I'm as anti-communist as they come if you've ever seen my posting history. Will never vote for the socialist democrat party. I am against the government market manipulation, against the climate alarmism, against the green industry lobby and all the grant frauds and schemes that go along with it.
...but I did buy an EV truck over two years ago. Drove an F-150 for eight years prior. Drove a Silverado for 9 years prior to that. Drove a jeep grand Cherokee for 10 years before that. Just bought my wife a lexus 550gx and bought my daughter a used mercedes last year, and bought my older son a used silverado a before that.
I test drove a Rivian truck about 2.5 years ago and was really impressed. Bought one. Ask me anything, but let me tell you pros and cons from my experience so far at about 39k miles:
- my current fixed plan for electricity at home is an "EV plan" that credits me for charging my truck at night between 11p and 5a. so basically, I drive my truck for free while you drive yours for nearly $3 per gallon of gas- but not really because I'm paying about 18.5 cents per kwh and i suppose last year I could have gotten a fixed rate plan at 16 cents but without the credits for charging the truck. but let's just assume your ice pickup gets 20 MPG and regular unleaded averages around $2.80/gal .. and assume the rivian gets around 2.2 miles per kw (it's more in city driving and less on freeways due to regenerative braking, but 2.2 is about average) and your electricity plan is $0.16/kwh. The math works out to about $15 per 100 miles in an ICE pickup and about $7 per 100 miles in the EV. but again, mine is "free" on my plan.
- with no oil changes or any other fluid flushes, the only maintenance is tire rotations, but with a truck that weighs 7k lbs, I expect to go through tires more often. I'm on my second set now.
- the acceleration is crazy. my pickup truck goes 0-60 in a shade over 3 seconds. it's insane.
- the quietness is crazy. at my ranch, i can sneak up on wildlife as quiet as a mouse. Just turn of the AC so the fan is off. driving around the brush or on trails is more silent than walking.
- air suspension is cool - in offroad mode, the rivian pick up ground clearance is almost 15". my F-150 was about 8.5".
- having all the various 120v outlets, 12v outlets, and usb-c ports inside and outside the truck is handy, but the air compressor in the bed has been really useful.
- the storage is amazing for a truck that is smaller than an f-150 or silverado. a front trunk, a powered tonneau cover on the bed, under rear bench seat storage, and the gear tunnel. the gear tunnel alone holds some folding chairs, a bag of golf clubs, two rifle bags, ammo box, work boots, golf shoes, etc.
- the range is fine. i have the middle sized battery. rivian calls them standard, large, and max.. i have "large". a full charge for me is supposed to give me 330 miles of range- not that much less than a full tank of gas on a pickkup --but of course, in an EV you won't want to "run of fumes" or "all the way down to empty" like you would in an ICE vehicle since there aren't chargers on every corner like there are gas stations. But still, I've driven from houston to dallas and sa many times, to louisiana, to broken bow OK, to S. padre, etc. with no problem at all and no range anxiety. Every Buc-ee's has tesla super chargers, so I may stop and charge for 30 mins vs pumping gas for 5 minutes, but it doesn't bother me.
- the bed of the truck is small, only 4.5 feet in length with the tailgate up (almost 7' with the tailgate down), but I have had no issues from moving furniture to dirt bikes to lumber & supplies to multiple deer carcasses. i even put a pop up blind in the bed the other night and sat there trying to call some coyotes.
here are the real cons for me:
- towing. The rivian tows like a dream. no problem with power at all.. but range reduction when towing a heavy trailer is drastically impacted, just like MPG is impacted when towing with your ICE pickup, however, as mentioned earlier - there aren't chargers on every corner (yet) like there are gas stations. I've only towed with trailers in the rivian a couple of times- didn't have to go too far to get to my property, but i would not want to tow cross country in an electric truck. there would be serious anxiety there.
- rivian doesn't have FSD / auto-pilot (yet). The newer rivians will be able to get it via software updates, but my first gen rivian and won't ever have the ability to get it. mine does have adaptive cruise and controls and changes lanes on highways that are mapped, but will never be fully autonomous like tesla FSD already has.
- Rivian doesn't have bidirectional charging yet. Ford Lightnings, Tesla cybertrucks, and maybe some others have a solution where you can have the interlock switch on your panel at home and use your EV as backup generator for your home (V2H), or use your EV to charge another EV (V2V).
- while it is much cheaper to drive and maintain, I expect the resale value to suck down the road. the battery warranty is 8 years / 150k miles. if I drive this thing for say, 6 or 7 years, no one in the used car market wants to buy an EV with little or no warranty left. I've accepted that. I paid cash for this thing. Will drive it for as long as I'm still enjoying it, but know I won't get a ton for trade-in down the road.
