66mpg, 14" Ground Clearance, 3.2s 0-60mph, 1,800lb Payload, 826ft/lb torque, true 4x4, 66mpg.......

[brp]

Do you like these specs? How about 11,000lb towing or 3 feet fording depth? Its the truck from start-up Rivian. It is all electric, the range on the top end is 400+ miles. it will have a motor on each wheel, probably the best traction of any wheeled system ever. If they decide to be compatible with Tesla's Superchargers, there will be essentially no gap in nation-wide high speed charging.

There is also built in 110 power, it could run a 1000w heater for a week straight in theory.

This truck might not come out for a few years and could be close to $100k in top spec, but I think it is interesting to ponder the future and see were technology might take overlanding. I think this truck should really strike some fear into the big 3, maybe not today, but winds of change are blowing.

I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

https://electrek.co/2018/11/26/rivian-r1t-all-electric-pickup-specs/

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

I think they need to spend some time in a wind tunnel but what do I know I didn't go to MIT.

 

[Martinjmpr]

There's likely to be some fierce fighting in the electric car/truck/suv market over the next decade or so. I'm just going to sit on the sidelines until a clear winner emerges.

Those who make the wrong choice early on are going to end up with a $50,000 vehicular equivalent of a BetaMax VCR.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Truth!

 

[Tex68w]

It looks decent aesthetically and on paper, but I'd love to see real world number especially once modified to turn bigger AT/MT rubber and with the addition of bumpers/armor, etc. Electric certainly looks to be the future, but we are a looooooong way off from it being widely accepted and used as well as being affordable to the masses.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I still think hybrid power of some kind is superior to all-electric. The Achilles heel of electric is not range, it's charging time.

Heck, one of my motorcycles has a "mere" 150 miles of range when fully gassed up. But that's not an issue because I can gas up in less than 5 minutes and be on my way. An electric motorcycle would take 4 - 6 hours to charge.

Electric motors on each wheel makes sense, eliminates the need for differentials, solid axles, transmissions, etc. But I think there is still going to have to be some kind of power source to keep the batteries charged. That power source can be a gasoline or diesel motor, or something more exotic.

 

[Dalko43]

The Achilles Heel of EV is range and charging time.

The newer Tesla's still have significant range degradation issues (cold weather, heavy driving loads, fast accelerations). So it's great that these new EV concepts have a range of 400 miles on paper; I won't get my hopes up until I see whether or not that range is maintained in realistic driving conditions. Because of these limitations, I think hybrid (gasoline and diesel) will become a much more practical option, especially for 4x4 vehicles, over 100% EV options.

Despite having a fondness for the internal combustion engine, I am very eager to see EV technology advanced. There are a few attributes that are relevant to overlanding: Instant torque, self-sufficient charging options, low center of gravity, extra trunk space.

 

[brp]

The Tesla Model 3 appears to be capable of receiving about a 175kw charge, with about an 80kwh battery. If you extrapolate that to a 180kwh battery, you're around 350-400kw. These are sort of ballpark numbers, it depends several factors, but that would put charging at a rate of over 700 miles of range gained per hour of charge. Charging takes no time at home, or at a campground a 50amp will work well.

Yes, if you throw a camper on this thing it won't get 400 miles...on the highway. If you throw a camper on this things and drive it 40mph down washboards..you could get 600 miles. It will get better than rated economy in the situations where combustion engines get much worse.

 

[Dalko43]

The Tesla Model 3 appears to be capable of receiving about a 175kw charge, with about an 80kwh battery. If you extrapolate that to a 180kwh battery, you're around 350-400kw. These are sort of ballpark numbers, it depends several factors, but that would put charging at a rate of over 700 miles of range gained per hour of charge. Charging takes no time at home, or at a campground a 50amp will work well.

Yes, if you throw a camper on this thing it won't get 400 miles...on the highway. If you throw a camper on this things and drive it 40mph down washboards..you could get 600 miles. It will get better than rated economy in the situations where combustion engines get much worse.

Tesla model 3 has a rated range of what? 300 miles or so? The issue is real word driving range doesn't always align with the factory ratings. Same can be said for many internal combustion engines, but with the widespread availability of fuel stations and the quick (minutes instead of hours) refueling time, that's not a big concern. Range and recharge time is still a significant hurdle that EV's have yet to overcome.

As for this new truck getting 400 miles, on the highway or 600 miles @ 40mph...we'll have to wait and see. FYI, you can greatly increase the range of your diesel or gasoline truck by also going 40 mph...the problem is that it's not always practical or safe to go 40 mph.

 

[longroad2nowhere]

Ugh, I cant wait till the day someone makes a good electric pick-up truck with an 8 ft bed. I do custom furniture work for a living, so a pick-up is my daily driver obviously. I would love to go electric for that. Its insane it doesnt exist. I know some many guys that work for construction companies that put huge miles in to jobsite every morning. Seems like bigger co could save tons of money long term on their trucks if anyone made a good electric that was up to the job.

 

[ttengineer]

Aesthetically speaking, I personally think it looks like trash.

But specs shown are certainly appealing and a step in the right direction.

Rumor has it that Cummins is working on one for a HD truck.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Tex68w]

Recharging has always been the drawback to EV's and always will be. It limits when and where you can go within your given range. You must have access to a charging station or carry a charger with you and again you would still need to have access to a power supply in order to plug it in. Will random people let you bum their power to charge your car, will people resort to "stealing" power and even if you can find a recharging station will they be open and available if the number of people using EV's increases? I don't want to work 3-6 hours for a recharge into my travel every 300-400 miles when I may want to cover more miles in a day, nor do I want my travel plans to be held hostage to these down times.

I agree that some sort of hybrid tech will likely take the lead in alternative fuel sources for vehicles before full on EV's will dominate the market. The question is what type of hybrid exactly will be the most affordable and successful? I really liked the idea of the hydrogen fuel cell that the military was working on.

 

[dwh]

66 mpg? That's retarded. There are no gallons.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

66 mpg? That's retarded. There are no gallons.

That is for when you are hauling a 10KW generator to get 400 mile range.

 

[brp]

66 mpg? That's retarded. There are no gallons.

The 66mpg should be 66mpge, with "e" being "equivalent". A gallon of gas has 33kwh of energy.

In the context of this forum, long distance with heavy vehicles in remote places, EV's and charging is a concern for sure. In the normal person day-to-day, there is no Achilles heal. Charging takes no time, and your call is full every morning. I've got a "gas" station in my garage that charges the equivalent about .20/gallon.

I think there is a general mis-understanding about EV charging time. I own an EV and I spend less time refueling than a person that owns a combustion engine. For long travel, and this depends on what vehicle and chargers you are talking, you can drive about 3 hours, stop for 30 minutes and repeat. That is with current technology on current cars. When Tesla updates their Superchargers, which starts early next year, it will be more like a 15 minute stop. A 15 minute stop every three hours is probably what you are doing anyway, if not a longer stop. To drive 6 hours with only a 15 minute stop is long drive.

Yeah, Cummins, Tesla, Daimler, Nikola, and others are all working in this direction. Tesla's semi is supposed to be out in limited numbers next year, Mercedes has some buses out now that could translate to urban delivery vehicles. Tesla and Nikola seem to be the only ones working on a long haul.