Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hopefully this reworking will transfer to their earnings and share price, so that I can recoup some of my losses. I bought in a moment of weakness.
For awhile there, Rivian looked like they might be the next Tesla, and they still might be. Starting a new car company/technology company is a difficult and risky undertaking though, and when Tesla did it - of course they had to invent the mold, and that's awfully hard, but the silver lining for Tesla was, there was no real competition when they were getting started. Rivian has a lot of precedents to lean on, but they also have some well-developed competition to catch up to and tussle with over the customer dollars. I am still optimistic about their prospects.
I do like the looks of the Rivian pickup. I've see a few around town. What I dont like is, the bed panels are part of the cab side and roof panels, its one piece. If you damage the side of the bed beyond repairing the stock panels, and it cant be repaired, and requires a new panel. The roof has to come off. Just imagine the labor to do that. It looks good, but a bad design to make the bed part of the cab.
The Maverick is like that, as is the Ridgeline, and the Avalanche and new Silverado EV. Ford used to have a pickup that was the same, and it's done by Ford, GM and Mopar in South America. It's no harder to repair than any wagon. Or it's own sibling, the R1S SUV.
One of the things, in the Rivian, it DOES allow for is the passthrough cargo bay (that also serves as a step):
It even allows for cool accessories like this slip in kitchen:
I think every design choice involves lots of engineering compromises, and maybe the bed being one piece with the front part of the body does cause damage to propagate more broadly in certain types of collisions, but it's probably better in terms of collision safety because it distributes forces more broadly, and should increase torsional stiffness, and reduce rattling noises and might help improve ride and handling.
FWIW, the R1T still has a body-on-frame design, with a stout frame, but the frame doesn't have cross members throughout like the typical "ladder frame" of most pickups, it's got a big open space between extra strong longitudinal members - this open space for the battery pack. Then the one piece body structure sits on top of that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGYY1bC5Ncs
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 06-18-2024 at 06:53 AM..
The Maverick is like that, as is the Ridgeline, and the Avalanche and new Silverado EV. Ford used to have a pickup that was the same, and it's done by Ford, GM and Mopar in South America. It's no harder to repair than any wagon. Or it's own sibling, the R1S SUV.
One of the things, in the Rivian, it DOES allow for is the passthrough cargo bay (that also serves as a step):
It even allows for cool accessories like this slip in kitchen:
So no, it's not a "bad design" in the slightest.
I wonder if they've tried designing a two door, one row of seats version of the R1T and what the bed size could be on that and if the gear tunnel would still make sense in that configuration.
Also, I'm surprised that Rivian didn't move towards a level loading frunk like the F-150 Lighting, Cybertruck, and Silverado EV have. It makes more sense with the R1T and R1S revision as that might be too much of a design change to do mid-cycle, but the R2 demos they had were also bins rather than level loading.
Rivian has announced a JV with VW who will invest an initial $1B and a possible total of $5B
Wow, that's a pretty big deal! But I think the rationale for each is pretty clear - Rivian needs cash, and Volkswagen needs technology. It's interesting, because Tesla has been trying to out-license at least its FSD technology, but VW is going with Rivian for this collaboration. Musk's instability could be a factor, with this coming fresh on the heels of Musk firing his Supercharging team in a fit of anger after he had just signed Supercharging deals with half a dozen major automakers - you really don't know what he'll do next.
Quote:
Volkswagen Group plans to invest up to $5 billion in electric vehicle startup Rivian, starting with an initial investment of $1 billion.
The additional $4 billion is expected by 2026. It includes plans for $1 billion each in 2025 and 2026, followed by $2 billion in 2026 related to an expected joint venture to create electrical architecture and software technology, according to a release by the automakers Tuesday.
As much of a fan of EVs as I am, I test drove the R1S and was very disappointed. The software was much better than expected, which was a major reason why VW wanted this partnership. But the build quality and ride quality were much worse than I expected. The ride quality was surprisingly poor even with my tempered expectations for an off-road worthy vehicle, and the interior was rattling even while I was driving over smoothly paved roads. The R1S was the worst vehicle I drove in recent memory.
As much of a fan of EVs as I am, I test drove the R1S and was very disappointed. The software was much better than expected, which was a major reason why VW wanted this partnership. But the build quality and ride quality were much worse than I expected. The ride quality was surprisingly poor even with my tempered expectations for an off-road worthy vehicle, and the interior was rattling even while I was driving over smoothly paved roads. The R1S was the worst vehicle I drove in recent memory.
When did you test drive it? Was it an early one? There was a huge software update that fixed the suspension (I know owners that were shocked at how much of an improvement it was after an overnight OTA update). And so far, none of the owners have reported rattles after the first ones were delivered.
When did you test drive it? Was it an early one? There was a huge software update that fixed the suspension (I know owners that were shocked at how much of an improvement it was after an overnight OTA update). And so far, none of the owners have reported rattles after the first ones were delivered.
In addition to the OTA updates since launch, the R1S and R1T just got a refresh which apparently greatly improved the ride quality among other things.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
