MotoTrend: The 2022 Rivian R1T Is the Most Remarkable Pickup We’ve Ever Driven

TomGriff

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Curb weight of Rivian R1T is way too heavy. Worse than Ford-F-150 Lightning. Weight class limit is 8,500 lbs total for vehicle, driver, passengers, additional payload of luggage / coolers / sports gear / tools / food / beverages / ice in cabin, frunk, bed, and payload of trailer tongue weight (10-15% of trailer weight). The Rivian R1T is so heavy that if owners have a pretty normal full load of driver/passengers (5 adults), luggage, coolers, hunting/fishing gear, tools, etc ( 1,500 lbs total for cabin, frunk, bed) the truck will not be able to support even a 6,000 lbs loaded trailer.

With R1T's 7,000lbs curb weight, the R1T would need to be less than half empty (only driver, 1 adult passenger, 100lbs total of gear/tools/food/beverages/ice) when towing 11,000 lb trailer.

A NFL linebacker driving a R1T carrying 4 of his Linebacker buddies plus coolers of beers and food, sporting equipment and NO trailer could easily go over the 8,500lbs limit.
This example would not be a problem for most ICE 1/2-ton full-size pickups. Should not be a problem with 500mi Trimotor Cybertruck carrying all those people & stuff plus 11,000lb trailer.

All of this will be worse for R1T with the optional 400 miles ( and much heavier) battery pack which will reduce usable payload even more.

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How Tongue Weight Works
By: Scott C. Benjamin | Updated: Apr 6, 2021
https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/towing/towing-capacity/information/tongue-weight.htm

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Most experts agree that an acceptable tongue weight for any trailer is somewhere between 9 and 15 percent of the gross trailer weight (GTW). There's good reasoning behind these numbers, too. It all comes down to trailer towing safety.

If the tongue of the trailer does not exert enough downward force on the tow vehicle's hitch ball -- meaning that the trailer's tongue weight is too light -- a dangerous condition called trailer sway could result.

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Tongue Weight Is Key To Safe Towing - GMC Life
Properly loading a trailer to maintain a proper tongue weight is paramount, especially when it comes to handling.
https://www.gmc.com/gmc-life/trucks/why-tongue-weight-is-important-for-safe-towing

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Trailer too light for tow vehicle?
https://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f72/trailer-too-light-for-tow-vehicle-79710.html

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05-12-2017, #4
Cat futrell
Name: Cathy
The way it is loaded makes a huge difference in how it pulls. Because of how light the trailer is, doesn't take much to throw off the pull. Too heavy on the front and the the trailer will fishtail. To heavy in the back and it flops and jerks. I have corrected a pull by relocating a large toolbox from the rear of the cabin to the front. You could hook up to a smaller tow vehicle, without changing the load, if you have doubts.

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It will be interesting to see, because you are right, it will probably limited to 2 people, their gear and a 3000-5000 pound trailer. Due to the small payload, trailer tongue weight will end up being the limiting factor for towing.

That being said smaller F150 engines have similar payloads (including the 3.0 liter diesel), while the larger ones are significantly higher.

It will also be interesting to see some of the other towing specs, including Gross Vehicle Combined Weight Rating which is the limiting number for a lot a vehicles, especially smaller SUVs and mini-vans.

I think for most EVs though, towing large trailers over distance won't be really be viable unless the destination is less than the range while towing (so the tow vehicle can unhook and then charge or in a pull through campsite charge while still hooked). Very curious to see how EV trucks do towing, I've seen X's and Y's that lose half to two-thirds range. Any large trailer takes time to hook and unhook (especially with a weight distribution hitch) and there aren't many chargers that one could charge at without blocking other people (at least at the chargers I've been to in my area).
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DarinCT

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I do like the attach points on the front of the Rivian. Though I don't see a way to attach a winch.

Also, with a 7000 lb vehicle, what kind of a winch will be required to pull this thing out of a stuck situation? Will other offroaders have the power to pull this thing out?


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Those attach points are part of the "off-road package" and cost 2K iirc from speccing one out recently.
 

El_Toro_33618

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Renault Alliance - Motor Trend Car of the Year.... Does that say enough?
 

TomGriff

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Renault Alliance - Motor Trend Car of the Year.... Does that say enough?
That was decades ago, but 2013 was Tesla Model S.

As far as I can tell they selected a Dodge Ram as the Truck of the Year for this year. I suspect the Rivian is likely to be a really good truck. Will it be as good as a Cybertruck or F150 Platinum, don't know because none are in production - no one really knows.
 


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A NFL linebacker driving a R1T carrying 4 of his Linebacker buddies plus coolers of beers and food, sporting equipment and NO trailer could easily go over the 8,500lbs limit.
I'm not sure you even need linebackers.

This weekend we went on a trip with 5 people (roughly 800 pounds), cycling gear (20 pounds each/ 100 pounds total), 5 bikes (~175 pounds total), bike rack (75 pounds), Food and beverages for post ride (80 pounds). Right around 1250 pounds.

No wonder the spare tire is an add-on. That plus that sexy kitchen kit they advertise would put me over gross vehicle weight on a fairly typical trip. They push the heck out of their roof top tent, but I'm pretty sure that thing tips the scales at 100 pounds or more with the rails.

It's kind of surprising how heavy the Rivian is considering it's a smaller truck.
 
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It's kind of surprising how heavy the Rivian is considering it's a smaller truck.
It’s probably smaller because they couldn’t get the weight down. Seems like they started with 4 motors and batteries on a typical frame and everything else fell out from there. No first principles thinking involved.
 

Mini2nut

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It's one hell of a first effort from a brand new auto manufacturer. It's currently my #2 BEV pickup choice. I have reserved a $67k version to hedge my bets. I can't wait to test drive one when the event gets closer to me.

The pros are quad motors, torque vectoring, 800 HP with 900 ft lbs of torque, 0-60 in 3 seconds, body on frame construction, premium air suspension, 300+ miles of range, a beautiful interior, qualifies for the federal tax credit, an eight-year/175,000-mile battery pack and electric drivetrain component warranty. Everything else is covered for five years or 60,000 miles.
 

Ogre

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The pros are quad motors, torque vectoring, 800 HP with 900 ft lbs of torque, 0-60 in 3 seconds, body on frame construction, premium air suspension, 300+ miles of range, a beautiful interior, qualifies for the federal tax credit, an eight-year/175,000-mile battery pack and electric drivetrain component warranty. Everything else is covered for five years or 60,000 miles.
The cons are:
- Weight capacity is low enough I can see bumping into it. Curb weight is stunningly high at 7,000 pounds for a mid-sized truck.
- That 175,000 mile battery warrantee only kicks in if you have more than 70% capacity loss. Most of the other EV makers battery coverage guarantees 80% capacity.

It is a very nice looking truck. It looks super fun. Also does all the things normal trucks do which are a little weird with the Cybertruck.
 

firsttruck

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On the other hand, with the serious weight issues, who knows if offroaders will accept this beast or if they will just club it to death.


official confirmation from Rivian R1T on curb weight

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Weekly 'No Stupid Questions' Questions Thread [9/15/2021]
2021 Sept 15


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What is the curb weight of the R1T?

Customer service confirms that the "EPA test vehicles both weighed in at just under 7,000 lbs." This was without the off-road upgrade.

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So R1T will weigh almost 7,000 lbs before adding off-road package (extra bottom shielding for rocks) or tunnel kitchen option.
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