Rivian is one step closer to delivering their vehicles to customers with an official range provided for their R1T pickup truck (ute) and the SUV R1S.
The US-based EPA-rated range for the 2022 Rivian R1T is officially a very healthy 314 miles, which correlates to 505km of range from their Large pack. There’s an estimated 400+ miles or 643km of range if you opt up for the Max Pack, which comes at an additional US$10k.
There’s currently a gap in the market for electric pickup trucks and it looks like Rivian may beat everyone else to market, with deliveries of the R1T currently scheduled for January 2022.
Let’s take Ford’s F150 Lightning and compare the range on offer. The standard range offers just 370km, while their extended range will get you 483km (EPA est.), so on battery tech, aerodynamic and electric motor efficiency, Rivian certainly has them beat. Ford says they expect to start delivering the Lightning Ford says deliveries in the Spring of 2022.
Tesla has the Cybertruck, which has just been officially delayed until late 2022. The base model Single Motor RWD model offers 250+ miles or 402km (EPA est) range, while the Dual Motor AWD will get you 300 Miles+ or 482km of range. Now for the trump card. Tesla’s highest-end model is the Tri Motor AWD Cybertruck that claims to have more than 500miles of range, or a massive 804km.
Clearly, Tesla’s top-end Cybertruck will offer the longest range of any electric pickup truck, aka Ute, but will be the last to come out. The range on an EV is severely impacted by additional weight in the bed and when towing, so if you’re planning on actually using this for real haulage, then choose wisely.
There’s a lot that has to go right for the Cybertruck between now and the end of 2022, namely the completion of the 4680 battery cells and structural pack, but if they can deliver on their price point of US$69,900 they’ll come in well under the US$79,300 for the long-range R1T or the long-range Lightning (Lariat+premium package) that starts at US$79,474 and have considerably more range, performance and autonomy.
Where the Rivian R1T really excels, is its ability to cater for the off-road customer, the people who want to go camping or fishing etc. When you checkout on Rivian’s site, you’ll have a choice of optional accessories like the Rivian Camp Kitchen, and Three-Person Tent + Cargo Crossbars. There’s also the Gear Tunnel that can be optioned with a slide-out seat, or just provide enough space for a snowboard.
The Rivian R1T and R1S were recently spotted in Australia, however, I still expect an Australian release to be quite some time away. When the R1T does ship here, the kind of range on offer does look promising and capable.
In Australia, there’s really no electric vehicle option for environmentally conscious tradies or the adventurous types, so the R1T would certainly be welcomed with open arms.
For those more interested in the SUV version, the R1S achieved an EPA rating of 316 miles or 508km. What is important to know is the size of the battery used to achieve these range numbers. It is understood that these two EPA ratings were done using Rivian’s hefty 135kWh battery.
