Rivian Electric Ute

StreetsAhead · Veteran Member

Rivian Electric Ute

peter67 · Guru

Yup, it's been hit with the ugly stick. My theory is that the designers all worked on separate parts of the vehicle separately in small rooms, after months of slogging away they met again and bolted all their different ideas together and waallllaaaah!! a modern day tribute to Ford's Edsel.

Collo · Senior Member

What a amazing vehicle. Certainly the way of a soon future.

Although I wonder how the electronics would handle the Australian dirt roads.

My Triton has done 230000 kms....soon to be retired I think my next ute will be electric.

We have off grid solar power.... so charging will be free!!

Collo.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

I saw this vehicle at the time I bought our D-Max but over $US100,000 & limited charging points it was out of the question.
However I haven't discounted owning one either.

One wonders how tourism in the "outback" areas will be affected with more eVs coming on line - The Gibb, Birdsville, Oodnadatta, the Cape are just four common ones & where the range (now) of these vehicles might prevent the owners from travelling there.
There are a lot of questions still to be answered especially reliability "out in the bush", service in remote areas, etc.

Oka374 · Veteran Member

If anyone wants to see how and in what conditions they performed have a look at "The Long Way Up" a doco made by Charlie Bormann and Ewen McGregor when they rode two Harley Davidson electric motorbikes from the bottom of south America to LA. Rivian gave them two prototypes to use as support vehicles, apart from problems caused by driver error and running into things and finding charging points in remote areas they went very well.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
I saw this vehicle at the time I bought our D-Max but over $US100,000 & limited charging points it was out of the question.
However I haven't discounted owning one either.

One wonders how tourism in the "outback" areas will be affected with more eVs coming on line - The Gibb, Birdsville, Oodnadatta, the Cape are just four common ones & where the range (now) of these vehicles might prevent the owners from travelling there.
There are a lot of questions still to be answered especially reliability "out in the bush", service in remote areas, etc.

G'day Warren,

Mate, there is or was a charging point at the Strand. If someone hasn't parked there not needing it That is. Then get a looooong lead. Problem sorted.
Maybe in the not too distant future you could set up a portable Solar Panel and via an inverter charge your EV.

Kebbin · Guru

EV charging points are getting very common with more on the way, in remote areas there was talk of solar panels and large batteries. I suppose this is doable as it won't be free. Here is a map of current charging points.

myelectriccar.com.au/charge-stations-in-australia/

Kebbin · Guru

There is an option for the deniers of the technology that does away with your loooong lead Doug.

m.youtube.com/watch

Dougwe · Chief one feather

That makes a lot of sense Kebbin. If it was me though, I only use my generator at 2.00am when everyone is asleep, that way they don't hear it. If I run out of sparks during the day I would just wait until 2.00am. I'm very thoughtful like that.

Kebbin · Guru

Glad to see that you are being a responsible camper there Doug keep up the work.

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

I've at times wondered, 'why don't they lines the bonnet and roof with flexible solar panels so that the car can charge while it's sitting out on the sun?'

I'm looking forward to seeing other truck like EVs in Australia.

Whenarewethere · Guru

A 5 post bullbar will fix the front.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Buzz Lightbulb wrote:
I've at times wondered, 'why don't they lines the bonnet and roof with flexible solar panels so that the car can charge while it's sitting out on the sun?'

The battery on a Tesla S is 100kWh.

If the whole vehicle was covered in solar, it may collect 5kWh on a very good day.

Cheers,

Peter

Gundog · Guru

Can someone explain the actual range of an EV. Considering this is a country to City road run of 1100 kilometers with the Airconditioner running, how many hours/day/s to complete the journey.

Whenarewethere · Guru

160Wh/km. Air conditioning is about 5% extra.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Howdy Doug,
I'd definitely need a loooooooooooooooooooo......oooooong power cord as we're down your way (perhaps even further south - Colac for two nights (it's a it "cool"). Then on to Warnnambool (perhaps "Coldmbool") for our daughter's wedding early next month. Then we're heading north again.

There are some charging points around Townsville, some near Bowen but I guess there would be a queue when lot of vehicles are changed over to electric.

Kebbin, I'll check your link out.

Back to Rivian, there are several models in the range from D-max size upward so I found on my last visit to their website.

dorian · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
160Wh/km. Air conditioning is about 5% extra.

If the solar panels were harvesting 5kWh per day, then that's about a 30km drive. If you were doing the Big Lap in predominantly sunny weather, you could hop between nearby towns every day and recharge while you are there. If you stay for a week, then you could travel 210km between towns.

Whenarewethere · Guru

dorian wrote:
Whenarewethere wrote:
160Wh/km. Air conditioning is about 5% extra.
If the solar panels were harvesting 5kWh per day, then that's about a 30km drive. If you were doing the Big Lap in predominantly sunny weather, you could hop between nearby towns every day and recharge while you are there. If you stay for a week, then you could travel 210km between towns.

Battery power tools, laptops, phones, rechargeable vacuum, battery lawn mower & leaf blower, drones, cameras.

Don't have solar cells on the back & are not expected to run for an unreasonable length of time before needing to be plugged in.

If one wants to operate equipment for 8 hours continuously, it's not the equipment which has a problem.

Gundog · Guru

Gundog wrote:
Can someone explain the actual range of an EV. Considering this is a country to City road run of 1100 kilometers with the Airconditioner running, how many hours/day/s to complete the journey.

Isn't it amazing with amount of positive supporters of EV, not one is prepared to respond to my response. Why is that so ?.

dorian · Guru

Gundog wrote:
Gundog wrote:
Can someone explain the actual range of an EV. Considering this is a country to City road run of 1100 kilometers with the Airconditioner running, how many hours/day/s to complete the journey.

Isn't it amazing with amount of positive supporters of EV, not one is prepared to respond to my response. Why is that so ?.

You received two responses.

"The battery on a Tesla S is 100kWh."

"160Wh/km. Air conditioning is about 5% extra."

A quick calculation ...

100kWh / (160Wh/km) = 625 km

Reduce by 5% to allow for aircon ...

100kWh / (160Wh/km) x 0.95 = 594 km

Gundog · Guru

Dorian Compaing a long range Tesla S with 160kWh battery costing over $160,000, is beyond many average Australians, for it to complete an 1100k journey in less than a day is highly dependant on Tesla fast chargers being available.

The affordable EV under $60,000 have batteries between 40 and 60kWh, The Rivian has a 135kWh would be approximatly $110,000 when and if it is released in Australia.

I was hoping that someone would respond with actual range of their EV and how long they would expect to take on a comparable journey.

Or is the reality that the EV totally unsuitable for the majority of Australia save the metro and large regional cities.

The reality is I had to make that 1100km journey which took 13hrs, the only need to stop was toilet needs and to feed the crew, no fuel stop was required.

Whenarewethere · Guru

So 160Wh/km x 1.05 (aircon) = 168Wh/km x 1100km = 184.8kWh battery.

We do Norseman to Ceduna on our own fuel, but over days to avoid thrombosis.

dabbler · Guru

Gundog. I wouldn't take my Leaf on a journey that long because it wasn't purchased with that in mind. A mix of highway (prob 20%) and suburban driving will get me a theoretical 350-400km. I say "theoretical" because the most it's done in 24 hours is just over 100km. I doubt many here have purchased an EV for traveling and like me chose one as a runabout, so you're probably only going to get theory. However these matters are routinely tested by motoring groups and motoring writers and compare EV with EV and EV with similar spec'd ICE.

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

Gundog wrote:
Dorian Compaing a long range Tesla S with 160kWh battery costing over $160,000, is beyond many average Australians, for it to complete an 1100k journey in less than a day is highly dependant on Tesla fast chargers being available.
The affordable EV under $60,000 have batteries between 40 and 60kWh, The Rivian has a 135kWh would be approximatly $110,000 when and if it is released in Australia.
I was hoping that someone would respond with actual range of their EV and how long they would expect to take on a comparable journey.
Or is the reality that the EV totally unsuitable for the majority of Australia save the metro and large regional cities.
The reality is I had to make that 1100km journey which took 13hrs, the only need to stop was toilet needs and to feed the crew, no fuel stop was required.

As mentioned on other topics there are horses for courses. The government's policies don't encourage many options for EVs.

You'd probably be better off with a hybrid and then switch it from petrol to hydrogen when the infrastructure is available.

dorian · Guru

I think it's only a matter of time before researchers and engineers produce EVs which are economically superior to ICE vehicles. It would happen a lot faster if governments viewed EV subsidies as an investment rather than a cost.

Whenever there is an imperative, technology always comes to the rescue. COVID-19 came along and within a year we had a vaccine, not the usual 10 years. Kennedy said that we would go to the moon before the end of his decade, and we did. The Catholic Church suppressed scientific endeavour for 500 years, now it's the antivaxxers and technophobes who are doing the same.

I confess that I'll probably never buy an EV unless the government forces me to. My next purchase will be a diesel powered motorhome, and that will hopefully last me till the end of my days. However, I can see the future coming, assuming that Putin, Trump, Xi Xinping, et al don't kill us all

Gundog · Guru

dorian wrote:
I think it's only a matter of time before researchers and engineers produce EVs which are economically superior to ICE vehicles. It would happen a lot faster if governments viewed EV subsidies as an investment rather than a cost.

Subsidies for EV is just a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the more EV's the less revenue in GST and Excise from fuel, lower employment within the service station industry and fuel supply chain, thus less revenue for maintaince of roads. This could only be offset buy a road user pays per kilometre travelled.

This also disadvantages the remote and rural areas, by higher fuel costs and distribution.

It's a hard pill to swallow at this time, if you purchased a Rivian @ $110,000 the 30 grand difference between it and an $80,000 Ranger gives a whole wad watermelons to pay for your diesel. It's an easy choice at the moment, from my logbook the last 7 years we have travelled 131,000 kilometres at a total fuel cost of $19,000.

Electric Ute yeah nah, I keep my Ranger until it dies, hopefully it will last until I cannot drive.

Collo · Senior Member

dorian wrote:
I think it's only a matter of time before researchers and engineers produce EVs which are economically superior to ICE vehicles. It would happen a lot faster if governments viewed EV subsidies as an investment rather than a cost.

Whenever there is an imperative, technology always comes to the rescue. COVID-19 came along and within a year we had a vaccine, not the usual 10 years. Kennedy said that we would go to the moon before the end of his decade, and we did. The Catholic Church suppressed scientific endeavour for 500 years, now it's the antivaxxers and technophobes who are doing the same.

I confess that I'll probably never buy an EV unless the government forces me to. My next purchase will be a diesel powered motorhome, and that will hopefully last me till the end of my days. However, I can see the future coming, assuming that Putin, Trump, Xi Xinping, et al don't kill us all

Dorian, The ground work for the vaccines had been going on for many years. Sarah Gilbert and Catherine Green in England developed the Astrazeneca vaccine and Katalin Kariko developed the Moderna/ Pfizer vaccine. Science came to our rescue, but it took many years, not one.

Whenarewethere · Guru

The 22c cut in fuel excise for 6 months will cut government revenue by $3 billion. If there was zero excise, over a year that's $12 billion.

In the scheme of things it's not that much. The government could even up the excise on aviation fuel which is next to nothing.

We spent $5 billion fiddling around with submarines. A couple of billion on a useless driverless train in Sydney. We have spent $2 billion on new tanks that when transported around the country the GVM is too heavy for bridges. I hate to think of the cost of replacing bridges. Probably not much change out of $1 trillion.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

For short trips ? A little Corolla sized vehicle around $25k would not use much fuel ! Or about the same amount in coal to produce the electricity to charge at todays infrastructure! The good part driving out Mudgee way I saw two big solar farms ! Need MORE ! My worry is on the east coast we have had weeks of overcast days ! We cant close down other types of generation completely! We have EVs at Ausgrid! Trouble is most didnt understand the battery usage and being so quiet used up battery in quick time ! Us lineworkers bagged out most that run flat where OFFICE workers ! Not much different to free camping ? You have to keep on top of things ! Nothing is automatically done ! Driving interstate or long distance Vs a vehicle to run kids to school , to work , local rail station etc is possibly two different vehicles? The little Mitsubishi cars we had wouldnt have the battery to drive interstate! Atleast a two day trip with high output charger . Some planning till chargers are at hotels etc .

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

Gundog wrote:
dorian wrote:
I think it's only a matter of time before researchers and engineers produce EVs which are economically superior to ICE vehicles. It would happen a lot faster if governments viewed EV subsidies as an investment rather than a cost.

Subsidies for EV is just a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, the more EV's the less revenue in GST and Excise from fuel, lower employment within the service station industry and fuel supply chain, thus less revenue for maintaince of roads. This could only be offset buy a road user pays per kilometre travelled.
This also disadvantages the remote and rural areas, by higher fuel costs and distribution.
It's a hard pill to swallow at this time, if you purchased a Rivian @ $110,000 the 30 grand difference between it and an $80,000 Ranger gives a whole wad watermelons to pay for your diesel. It's an easy choice at the moment, from my logbook the last 7 years we have travelled 131,000 kilometres at a total fuel cost of $19,000.
Electric Ute yeah nah, I keep my Ranger until it dies, hopefully it will last until I cannot drive.

The best thing anyone can do is keep their current transport until it dies. Replacing one's car is always draining the environment.