Ordered a Rivian R1T after owning a Cybertruck for three months

[Dmayo305]

I've had my Cybertruck for three months. Last week, I ordered a 2025 Rivian R1T Adventure Dual Max with an estimated range of 420 miles. I'm expecting delivery of my Rivian in Sep-Oct.

I'm plan on keeping my Cybertruck for at least a year. Hopefully they won't have to be in for service at the same time.

I'm anticipating the R1T to have 30% more range than my Cybertruck. This extended range battery doesn't take up space in the load bed like the Cybertruck's range extender. The Rivian offers two additional advantages. When towing with the Cybertruck, we have to drop the trailer in order to back up to the Supercharger. On the Rivian, the charging port is in front of the front wheels, meaning we can pull straight in up to the charger. The Rivian can charge at many of the Superchargers that I use on a regular basis. Also, the Rivian has storage space for a full size spare tire, like most other pickups. The spare tire in my Cybertruck takes up half of the load bed. Both the Cybertruck and Rivian have a maximum towing capacity of 11,000 pounds. For the reasons stated above, the Rivian will definitely be my towing vehicle of choice.

The R1T Gen 2 truck includes Rivian's Autonomy Platform+ (Trial included through 2024), which includes 11 high-resolution cameras, including new 4K HDR units, ultrasonic sensors, and five advanced radars, including a Front Imaging Radar, detecting objects up to 1,000-feet away even in challenging weather and lighting conditions. These radars serve as a vital backup to the cameras. I liked having radar and ultrasonic sensors on my Model 3. I like having sensors that can see in unfavorable conditions.

Dual NVIDIA DRIVE Orin processors running DRIVE OS help power the Autonomy Compute Module on Rivian's second generation R1, performing over 250 trillion operations per second. Tesla is ahead of Rivian with FSD v.12, but Rivian had the hardware needed to catch up.

The price of the R1T Dual-motor AWD is $69,900, plus $14,000 for the Max battery, for a total of $83,900.
For more info, see https://stories.rivian.com/meet-the-new-r1

I'm right behind you. Does Rivian have a referral program, unlike one of the dozen failed Tesla ones that have never actually gotten me anything?

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[S.C.M.O.D.S.]

Still trying to figure out why there are so many people that need more range… who drives 300+ mile stretches without any access to recharge… ?

The majority of people likely don't need the range at least most of the time. However, I live in Alaska and it gets cold AF which can be a huge hit and I have a 100 mile round trip commute to work 5 days/wk. I also tow and haul semi-frequently but even more importantly and much more forgotten about is that I (and many other people, in Alaska but even more so in the OR and WA for example) like to explore and camp in the mountains on the massive logging road network. This can easily put you many miles (100+ or more in one direction) out in the middle of no where. So you have to be able to get out there, get back and even when you're back to the highway it typically won't be close to a supercharger. So the 500+ miles of range that was originally listed would have really made a huge difference. I'll probably get the range extender, but not a huge fan of losing bed space for it. I get that driving around to the grocery store with a CT that has a double stack for it's battery pack makes no sense, but I still think that there would have been a fair number of people that might have paid plenty extra for that option. What's cost prohibitive to some is not to others and based on the video Sandy posted it seems like they could have doubled the pack or maybe put another 1/2 pack above in the middle or something. I would be willing to pay an extra 20k for it.

 

[CyberTally]

I'm right behind you. Does Rivian have a referral program, unlike one of the dozen failed Tesla ones that have never actually gotten me anything?

Not that I know of.

This read like an ad...

My intent was only to provide information. I’m not trying to sell something. If anything, I’d like Tesla to consider possible product improvements in future Cybertruck model changes. I’m still a Tesla customer and small shareholder.

 

[CyberTally]

The majority of people likely don't need the range at least most of the time. However, I live in Alaska and it gets cold AF which can be a huge hit and I have a 100 mile round trip commute to work 5 days/wk. I also tow and haul semi-frequently but even more importantly and much more forgotten about is that I (and many other people, in Alaska but even more so in the OR and WA for example) like to explore and camp in the mountains on the massive logging road network. This can easily put you many miles (100+ or more in one direction) out in the middle of no where. So you have to be able to get out there, get back and even when you're back to the highway it typically won't be close to a supercharger. So the 500+ miles of range that was originally listed would have really made a huge difference. I'll probably get the range extender, but not a huge fan of losing bed space for it. I get that driving around to the grocery store with a CT that has a double stack for it's battery pack makes no sense, but I still think that there would have been a fair number of people that might have paid plenty extra for that option. What's cost prohibitive to some is not to others and based on the video Sandy posted it seems like they could have doubled the pack or maybe put another 1/2 pack above in the middle or something. I would be willing to pay an extra 20k for it.

I very much agree! I think Tesla made the battery decision in light of extremely limited battery production capacity.

 

[CyberTally]

Enjoy your Rivian!

Unfortunately, it costs Rivian more to make each vehicle than they can sell them for. They have been whittling away at the cost to produce, but they are getting to the point where it's going to be harder to eliminate all losses.

Not that that's your problem as long as they keep the doors open, I mention it because the price is artificial and unsustainable. It's fake competition that cannot sustain itself. But as long as Rivian can keep getting more cash lifelines (like they just did from VW), they will keep making them in relatively small numbers. The problem from a consumer perspective happens if and when the cash dries up. Because there is no guarantee they will ever be able to compete with other automakers without investor subsidies.

I'm not trying to throw shade, I'm just being realistic with what I'm seeing about the way they operate. Hopefully they are able to increase manufacturing efficiencies, so they get to not only gross profit, but also eventually a net profit. Tesla in the early days was profitable on a gross basis almost every quarter. Meaning each additional car they sold helped them out financially, even though they were still losing money overall (because they weren't selling enough cars at a high enough gross profit). Rivian is the opposite, each additional car they sell causes bigger losses. Yes, the gross loss per car has declined dramaitcally, but there should have been gross profits per car from near the beginning. Elon always believed their was no point in selling a car for less than it cost you to make it, that you should sell cars designed to cost less to make than they were worth on the free market. Anyone can build nice cars, the question is can they be built for less than their actual market value?

I would like to see Rivian remain in business for the long haul.

I hope to see Tesla and Rivian find success and profitability for many years to come.

 

[CyberTally]

Well said. Large range is a psychological issue driven by fear :>).

It’s also driven by frustration when you can only tow a trailer for two hours before needing to stop, drop the trailer, charge for an hour, and hook back up before continuing. Short trips are no problem.

 

[CyberTally]

For real, I swear the OP copied and pasted some of the Rivian specs from the website.

I wanted the ADAS info that I posted to be stated accurately.

 

[CyberTally]

Would be great to hear your thoughts after you receive your rivian. Comparisons with CT, etc…

I plan to post my experiences, both good and bad, after getting my Rivian. I’ll still be driving my Cybertruck. Looking forward to getting FSD.

 

[cybercoffee]

R2 as a smaller R1S was a pure buzz kill. "We have two glove boxes now." Whooooopity Dooooo!

I think the lack of glovebox(es) was a huge oversight. Not having ever been in a Rivian, I was shocked when I read on reddit a user complaining that their R1T didn't have a glovebox (I googled, and the thread I had noticed was from two years ago). glad they're coming up to parity at least.

 

[CyberTally]

Agreed, I cannot get past those headlights, ewww. If it wasnt for the headlights and the horror stories of $30k repairs for a simple fender bender, I would have considered the Rivian.

Apparently my automobile insurance carrier thinks Cybertruck repairs will be much higher than for the R1T. The premium I’m paying every six months for the CT is 90% higher than what I’ll be paying for the Rivian. The costs for both trucks will be comparable. Some of this is likely because they have no experience on which to base the CT premium.

Interestingly, the premium for my wife’s 2023 Model Y that cost approximately $52k new is 35% higher than the premium for a 2025 R1T that will cost nearly twice as much.

 

[Pavocado]

I had the dual max pack R1T. Now I have the cyberbeast. The rivian is nice. But towing, even with max pack I only got 170 miles. The bed is much more shallow than the CT. I’m hoping the the range extender hits 450 miles. Even if it takes up 1/3 of the bed it will still have more bed space than rivian. Both are rad in their own ways. There are things I miss about the Rivian, but for now I’m enjoying the CT. Enjoy.

 

[CyberTally]

I think the lack of glovebox(es) was a huge oversight. Not having ever been in a Rivian, I was shocked when I read on reddit a user complaining that their R1T didn't have a glovebox (I googled, and the thread I had noticed was from two years ago). glad they're coming up to parity at least.

I too was shocked to learn there is no glove box in the R1. I had the same reaction when I learned the Cybertruck had no place to store the spare tire.

 

[cybercoffee]

I too was shocked to learn there is no glove box in the R1. I had the same reaction when I learned the Cybertruck had no place to store the spare tire.

I guess I wasn't as shocked about the tire because for all my teslas I've hauled a full size spare in the trunk and have taken it out when I knew I had to load something that otherwise wouldn't fit!

 

[HaulingAss]

5 billion from VW should keep Rivian afloat while they optimize production costs not to mention the R2 and R3 models having broader markets.

As great as the CT's technology and general practicality is, the only significant disadvantage the R1T has to it is the smaller size. As I point out in various posts, we are blessed with a wonderful assortment of EV pickup choices. We should celebrate that and let people "choose their poison" without bashing their decisions.

Huh? I fully support people buying the vehicle that most resonates with them. After all, it's their money to spend. I was just explaining why I think Rivian has a bigger job ahead of them than most people can even comprehend.

 

[CyberTrk]

When towing with the Cybertruck, we have to drop the trailer in order to back up to the Supercharger.
On the Rivian, the charging port is in front of the front wheels, meaning we can pull straight in up to the charger.

IMO, when towing, the most efficient way to charge is to use a linear driveway,
where you enter by one end and exit by the other end, like for a typical 'gas' station.
So having a charger port at the front or on the side makes no difference.

I noticed that Tesla more commonly use this type of charging station layout in Europe.
Some new Tesla superchargers start to use this type of layout. A good example is the
Texas Gigafactory supercharger with 64 chargers using 16 parallel driveways of 4 stalls.

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