Why the Rivian R1T Isn't the EV Truck to Convert Pickup Drivers

I would never buy an electric truck. I drive the Ecoboost f150 at work and I don’t even like the fact that it shuts down at a stop. I’ll take a v8 and pay my gas before I ever switch to something not proven and electric.

Can Rivian R1T or other electric pickup truck start up and run all day with heat on high hauling a trailer when its 32 deg and snowing to minus 20 with severe windchills? Probably not. Then it's useless for me.

Rivan R1t is a pretty sweet truck all things considered. 10k lb towing, 800hp, 0-60 in 3 seconds, and made in the USA.

Think about it: 80k EV truck vs $40k Tundra. Toyota Tundra will burn $45k+ in fuel in 200k miles, but the inconveniences that come with EV charging are what will keep me out of one. Plus, Tundra's next model will have improved MPG so the gap will grow between the two and EV will not make sense unless they come down in purchase price to around $55k.

I am not sure about the Rivan EV truck. The diesel-electric hybrid would be the ideal emissions-compliant truck, you could put a centralized electric motor in place of the transfer case, the transmission would be the generator and the truck would still be able to carry another 1,000 lbs of just battery. It would be a hotshotters dream never to have to worry about the transmission, never have to idle, always ready to go and always getting the peak mpg.

1st: The Rivian truck has good looks.
2nd. Charge from empty to full in 10min or less cus that's how long it takes me to fill up my gas tank.

I don’t know much about electric vehicles... charge time? Off-road capabilities? Tow rating? Etc.

I am not sure if there is any real surprise that the Rivan isn't going to take over the pickup/SUV market. It always was going to be niche vehicle, appealing to a small group of buyers. I have never owned a pickup, so I cannot speak to the needs of truck buyers. But although I certainly see many pickups being driven daily as work trucks, and some carrying big loads, most of them that I see on the road are just stuck in the daily commute, carrying one driver, no passengers, and nothing in the pickup bed. The EV promise of having tons of power, low maintenance, low operating cost, with the ability to haul stuff when needed, has got to be enough to attract say 5% of the pickup/SUV buyers. They do not have to be a perfect fit for everyone, because the truck and SUV market is HUGE. I agree that plug in hybrid trucks could appeal to a much larger market, because they could provide much of the EV advantages, but for less money. And I see the bigger automakers moving to hybrid trucks first. I just hope that they skip over passive hybrid designs that offer little practical benefit, and go straight to regular hybrids and PHEVs. If Tesla has shown anything with the great sales success of their Model 3, it is that once you actually build and sell BEVs, and buyers get behind the wheel and drive them around a bit, people want them.

Electric cars produce more carbon emissions already compared to anything diesel powered in the same size. How is Rivian going to address this?

In my opinion, the Atlis XT is better than the Rivan R1t EV truck, but not sure it will ever be more than a rendering.

I have EV and owned F150 before. EV right now is awesome option for daily driver going home to work and whatever you need during weekdays. And... in the weekends EV sucks. Fast charge, supercharger, and etc whatever just don't work. If you drive EV in winter highway with heater on then your range drops about 50%. I can't even imagine towing something in winter highway with heater on!! Its just really bad in range and charge time. I often drove from Michigan to Alabama to visit my in-laws and thats 800 mi / 10 hr drive. Now taking that trip with EV truck? Nope I don't wanna stop every 200mi to charge my car. I still do love my EV for all the benefits it comes with, but this EV love is only possible because my wife has Gas car for our weekend long distance driving.

One thing that nobody seems to be commenting on is the unibody of the Rivan pickup truck. It’s my understanding that the bed is separated from the cab for a reason. As the Center of Gravity (CG) of the load changes due to the orientation of the bed relative to the terrain, the passengers in the cab are unaffected. With the unibody pickup, the passengers will definitely feel every curve or bump in the road. This is probably why Chevy’s El Camino and Ford’s Ranchero never made it as viable alternatives in the pickup market. If Tesla or Rivan want to entice the working pickup drivers into the EV market, they will need to decouple the cab from the bed.

I feel that the SUV market would be very open to the R1S .We have two toyotas 4 runners and pull a small 3000 pound trailer and stay in the city. We want to be responsible and stop carbon contribution. And it will go anywhere So we are going to give it a try for those two reasons. However I would like to understand how the batteries are handled in the sense of birth to death. What chemicals are created that are harmful and how are they kept from entering into the environment. WHen they are made, installed, in an accident, when they die and how they are processed at each stage.