Our Rivian Is Coming in 2023

2022 Was a Year of Big Updates from Rivian

From now on, Gail and I will send out a weekly newsletter as we have over the past year, but we’ll only produce a podcast and video about once each month.

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Rivian R1T Update

As our long-term followers will recall, purchasing a Rivian R1T electric pickup was the centerpiece of a grand plan to sell our urban Salt Lake City condo, relocate to Jacksonville and buy a travel trailer to tour the country.

Literally, as we packed up our belongings in the final days before Christmas 2021, we received word that the truck we pre-ordered in the fall of 2021 would not be delivered until late in 2023.

As we crossed the country in our U-Haul, towing our little Chevy Bolt, we developed a plan to get us on the road before the Rivian would arrive. We’d buy a trailer we could tow with the Bolt. You’ve shared our adventures with our Aliner Scout this year.

We haven’t said much about it, but 2022 brought five big updates from Rivian. It’s time we shared the story.

Big Update #1: Price Increase

First was an early March announcement that prices would go up about 15 percent above what we’d committed. This coincided with the stock market decline triggered by high inflation.

Big Update #2: Never Mind

As customers began complaining and canceling their pre-orders, Rivian sent out the second of the five big updates. “Never mind.” Rivian agreed to honor the original pricing for those of us who had pre-ordered before the price increase. The price increase still applies to new orders.

That emotional roller coaster left us right where we began the year, waiting for a truck to be delivered in the fall of 2023. Recognizing the implicit optimism in a startup’s production schedule, we’ve often said we expected the vehicle to arrive in time for Christmas 2023.

Big Update #3: Trim-Level Cancelation

In August, we received our third big update. Rivian would not produce the base trim “Explore Package” we’d selected. The company gave us two options: either cancel our pre-order or accept the premium “Adventure” package. The premium package was about $5,000 more. With little choice, we adjusted our configuration to stay in the queue. We also got some new features we didn’t especially want and now can’t recall.

Big Update #4: Just Wait Until 2024

In September of this year, we got the fourth big update. Rivian would not begin making the truck configuration we’d ordered with the “Max-pack” battery until 2024! We were disappointed but far from shocked. We’d followed the Tesla startup journey closely and recalled countless similar delays.

(We’ve also pre-ordered a Tesla Cybertruck, which is supposed to have even greater range and towing capacity at a lower price. Despite announcing the truck in 2019, Tesla hasn’t yet begun production. Tesla will likely deliver its first Cybertruck about two years after the first Rivian.)

The fourth big update also hinted that a differently configured truck with the Max pack battery might be produced earlier than the configuration we’d ordered.

Big Update #5: Sorry, Not Sorry

The fourth big update came earlier this month. It should have begun, “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

The bad news was that our configuration would never be manufactured. We had ordered a “quad-motor” truck with the max-pack battery. The quad-motor version features an electric motor literally inside each of the four wheels, powering the R1T to an impressive 0 to 60 time of 3.0 seconds. It also tows 11,000 pounds and has a range (when not towing) of 400 miles.

In contrast, the truck with the small battery called the “Large Pack” has a range of about 325 miles. If we’ve learned anything towing with our Bolt, having the longest possible range is essential. We believe more strongly than ever that the little so-called “Large Pack” won’t cut it. The Cybertruck’s advertised 500-mile range is more tantalizing all the time.

The good news in the last big update from Rivian was that the company would produce two dual-motor versions of the R1T with the max-pack battery in the late summer of 2023. Our first question was immediately answered. Both will still be capable of towing 11,000 pounds.

The base model dual-motor version will have 600 HP and 0 to 60 time of 4.5 seconds. The “enhanced” model will have 700 HP and a 0 to 60 time of 3.5 seconds.

The good news for us is that the truck will be priced $4,500 lower than the price we have locked in ($2,000 less for the enhanced version).

One critical aspect of the price adjustment is that it will keep our final price for the truck under the Inflation Reduction Act tax credit price cap of $80,000.

Rivian has also agreed to prioritize delivery to folks like us with longstanding pre-orders in place. Many of the folks who pre-ordered the max-pack couldn’t wait and took delivery of trucks with the smaller large-pack battery. We hope that means we’ll be among the first few hundred deliveries of the max-pack R1T. If they can stick to the schedule, we could have our Rivian in time for the fall equinox. Fingers crossed.

With any luck, we’ll be on the road with a new truck and trailer next fall!

Chevrolet Silverado EV

By way of a quick postscript, you may recall that we have also pre-ordered a Chevrolet Silverado EV. When we did so, few particulars were available. The truck would start at $39,900 and have 400 miles of range. A tricked-out $107,000 “RST” version would also be available later.

A few more details have filtered out. We get only poor communications structured more as advertisements than updates from Chevrolet. It appears that the promise of the 400-mile range is an option, not the base, and certainly won’t be included in the price of a $39,900 truck.

Given that the dealer will set the final price and that dealers have been successfully charging huge premiums over MSRP for any in-demand vehicle this year, we are doubtful we can get the Silverado configured the way we want at a price that would beat the Rivian. More than ever, we’re looking forward to our R1T.