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.
A bit of a bump in the road. Do you think they have enough ground clearance to survive it?
Note that's 25,000 between the R1 and RCV (Amazon van). They have a contract for 10,000 Amazon vans to be deliver in 2022, so assuming they don't default on their Amazon contract that means 15,000 R1T/R1S.
They've got enough cash to survive many years so not really a problem in the shortrun. Even if they blowoff the Amazon contract entirely and pay off whatever is required. But I really don't think that's likely, at least not just if they're in breach of contract in terms of deliverables for 2022. They'd probably reach some sort of amiciable deal. Amazon has somethig like a 20% stake in Rivian so they aren't going to be interested going after Rivian for its pile of cash. It's not a large enough pile for Amazon to really care about and they own 20% of it anyway. A hostile takeover would be more likely.
Also, they're just kind of a meme stock and a lot of those have been getting hammered of late. Meme money is maybe getting pulled out of meme stocks and put in NTFs or something, I dunno. Regardless of the less than great news the stock is likely down some just from the memes getting bored with and moving on to something else.
I think it's likely they'll survive for at least the next few years. They have a factory up and running that's at least completed some orders for a vehicle that has gotten rave reviews and the other vehicle is very similar, still well over a dozen billion of cash on hand, tens of thousands of reservations, and about 100K in commercial orders from Amazon whose head is also a major investor. That's pretty good overall.
It's unfortunate, but they seem to be going through the same kind of growing pains associated with setting up their first high capacity assembly line that Tesla did with their first Model 3 production line. But yes, the R1T has some really unique suspension and drivetrain features that are supposed to work brilliantly in providing the versatility to allow it to perform very well on road as well as off road - with conventional vehicles, it's pick one or the other.
It's not unique though. It's just combining air with cross-linked hydraulic. Audi already does that with DRC. Or yes, McLaren has the cross-linked hydraulic. As does Toyota with the simpler XREAS. Rivians is more of Audi or McLaren than the older, more basic XREAS.
Personally, they all make me want to runaway as fast as possible. Stuffs fine if you're leasing vehicles or not holding onto them for long but it's unreliable and expensive. On the 4runner most people with XREAS convert to standard when it fails due to cost.
Also, still compromised. There's very little articulation but which is a compromise. That doesn't bother me so much as the 3k for the compressor, 2k per corner air springs 500 sensors, XREAS which is much simpler is 4k to replace shocks alone. That's the downside.
It's unfortunate, but they seem to be going through the same kind of growing pains associated with setting up their first high capacity assembly line that Tesla did with their first Model 3 production line. But yes, the R1T has some really unique suspension and drivetrain features that are supposed to work brilliantly in providing the versatility to allow it to perform very well on road as well as off road - with conventional vehicles, it's pick one or the other.
Yep, and they're trying to produce four different vehicles this year with a consumer truck, a consumer SUV, and two commercial vans. It's a lot to bite off!
I agree the R1T (and I assume the R1S) has some really unique suspension and drivetrain features and it's been really interesting seeing videos posted of what these things can do. I'm still waiting for one of them to show up on Turo or similar to give them a spin, though I suppose I could try to arrange for a test drive instead.
- Moving towards an 800V architecture bodes well for efficiency (and thus range) and charging rates.
- LFP is a good call for the lower trim version.
- It's interesting that Rivian's already in pre-production for inhouse drive units and makes me wonder if the original plan was to debut with these
- The heat pump announcement is good especially for the SUV and the smaller ("normal") pack configurations.
I think this also points to Rivian doing what Tesla's done with a pretty steady stream of improvements over a fairly short period of time as we saw those vehicles rapidly add new features, improve charging rates, improve range, improve performance and improve efficiency. That'll be a pretty amazing feat given how good from the start these vehicles are.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 03-12-2022 at 09:27 AM..
Some sweet suspension talk. Pretty exciting. Real nice that it's less than a third of the price of a McLaren 720S.
Yes, this guy really knows his stuff and he's a pretty good explainer too! And totally agree that while the Rivian gets knocked for its price, if its peers for this system are from the McLaren stable, it's in pretty good company and actually delivering good value for the dollar.
^that's a fairly in-depth summary of 8 days with the R1T that ends a series of in-depth looks at different facets
Sandy Munro also did a quick first look--he was originally going to do a teardown, but apparently liked it so much that he couldn't bear to tear it down so instead will just be part of his normal fleet.
Overall, the reviews are pretty much stellar so far. Yes, it's definitely priced firmly in the premium segment and that's something some people will never or cannot overlook. That can apply to any kind of powertrain and for very well established automakers. With that in mind, really fantastic reviews. Can't wait to see these on Turo!
I think just one more generation cycle for this guy with a more energy dense battery, 800V architecture, a heat pump, and maybe a solar roof and this thing would be a great camper van.
Impressed by how nicely laid out it is rather than a messy jumble.
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.
