open the door for him. He seemed very proud of the new steering wheel (actually very nice) and the hooks on the back of the seats (who cares).

I did ask whether the rear liftgate (which has a roll down window like a 4runner) would go up higher, as right now anyone over 6' will bonk their heads on the edge. He said the production would accomodate 6'2". The rear seats won't fold flat, he said its at 3-4 degrees. The interior displays are slightly smaller than the R1. No second row display (not that one needs it). The rear legroom seems on par with the R1 (which isn't great to begin with), or maybe a little bit more spacious even (but at the expense of seat height and thickness). The hood is a clamshell design to meet European pedestrian impact standards. Roof attachments are powered.

As for the R3X, he mentioned maybe end of 2027 production. He also confirmed production R2 and R3 will have charge port driver rear to match Teslas. The R2 and R3X steering wheel is flat top and flat bottom which actually makes it easier to see the drivers display. Wish they added this for the Gen2 R1.

One observation I made was the R3X on display had two forward facing cameras on the windshield which appeared quite different than the Gen2 R1S there - maybe they were mockups and don't work. The R2 had a single front facing camera similar to the Gen1 R1 and likely is a prototype as well and maybe that doesn't work either. I guess only a nerd like me would notice that.

Overall it was nice to see the vehicles in the flesh but there were no big surprises. The R1 looks large next to the R2 but the actual useable interior space for everyday activities is probably less than one than one would think. I did notice the R1S on display did not have the compressor or subwoofer. The frunk is slightly smaller, both in depth and height. Someone who did not own a Gen1 wouldn't notice. Rivian updated the frunk mat to be rubberized, which is nice.

wjhdrew said:

I wonder if by 'no camp mode' they really mean no levelling, but still have camp mode besides that. Would be nice.

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I believe that's exactly what they meant. I updated my bullet point to clarify.

Excited to see a production version of the R2. That will let me decide if I want to give up my R1S-QM for a R2 or not. Size and features will really matter at that time. Until then it is all interesting but can easily change between now and production.

lefkonj said:

Excited to see a production version of the R2. That will let me decide if I want to give up my R1S-QM for a R2 or not. Size and features will really matter at that time. Until then it is all interesting but can easily change between now and production.

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In the same boat, currently have a Gen 1 R1S-QM. When the time comes do I downsize to R2 or move to a newer gen R1S? Guess we’ll learn more as we get closer.

Dark-Fx said:

This is probably the single feature I was most interested in for the R2. Even if we'd realistically never use it to camp inside. I'm not sure I had thought about the consequence of not having air suspension here though, for some reason. Definitely could make it less useful.

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This is THE reason we reserved an R2. We camp in our Teslas quite frequently and have for 6-7 years now. That feature alone made us want an R2. I'll wait to see if this changes before production starts but if they're truly removing it we'll be getting our reservation deposit back, sadly.

Excellent summary!

I think we forget sometimes that R2 and R3 will go to customers new to Rivian more so than the R1. They probably won’t be as attached to some of these features like we are.

very disappointing to hear about the front seats not folding flat in the R2/R3X. they highlighted it so many times in the reveal and afterwards but sounds like they didnt do their hw. since its such a small car if you wanted to camp inside it, it would require those seats to fold so pretty bummed.

now you will need a rooftop tent but then the R2/R3X dont self-level which reduces its usability. all in all, disappointing.

Ostrichsak said:

This is THE reason we reserved an R2. We camp in our Teslas quite frequently and have for 6-7 years now. That feature alone made us want an R2. I'll wait to see if this changes before production starts but if they're truly removing it we'll be getting our reservation deposit back, sadly.

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Are you talking about folding seats or auto leveling in the camp mode? When they announced it they said it wouldn't have air suspension.

ironpig said:

Are you talking about folding seats or auto leveling in the camp mode? When they announced it they said it wouldn't have air suspension.

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I couldn't care less about that, just need the fold flat front seats.

ETA: since you edited your post after I replied, here's my reply to your edited post:

Just the seats. Leveling suspension isn't a necessity for car camping.

Ostrichsak said:

I couldn't care less about that, just need the fold flat front seats.

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yeah that sucks then. It was one of the cooler features of the launch.

ironpig said:

yeah that sucks then. It was one of the cooler features of the launch.

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It was literally the one reason we decided to reserve another Rivian to replace our Model Y. We'll just keep the Y w/o that feature.