The Rivian R1T Pick-up Is Your Passport to an Electric Adventure

[ProjectWHaT]

Do YOU own a R1S? Do you wish you have a kitchen like the R1T?? Wish no more, Rivian has heard you. They have just patented a slide out kitchen for the R1S

Rivian Patent Reveals Slide-Out Camp Kitchen for R1S

A new patent filing was found, which reveals that Rivian is working on a Camp Kitchen option for the R1S SUV.

www.thedrive.com

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/20230256889

 

[GranTurNismo]

Rivian is slashing 10% of its entire workforce, about 1,040 workers, after its stock price declining by 25%.

Once the darling of the EV world, the electric truck-maker Rivian is reeling

Electric truck maker Rivian was once seen as a rising star in the EV space. But now the company says it will lay off 10% of its employees, and its production targets for this year are coming in lower than expected.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Rivian laid off another 1% today

Rivian (RIVN) is cutting another 1% of jobs as the EV maker works toward profitability

Rivian (RIVN) is cutting more jobs as the EV maker aims to improve profitability. This is the second round of...

electrek.co

“This was a difficult decision, but a necessary one to support our goal to be gross margin positive by the end of the year,” Rivian said in an emailed statement (via Automotive News).

Rivian plans to cut another 1% of its workforce as the automaker works to improve profitability by the end of the year.

The statement read, “We continue to work to right-size the business and ensure alignment to our priorities.” This is the second round of layoffs from the EV startup this year.

Rivian’s CEO, RJ Scaringe, said the move was to “maximize the amount of impact we can have as a company” on the company’s media call. Scaringe explained that Rivian is “not immune to existing economic and geopolitical uncertainties.”

	Q3 ’22	Q4 ’22	Q1 ’23	Q2 ’23	Q3 ’23	Q4 ’23
Rivian loss per vehicle	$139,277	$124,162	$67,329	$32,594	$30,500	$43,372

 

[Keef]

Rivian laid off another 1% today

Rivian (RIVN) is cutting another 1% of jobs as the EV maker works toward profitability

Rivian (RIVN) is cutting more jobs as the EV maker aims to improve profitability. This is the second round of...

electrek.co

	Q3 ’22	Q4 ’22	Q1 ’23	Q2 ’23	Q3 ’23	Q4 ’23
Rivian loss per vehicle	$139,277	$124,162	$67,329	$32,594	$30,500	$43,372

I don't doubt that conglomerates of investors are shorting Rivian and Lucid both, like they tried to do with Gamestop. The news just hasn't come out yet. I don't see a reason why a company successfully producing excellent products and services isn't gather investment other than the fact that established companies don't want the competition. Rivian vehicles are virtually mainstream on the roads now, it's not like the company can't be trusted to produce and support their products. Same for Lucid.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I don't doubt that conglomerates of investors are shorting Rivian and Lucid both, like they tried to do with Gamestop. The news just hasn't come out yet. I don't see a reason why a company successfully producing excellent products and services isn't gather investment other than the fact that established companies don't want the competition. Rivian vehicles are virtually mainstream on the roads now, it's not like the company can't be trusted to produce and support their products. Same for Lucid.

Lucid and Rivian make good cars but their IPO value was crazy inflated. Rivian debuted with a market capitalization of like $130bn...that's nearly triple the value of....Ford...for a car company with one somewhat niche product and none of the multi-industry disruption ambition that Tesla...uh...illusioned? At $8/share I'm not sure how much value there would be in shorting Rivian at this point. More than anything else, I think Rivian's issues now are the result of unrealistic expectations and hype that inflated the SPAC/IPO bubble a few years ago - they probably hired way more people than a sober pro forma could reasonably accommodate. I think Rivian has a better chance of making it in the end than Lucid, but I don't think it's a sure bet of either one surviving, particularly if there is an economic downturn.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

The R1T and R1S both get a small update / facelift. The R1T now has a max range of 420 miles. There's also new tri-motor and quad-motor options.

https://www.motor1.com/news/722395/2025-rivian-r1t-r1s-updates/

The EV upstart now sells two 1,000-plus-horsepower vehicles. The quad-motor powertrain gets a bump from 835 hp to 1,025 hp. When using launch control, torque output peaks at 1,198 pound-feet, and Rivian claims a 2.5-second 0-60 run for the R1T. The tri-motor powertrain pairs two rear motors with a single front motor for 850 hp and 1,013 lb-ft of torque, which one imagines is more than sufficient. The dual-motor powertrain remains unchanged.

Batteries are also revised. Some construction changes to the Large and Max packs help save a bit of weight, while the standard pack uses a new cell chemistry. Range for the Max pack rises from 410 miles in the R1T to 420 miles, though some of this is also down to a new heat-pump design. The underlying electrical architecture for the R1 models is also revised to cut down on wiring and the number of ECUs used.

Rivian also tweaked the suspension on the R1S, which was criticized for being a bit too firm and sporty. It gets new springs, dampers, and a recalibration for its hydraulic roll-control system. There are also new wheel designs for both models with new tires to compliment, including "ultra-high performance" Michelins for the quad-motor cars.

Both R1S and R1T get Rivian's new "Autonomy" platform standard, which features upgraded driver-assist software and hardware, including 11 cameras and five radars. There's also an optional Rivian Autonomy Platform+, which will add automatic lane change functionality through a future software update.

Despite all the new equipment base price for the R1T remains unchanged at $69,900, while the R1S rises to $75,900. Crucially, that means entry-level models come in under the $80,000 threshhold for tax credits of new EV purchases, though both R1T and R1S are only eligible for a $3,750 credit. The new tri-motor models start at $99,900 for the R1T and $105,900 for the R1S, which is a couple grand more than the outgoing quad-motors, but these both get the larger Max battery standard. Pricing for the quad-motor has yet to be released.

The infotainment system also gets an update to match the cell-shading art style seen in the R2 and R3



The quad motor variant gets a Gear Guard badge

 

[TrdScionxB2]

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Jason Cammisa talks about his experience and thoughts with the updated R1

(language warning)



Some points that were made

• front turn signals are now amber, but the rear turn signals are still red, because of luminosity regulations, but future Rivians will be amber due to IIHS requiring it for Top Safety Pick+ (20:00)
• the changed the components in the R1S to try to improve the ride quality, but the rear still has heaving because the rear is "reaching the max blow out pressure that the air springs can deal with", because the suspension architecture was designed for off roading that compromises it for on road ride quality (26:03)
• phantom battery drain has been fixed by having an efficient trickle charge from the high voltage battery to the 12V battery (32:37)
• they replaced the nice metal interior door latch handles with a plastic button, they were not able to give a reason why and it was not cheaper to do it this way (51:21)
• the second row in the R2 is bigger than the R1, because it doesn't need to make room for a third row (1:10:20)

 

[Keef]

IIHS requiring it for Top Safety Pick+

TIL, it's about damn time this squeaked into the rules.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

Rivian and VW announced a joint venture on June 25th in an unexpected investor call.

During the event, they announced that VW will make an initial investment of $1 billion with another $4 billion over time. In return, VW will receive Rivian's new zonal architecture and software. They will develop new cars together in the later half of the decade. Scout Motors will likely use technologies from Rivian. Rivian also teases 5 new cars in a new roadmap.

VW will invest up to $5 billion in Rivian as part of new EV joint venture

A big cash infusion for the EV startup.

www.theverge.com

Given how Rivian had massive layoffs earlier this year and much money they're losing per car, this is a massive lifeline to keep the company alive

 

[Keef]

And the company should be kept alive as they're making spectacular products.

I have zero evidence to back this up but I suspect that other market actors are shorting the hell out of Rivian stock and trying to drive the company out of business. I don't see another way that the company can keep losing stock valuation the way it is, given their excellent product and sales performance. Sure, they're losing money on each car...but so was Tesla, and their stock basically kept climbing from Day 1. Rivian had a genuinely good and unique product in the market that are becoming relatively commonplace on the road with every passing day. It's an aspirational vehicle.

 

[Joey D]

And the company should be kept alive as they're making spectacular products.

I have zero evidence to back this up but I suspect that other market actors are shorting the hell out of Rivian stock and trying to drive the company out of business. I don't see another way that the company can keep losing stock valuation the way it is, given their excellent product and sales performance. Sure, they're losing money on each car...but so was Tesla, and their stock basically kept climbing from Day 1. Rivian had a genuinely good and unique product in the market that are becoming relatively commonplace on the road with every passing day. It's an aspirational vehicle.

Rivian doesn't have a cult following like Tesla. If Elon hadn't converted a bunch of people into thinking he was some Techno Jesus, Tesla stock would probably have floundered as Rivian has. Instead, Elon lied out his ass and made lofty promises that spoke to stupid people who threw money at him to build a car with the same quality as an 80s-era GM product.

 

[Tornado]

I think the under the radar thing is that this brings clarity to why heads started rolling for the division that does the internal software for VAG cars last fall.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

And the company should be kept alive as they're making spectacular products.

I have zero evidence to back this up but I suspect that other market actors are shorting the hell out of Rivian stock and trying to drive the company out of business. I don't see another way that the company can keep losing stock valuation the way it is, given their excellent product and sales performance. Sure, they're losing money on each car...but so was Tesla, and their stock basically kept climbing from Day 1. Rivian had a genuinely good and unique product in the market that are becoming relatively commonplace on the road with every passing day. It's an aspirational vehicle.

Rivian stock was waaaaaaay overvalued at IPO. They are still worth $12bn which is still a lot for company of Rivian's size & revenue. They were valued at as high as $125bn at the beginning, a truly delusional number.

 

[Carlos Fandango]

New R1T Quad at Pikes Peak last weekend… full run